John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge
Facts
- Overview
- Cantilevered through truss bridge over Ohio River on I-65 in Louisville
- Location
- Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, and Clark County, Indiana
- Status
- Being reconfigured for one way traffic
- Future prospects
- Flooring support being refurbished and repaired, expected to add 30 years to the bridges life.
- History
- Built 1963 by the Allied Structural Steel Company. Rebuilt 2016 to serve southbound only traffic
- Builders
- - Allied Structural Steel Co. of Chicago, Illinois (Iron/Steel Manufacturer)
- Hazelet + 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)
- Quadrangle map:
- Jeffersonville
- Average daily traffic (as of 2014)
- 140,640
- Inventory numbers
- KY 056-B00214N (Kentucky bridge number)
BH 18828 (Bridgehunter.com ID) - Inspection report (as of September 2014)
- Overall condition: Fair
Superstructure condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Substructure condition rating: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)
Deck condition rating: Fair (5 out of 9)
Sufficiency rating: 66 (out of 100)
View more at BridgeReports.com
Update Log
- February 10, 2022: New photos from Bambi Sharkoman
- October 23, 2019: New photos from Mike Daffron
- February 19, 2018: Essay added by Amanda
- March 12, 2016: Updated by Stephen Greer: Updated to reflect new bridge
- July 11, 2014: New photos from Andrew Raker
- July 10, 2014: New photos from Andrew Raker
- 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
- Andrew Raker
- Stephen Greer
- Mike Daffron - daffmikron [at] gmail [dot] com
- Jesse Sharkoman Berube - jesseberube5 [at] gmail [dot] com
Comments
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.
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.
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?
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.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ky/jefferson/jfk/
Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day Weekend!!!