Kentucky & Indiana Bridge (1912)
Description
Built to replace an earlier bridge opened in 1886, the current structure was built in 1911-1912 with a vehicular deck opening in 1913. The northbound vehicular portion was closed in 1979 after a portion collapsed. Employees of the company are still allowed to use the South Bound Lane to get across the river. CSX uses the bridge today. In the past it had been used by B & O, Monon and Southern. It was built with a swing span but only opened for traffic twice. In 1955 it was permanently "Locked down" and fixed shut. The bridge is 100 ft above river pool level.Each of the two main Pennsylvania truss spans weighs approximately 4,400 tons and is 110' deep at its center.
Facts
- Overview
- Through truss railroad bridge over Ohio River between Louisville and New Albany
- Location
- Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, and Floyd County, Indiana
- Status
- Open to railroad traffic
- History
- Built 1912; Interurban traffic ends 1946; road deck partially collapsed and closed to northbound traffic. Company employees can use southbound lane.
- Builders
- - American Bridge Co. of New York
- Foster-Creighton-Gould Co. of Nashville, Tennessee
- Railroads
- - Interurban
- Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Railroad (K&IT)
- New Albany & Louisville Electric Railway (NA&L)
- Norfolk Southern Railway (NS)
- Design
- Pennsylvania through truss w swing
North to south
Riveted, 6-panel Warren deck truss with all verticals, 150'
Riveted, 10-panel Baltimore through truss span, 275'
Riveted, 12-panel Baltimore through truss pivot span, 400' (2 173' openings)
Pin-connected, 18-panel Pennsylvania through truss span, 620'
Riveted, 12-panel Baltimore through truss, 373'
Pin-connected, 18-panel Pennsylvania through truss span, 620'
Riveted, 10-panel Baltimore through truss span, 275'
Deck plate girder approach viaduct, 1,281.3' - Dimensions
-
Length of largest span: 620.0 ft.
Total length: 2,713.0 ft. (0.5 mi.)
Deck width: 70.0 ft.
- Also called
- K&IT - Ohio River Bridge
New Ohio River Bridge
K&I Bridge - Approximate latitude, longitude
- +38.28124, -85.80079 (decimal degrees)
38°16'52" N, 85°48'03" W (degrees°minutes'seconds") - Approximate UTM coordinates
- 16/604885/4237700 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- New Albany
- Inventory number
- BH 18829 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- June 10, 2022: Updated by Paul Plassman: Added span length details
- February 10, 2022: New photo from Bambi Sharkoman
- January 29, 2019: New photo from Melissa Brand-Welch
- April 8, 2018: New photo from J.P.
- September 9, 2016: Updated by Christopher Finigan: Added categories "Pin-connected", "Riveted"
- September 9, 2016: New photo from Dave King
- January 18, 2015: Updated by Luke: Added category "Interurban"
- August 2, 2014: New photos from Andrew Raker
- July 9, 2014: Updated by Andrew Raker: Updated to reflect the Sherman Minton Bridge being reopened; NS stopped allowing its crews to use the bridge during that shutdown
- July 1, 2014: New Street View added by Ralph Demars
- September 24, 2013: Updated by Luke Harden: Added other city
- January 4, 2013: Updated by James McCray: Added category "US 31"
- September 21, 2011: Updated by James McCray: Updated status description of bridge to show that it is open to limited use of vehicles.
- September 20, 2011: Updated by J.P.: Bridge is opened to company workers going southbound only.
- June 30, 2010: New photos from J.P.
- April 15, 2010: New Street View added by J.P.
- March 28, 2010: Updated by Ed Hollowell: Added Information
- February 22, 2010: Updated by J.P.: Bridge builder and added plaque pictures from indiana side of bridge.
- February 21, 2010: New photos from J.P.
- December 21, 2008: New photos from Nathan Morton
- May 28, 2008: New photos from Joe Virruso
- October 10, 2005: Posted photo from James Adorno
Related Bridges
- Kentucky & Indiana Bridge (1886) (Predecessor)
Sources
- James Adorno
- Joe Virruso - virrusofamily [at] att [dot] net
- Nathan Morton - morton890 [at] yahoo [dot] com
- J.P. - wildcatjon2000 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Ed Hollowell - erhollowell [at] aol [dot] com
- James McCray - jamesinslocomb [at] yahoo [dot] com
- Luke
- Andrew Raker
- Douglas Butler
- Dave King - DKinghawkfan [at] hotmail [dot] com
- Melissa Brand-Welch - melissabrandwelch [at] msn [dot] com
- Jesse Sharkoman Berube - jesseberube5 [at] gmail [dot] com
- Engineering Record, Vol. 66, #21, "New Louisville Bridge across the Ohio", November 23, 1912 - Description of bridge
- Paul Plassman
- Railway age gazette. v.54 1913 Jan-Jun. - Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library - Description of bridge
Comments
I wonder what the width of each vehicular lane is?
Bridge ties currently on fire. Not sure of structure damage.
I'm not sure what all this entails, whether good or bad.
Condemnation suit could be pursued in effort to force opening K&I Bridge to walkers, bicyclists
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20130309/NEWS01/30309...
This bridge used to be the original alignment of US 31 into Louisville from New Albany, Indiana. US 31 was realigned onto the 2nd Street Bridge when it opened, however the K and I bridge remained opened until a truck caused some minor damage to the decking in the 70's.
As a railfan that has photographed this bridge in the past, just wanted to highlight an error in the description. This bridge is owned by Norfolk Southern, not CSX. You can see this in photo 13 of 27, if you enlarge it and look at the NO TRESPASSING sign, it shows NORFOLK SOUTHERN CORP under the words NO TRESPASSING. The southbound tracks lead directly into NS' Youngtown Yard in Louisville.
Whether or not the Sherman Minton Bridge would reopen, I don't know if this bridge would be reopened to permanent vehicle traffic or not. The vehicle lanes look extremely narrow and if your car broke down on the bridge, not only would tie-ups be created, a tow truck would have to back up for quite a distance to get to your car. I'd say if the north lane could be repaired and the vehicle lanes could be repaired for light traffic, have this bridge ready for light traffic in case the Sherman Minton bridge has to be closed whether for an accident or a failed inspection. Lets hope the following doesn't happen.
A Facebook fan page has recently been created for this bridge. See http://www.facebook.com/pages/Open-KI-Bridge/245436108834787...
Click "like" to join it.
Ed, You had a dream, and now it might be coming true. They are looking at the idea. Here is a link. Trying to decide if I would actually drive on it or not.
Maybe they will reopen the bridge to help with traffic while the I-64 bridge is closed! (yea, I know that not practical, but I can dream..)
I once had a photograph of this bridge while it was open..
It was posted in the Louisville Times/Courier Journal Newspaper... I have since NEVER seen a photo of this before or since.. Would love to have it again,,
Also I two was told it was only ever opened twice however I just fould this:The bridge also featured a rotating swing span opening for the passage of ships in high water. The bridge was only opened four times, twice for testing in 1913 and 1915, then in 1916 for the passage of the steamer "Tarascon" and in 1920 for passage of the Australian convict ship "Success". In 1948 it refused opening of the span for passage of the steamer "Gordon & Green" citing inconvenience and costs of cutting power and communication lines, an action for which K&I and LG&E both paid damages to that ship's company. In 1955 the K&I sought and received permission to permanently tie down the swing span from the Corps of Engineers.
This bridge was struck by a runaway barge a couple years back. here is a photo link i found.
http://lizziemorrison.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/ohioriverb...
found a way down below this bridge and took some photos of the swing span.
This bridge (K&I) was built(and re-built) with a swing span near the Indiana side. The idea being that the span could be turned 90 degress and that would allow boat passage during high water. It was only opened twice. Once during testing and once for it's intended use. The swing span was manually operated with lever and gears in a 'turret' assembly still visible on one pier. I could provide a photo if anyone cares to see it. Jim
The above mentioned article states the bridge name as the Kentucky/Illinois Bridge. That is incorrect. It's the Kentucky/Indiana Bridge or more commonly referred to as the K and I. My e-mail address is wrong in that posting as well. Thank you to a local author who brought this to my attention.
Valla Ann Bolovschak
812-981-8000
Making this bridge into a pedestrian bridge would be wonderful idea. It already has lanes that can be used for walkways, and it would complement the Big Four Bridge, which is currently being converted into a pedestrian bridge upstream. A wonderful idea is to link all bridges with walking/bike/hiking trails on both sides of the river. Please tell me of current plans for the use of the K and I Bridge.
Another worthwhile bridge, this had gratings that you could see the river through and several pull-over spots, if I remember correctly for the single lane on each side. The pull-over spots were to keep traffic moving in case of accident or breakdown, I have ridden over this bridge in a car, my father driving. Conversion of this bridge for bike and pedestrians would make a great idea and the wider spots would make great overlooks or picnicking areas.
This page's URL is http://bridgehunter.com/ky/jefferson/kirr/
As an Indiana kid in the 50s my father would drive us across the bridge to visit grandparents in Louisville. My mother hated the bridge but my brother and I were always excited to see a train. I have vivid memories of the open grid and noise made by the old 56 Chevy going across. I now wish we had taken photos,.. but thanks for the memories in these pics.