Eggner's Ferry Bridge

Thanks to Mr. Todd and KYTC for the new photographs. It is good to have officials contributing on here.

Well, Kentucky has some great bridges. I pulled off of 75 on my last trip to visit Clay's Ferry - after taking a detour to cross the Ironton-Russell Bridge one last time.

I'm from this area, but now live in the Louisville Kentucky area.

I grew up in Kansas, did a brief stint in Decorah, Iowa, and now live in Texas. I have family in West Virginia, so I become a Tunnelhunter when I go there.

Actually, no. I just happened to take a quick look at the webcam. I did a quick site visit to this bridge and drove it and the Lake Barkeley bridge both ways back in October. I did not have time to stop for photos as I was trying to get across the country.

I was just barely able to see the Pocahontas Bridge (Arkansas), both Cairo Bridges, the Brookport Bridge, and these LBL Bridges before heading East. That was a fun day for a Bridgehunter!

Robert you live in this area? I'm on vacation visiting family this

Weekend.

I noticed that they were drilling a pylon today. Obstructions are generally not welcomed in navigation channels...

Sad face

The four main spans were demolished this morning.

http://www.newschannel5.com/news/state/kentucky/demolition-s...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBfVlGKfFVU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0YqKjbO1fI

The four main spans are scheduled to be imploded on Monday, July 25th.

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/story/32472322/demolition-schedule...

Demolition has begun. The first step will be deck removal. You can track progress here:

https://www.workzonecam.com/projects/kytc/131212/workzonecam

News Articles:

http://wkms.org/post/demolition-process-old-eggners-ferry-br...

http://www.wdam.com/story/32263911/demolition-of-old-eggners...

Looks like demolition is going to take a while

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/story/31913288/osprey-eggs-delay-d...

I'd rather have one of the historic spans Robert!

...Too bad I don't have a place to put it!

Looks like the replacement span is up for sale. Any takers?

http://www.eiffeltradingcompany.com/eggners-ferry-bridge-rep...

The new bridge opened to traffic at roughly 4:20 this afternoon.

The new bridge is scheduled to open to two-lane traffic on Friday. The goal is to get traffic off of the old bridge as soon as possible so demolition can begin.

http://www.kfvs12.com/story/31640956/eggners-ferry-bridge-ex...

The placement of the new span is underway this morning. You can follow the progress at:

https://www.workzonecam.com/projects/kytc/131212/workzonecam

The tied arch span of the new bridge will be lifted into place on December 1st, weather permitting. Drivers will not be able to use the old bridge while the span is being lifted into place.

http://www.westkentuckystar.com/News/Local-Regional/Western-...

I would agree. I am glad I got to see the old one. It has such an interesting history having been built, raised, and of course having a span replaced.

Modern arches are better looking than slabs of concrete, but it does NOT excuse the demolition of beautiful historic bridges. It deeply saddens me that over a decade after I began advocating for the preservation of historic bridges, that my childhood town of Port Huron remains one of the only places to look at the truth of reality and take the best of both worlds, realize that two is better than one, and end up with a PAIR of bridges: http://historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=tr...

The benefits are painfully obvious... ability to close one bridge for repair without closing the whole road, greater traffic capacity... and of course historic preservation.

I drove over this one today. The webcams do a great job of showing construction on the replacement. I must admit that the new arch looks mighty impressive sitting on the lake. This one won't be around much longer...

Both this and Lake Barkely bridges will be replaced with a white, basket - shaped, tied arch bridge according to the demolition website. The replacement for eggners ferry is already onsite.

One of the piers got rubbed by a barge last night. Any damage to the bridge appears to be minor. The barge also caused minor damage to a form for the new bridge.

http://tinyurl.com/pld2zlt

What the heck is up with the video? Nothing is falling down!

Bridge is being replaced with a new span. not sure of the design. But it seems this bridge is doomed.

Eggners Ferry Bridge Opens In Time for Memorial Day Weekend Travel

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May, 25, 2011

The Eggners Ferry Bridge in Western Kentucky reopened Friday. Hall Contracting of Kentucky Inc. completed the emergency repairs on the bridge two days earlier than required, and the bridge opened to traffic at 1:05pm CDT.

The Eggners Ferry Bridge, which carries U.S. 68/KY 80 across Kentucky Lake, has been closed since it was struck by a cargo ship, the Delta Mariner, on the night of Jan. 26. A 322-foot-long span of the 80-year-old bridge was torn away.

“When the bridge connection was severed, it was imperative to restore this critical tourism and commerce link in the Kentucky Lake-Lake Barkley region as fast as we could,” said Governor Steve Beshear. “The plan to replace the missing span was aggressive. We are pleased the emergency repairs have finished ahead of schedule and especially by a Kentucky-based company.”

Transportation Secretary Mike Hancock said restoring traffic to the bridge in 121 days took a phenomenal effort.

“We were very fortunate that there was no structural damage to the piers during the January 26 incident. This allowed us to focus on constructing a new span and getting it in place,” Hancock said.

The two-lane Eggners Ferry Bridge, which is the western gateway to Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area, opened to traffic crossing the Tennessee River in 1932. Its elevation was raised in 1943 when the Tennessee River was impounded to create Kentucky Lake. A KYTC traffic count conducted in 2009 showed 2,650 vehicles per day crossed the bridge.

New truss span now in place, concrete to be poured soon for decking, plans are to reopen May 27. Outstanding work by Hall Contracting, whose bid incidentally was several million $ below others. Amazing work for some good ole Kentucky folks. RCB

Update:

On May 10, 2012, the temporary truss span was completed and loaded onto a barge.

Update: A replacement truss span is under construction in Eddyville, which will be barged to the site and hoisted into place by cranes. Work is expected to be complete within four weeks!

http://m.therepublic.com/view/story/3a734159159d4a15a76c4404...

Update:

The boat has finally been moved away from the bridge site, with most of the truss it destroyed still draped over the bow of the boat.

I was supposed to have photographed this bridge and the Cumberland River bridge just to the east of it back in June, but I got out to a late start that day and ran out of daylight before I got to them. I'm glad I at least got to drive across it, though.

Hey, at least the captain of the boat didn't "Fall" into the life boat.

Unbelievable. Something needs to be done about idiotic people and boats. Looks like an ocean-going vessel, not something you see on a lake.

Could be a hitman borrowed from PennDOT...

So I'm curious if this pilot is related to the Italian Guy who crashed the Ship a couple weeks ago. :)

Matt, I'm glad you brought that up. I thought I was just looking at the images here and of the accident incorrectly. My friend and I were discussing this yesterday as we looked at the images.

Glad I'm not "seeing things"!

I noticed something even more awesome about this whole make-me-want-to-barf situation--looking at the photos in John's link, the knucklehead piloting the ship drove it under the LOWEST of the four main spans! He wasn't even in the main navigation channel! Whether or not the bridge is up for demolition and replacement is irrelevant; this is a result of complete negligence on the part of the ship's captain, and the ship's owning company should be forced to pay for damages.

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/kentucky-bridge-destroyed-by-sh...

http://www.wdrb.com/story/16613002/ky-lake-bridge-collapses-...

http://www.tribunecourier.com/view/full_story/17306278/artic...

Local newspaper coverage ...

Scratch my earlier comment, the bridge was up for demolition anyway. I am not surprised, if its a truss in Kentucky its usually on the demo list.

Leave it to the hardcore fishermen being on the scene with a camera for "the one that got away" to get the best images thus far.

http://blog.wired2fish.com/blog/bid/71423/Exclusive-Wired2Fi...

This is probably the image >>>

http://kfvs12.images.worldnow.com/images/16612736_BG11.JPG

Source attributed to CNews Penny Kelly.

A caller to the local news last night said she was one of the last ones to cross before the accident. She described the boat as barrelling down on the bridge at full speed. She noted that boats usually slow down upon approaching the spans. She noted the boat was larger/taller the the span.

The end result is the knocked out span completely snagged on the bow of the boat.

Naturally Kentucky officials will look the other way, not fine the boat owners, and build a newer bridge precisely lower than the current one. That should solve the problem. And who doesn't like an Easter Egg basket designed bridge?

The link that Kim posted has been updated with a photo slideshow, and to be honest, it looks weird. There appears to actually only be one span down, though there might be damage to others. It isn't ON the ship, but wrapped around the bow. It actually looks as though the ship were drafting high enough to hit the span itself, plowing it right off the piers and missing the piers on either side.

If I remember correctly, preliminary construction work is already underway for the new bridge; however, the new 4-lane span (along with its twin across Lake Barkley) isn't scheduled to be completed until 2017.

I wasn't aware of this at all until this morning when I was looking for updates on the accident. It looks as though there have been plans in place for several years to replace both the old bridges on 68/80 over LBL.

http://www.explorekentuckylake.com/projects/us68project.htm

Smooth. Now I know what the next step will be for KYDOT.... Sad day for the residents affected and the HB community :-(

http://www.kfvs12.com/story/16612736/update-no-reported-inju...

the media confirms 2 spans are down. Since this happened when it was dark, it will have to be daylight before a better view happens.

It was just on the AM news here, with video. 2 spans are down, one of the spans has trapped the ship that hit the pier. They've accounted for the full crew of the ship with no injuries, and there are no signs of any cars in the water. According to the report they were doing a study to replace the bridge sometime in the future. That's probably going to be a "gimme" now, as far as things go in KY.

Fitting. The one truss bridge in the entire state not up for demolition and someone goes and destroys it.

Bad year for major bridges in Kentucky

http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/Eggner-Ferry-Bridge-col...

Breaking news out of western Kentucky - I'm waiting on more details from the media out of Paducah.