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John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge

Jefferson County, Kentucky, and Clark County, Indiana
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Photos 

Overview

Photo taken June 2005 by Desirae Krell

Map 

Street View 

View Uglybridges.com report

Facts 

Overview
Cantilevered through truss bridge over Ohio River on I-65 in Louisville
Location
Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, and Clark County, Indiana
Status
Open to traffic
History
Built 1963 by the Allied Structural Steel Company
Builders
- Allied Structural Steel Co. of Chicago, Illinois
- Hazelet and Erdal of Chicago, Illinois (Design)
Design
Cantilevered Warren through truss
Dimensions
Length of largest span: 700.0 ft.
Total length: 2,497.3 ft. (0.5 mi.)
Deck width: 85.9 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 28.0 ft.
Approximate latitude, longitude
+38.26444, -85.74333   (decimal degrees)
38°15'52" N, 85°44'36" W   (degrees°minutes'seconds")
Approximate UTM coordinates
16/609936/4235902 (zone/easting/northing)
USGS topographic map
Jeffersonville
Inventory numbers
KY 056-B00214N (Kentucky bridge number)
BH 18828 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Inspection (as of 11/2010)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Good (7 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 66.0 (out of 100)
Average daily traffic (as of 2011)
134,000

Categories 

Allied Structural Steel Co. (3)
Built 1963 (140)
Built during 1960s (1,214)
Cantilevered (241)
Cantilevered truss (221)
Clark County, Indiana (46)
Have street view (9,883)
Hazelet and Erdal (5)
I-65 (5)
Indiana (3,348)
Jefferson County, Kentucky (72)
Kentucky (671)
 Louisville, Kentucky (35)
Navigable waterway (1,448)
Ohio River (95)
Open (28,302)
Owned by state (9,806)
Span length 500-1000 feet (313)
State line crossing (513)
Through truss (9,205)
Total length 1000-2500 feet (1,212)
Truss (23,565)
Warren through truss (925)
Warren truss (3,956)

Update Log 

  • February 11, 2013: Updated by Nathan Holth: Added Designer.
  • February 9, 2013: New photos from J.P.
  • April 5, 2010: Updated by J.P.: add street view
  • March 7, 2010: New photos from J.P.
  • October 26, 2009: New photo from J.P.
  • October 23, 2009: New photo from J.P.
  • December 21, 2008: New photo from Nathan Morton
  • May 28, 2008: New photos from Joe Virruso
  • April 3, 2006: Posted photo from Desirae Krell

Sources 

  • Desirae Krell
  • Joe Virruso - virrusofamily [at] att [dot] net
  • Nathan Morton - morton890 [at] yahoo [dot] com
  • J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Wikipedia
  • Nathan Holth
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Comments 

John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge
Posted September 24, 2011, by Tom Hoffman (tehoffm [at] hotmail [dot] com)

There has been talk for years on building the East End bridge to connect I-265 across the Ohio River to the east of this bridge. There has also been talk on building a four tower cable stayed bridge beside the JFK bridge for northbound traffic. I'd say the building the East End bridge first would be important to see how it may relieve congestion from this bridge and see if there is really need for a northbound I-65 bridge.

John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge
Posted May 26, 2010, by Jim (lueken [at] bellsouth [dot] net)

Interesting note. There was no official name for the bridge...just I-65 bridge. It had just openend when JFK was assasinated, thus it the got christened the JFK Memorial bridge.

John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge
Posted April 15, 2010, by J.P.

This bridge will be closed Saturday night from 8:00 Pm to 10:30 Pm for Thunder over Louisville. Just curious is this the only interstate bridge that is shut down for a event like this?

John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge
Posted August 11, 2006, by Keith Norris (Keith7ky [at] aolcom)

The state of Kentucky has been trying unsucessfully for the past 7 years to paint this bridge. State inspectors were caught taking bribes from the first contractor, and the state kicked the contractor off the job. The contractor sued the state for breach of contract. The second contractor couldn't complete the job and was fired. The state is now trying to find bidders for the job, but in the most recent bidding, only one contractor bid on the job. Meanwhile, the Kennedy Bridge continues to be a rusty eyesore. Let's hope they can figure out a way to get it painted before it crumbles and falls into the river.