Beginning on Saturday, Aug. 1, the Ohio River Bridge at Cario, Ill., near Wickliffe, Ky., will be closed for 30 days for repairs to a two-mile section of the approach on the Kentucky side.
The U.S. 51 Ohio River Bridge serves as a north-south connection for U.S. 51, as well as an east-west connection for U.S. 60 and U.S. 62. The bridge carries about 7,000 vehicles per day between Kentucky and Illinois. About a third of the traffic on the bridge is commercial trucks, many of them hauling wheat, soybeans, and corn to nearby grain handling facilities.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 1 Chief Engineer Kyle Poat recognizes the closure is a hardship on commuters, businesses, and industries that depend on the bridge.
“We carefully considered about a half-dozen options for completing both the bridge work and the levee work this construction season,” Poat said. “We looked at overnight closures and weekend closures. Those options did not allow enough construction time for completion of the work this year. This 30-day closure, while creating a temporary hardship, gets the work completed and the bridge reopened to one-lane traffic in the shortest possible time.”
The U.S. 51 Ohio River Bridge serves as a north-south connection for U.S. 51, as well as an east-west connection for U.S. 60 and U.S. 62. The bridge carries about 7,000 vehicles per day between Kentucky and Illinois. About a third of the traffic on the bridge is commercial trucks, many of them hauling wheat, soybeans, and corn to nearby grain handling facilities.
When the bridge closes Aug. 1, a normal 5-mile drive from Wickliffe, Ky., to Cairo, Ill., will become an 80-mile detour via the Interstate 24 Ohio River Bridge at Paducah. Portable message boards will be set up at key locations to alert travelers and truckers to the closure before they reach the bridge.
There will be no marked detour.
The Dorena-Hickman Ferry is a viable alternative for some local commuters needing to cross the Mississippi River. There is a $14 toll for passenger vehicles with a half-price return trip.
