Representatives of area law enforcement agencies plan to continue their enhanced enforcement of a three-ton load restriction on the U.S. 60 Tennessee River Bridge at Ledbetter.
Livingston County Sheriff Bobby Davidson, McCracken County Sheriff Jon Hayden, highways engineers and representatives of the Kentucky State Police (KSP) and Vehicle Enforcement Division have pledged to continue efforts to keep overweight vehicles off the bridge.
KSP reported 37 citations written by their officers as of Wednesday afternoon, including one DUI. The other participating agencies reported writing dozens of citations to overweight vehicles crossing the bridge with the numbers gradually dropping through the week as word has spread about the stepped up police effort.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KyTC) engineers are awaiting a printout from monitoring equipment placed on the bridge to help determine the number and size of vehicles illegally crossing the structure.
Livingston County Judge-Executive Chris Lasher expressed concern that if violations continue the bridge would have to be closed to all traffic. KyTC highway engineers indicated that would be an option if trucks and other large vehicles continued to ignore the posted load limit. Signs and message board have been placed on all highways approaching the bridge to alert truckers and motorists to the three-ton limit.
Engineers continue developing plans to make repairs to the structure to improve the likelihood that it can remain open to passenger vehicles and unloaded standard pickup trucks until a new bridge being constructed just upstream can be completed in mid-2014.
Also known as the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge and The Ledbetter Bridge, the U.S. 60 Tennessee River Bridge connects McCracken County to Livingston County between Paducah and Ledbetter. The bridge was opened to traffic in 1931 and now carries approximately 7,800 vehicles across the Tennessee River in an average day.
