US 421 bridge crossing Ohio River

[hbelkins]

http://madisoncourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=178&SubSectionID=270&ArticleID=60120

[ShawnP]

Congrats to Kentucky and Indiana. This thinking outside of the box saved both states alot of money and will really help motorists.

[agentsteel53]

Bridge team leaders told: your citizenry is a bunch of morons.

seriously, people won't take the bridge because it'll be closed for a week in July, and because of the use of the word "temporary" in an engineering report?  well, then, raise the speed limit to 90 and reduce the hassle upon the three people who do have the sense to take it!

[hbelkins]

The original plan was for this bridge to be closed for several months while the old one was torn down and the new one built.

This bridge was going to be one of the stops on the tour if there had been enough interest for me to put together a multi-day Kentucky meet earlier this year.

As it is, I'm supposed to get to go to check out the moving of the bridge, but there won't be much to see since they are only going to move it 10 feet a day.

[codyg1985]

Is there an official website that talks more about this project?

[hbelkins]

Is there an official website that talks more about this project?

http://www.miltonmadisonbridge.com

[ShawnP]

I live a hour or so away. So Road geek status updates will come. I will go out of the way going up to the Reds games to get updates next year.

[Scott5114]

Is the new bridge supposed to be a truss too? If so, this is this the first new truss bridge I've heard of.

[tdindy88]

Yes, it should be nearly identical to the current bridge, only a little wider. I'd assume that they are keeping the design of the bridge a truss because of the historic nature of Madison and the fact that a newer style bridge might be out of place for a community like Madison.

[hbelkins]

Is the new bridge supposed to be a truss too? If so, this is this the first new truss bridge I've heard of.

There have been a couple of new truss bridges built across the North Fork of the Kentucky River in Hazard the past several years.

[ShawnP]

Milton Madison down...............not good at all.

It's a brand, brand new bridge. Less than a month old.

Galloping Gerdy in the Ohio Valley?

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20120512/NEWS01/305120046/Milton-Madison-Bridge-abruptly-closed?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home

[tdindy88]

That shouldn't be the new bridge, the closing last month was just to build one of the temporary approaches to the bridge so that they can rebuild the permenant one. The old bridge is still up, and the new bridge is still on the river, IIRC.

[hbelkins]

The old bridge is still being used. I just wonder if the callers to 911 hadn't been imbibing?

It's back open to normal traffic at the posted 3 ton weight limit.

[bugo]

Is the new bridge supposed to be a truss too? If so, this is this the first new truss bridge I've heard of.

One of the Missouri 291 bridges over the Missouri River was built in something like 2000 and it's a cantilevered truss.  It's a near copy of the original bridge which is still in use except that it's wider.  Also the MO 370 bridge is a type of truss.  I think the MO 364 bridge is similar.

[ShawnP]

Drove that Missouri 291 bridge many times and yes it was completed early 2000's. Then they closed the old one and redecked it. In typical MODOT fashinoned they had to emergency close the old in 2009 summertime as the bridge wasn't repaired properly.

[mukade]

Heavy lifting of 1,776-ton section of bridge over Ohio at Madison underway

[Sykotyk]

I drove the 421 once. Definitely an interesting drive. Just as small and narrow as US59 from IL to MO.

[andy]

Looks like major progress for the Milton-Madison Bridge with concrete being poured for the deck;

http://madisoncourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=178&SubSectionID=964&ArticleID=76258

Only a few more weeks for the "thrill" of crossing the old narrow bridge.

Once the new deck is ready, traffic will be shifted, the old bridge will be removed and the new bridge's "big slide" will happen sometime mid summer.

http://www.wdrb.com/story/22056354/new-milton-madison-bridge-nearing-completion

[andy]

This is the last weekend for the old bridge.  Traffic will be moving early next week to the new deck on its temporary piers.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced this morning that traffic will switch over to the new span of the Madison-Milton bridge on June 3 or 4.

Drivers will no longer use the temporary approaches to get across the bridge.

Drivers will use the newly constructed permanent approaches to drive onto a short transition span, which will divert drivers onto the new bridge.

The new bridge is 40 feet wide - twice as wide as the old bridge. It has two 12-foot lanes and eight-foot shoulders.

The weight limit on the new bridge will be extended to 15 tons until the bridge is moved to its permanent position, a change from earlier released weight-limit information. The 36-foot length restriction will remain in place.

Once traffic is diverted to the new bridge, workers will begin demolishing the steel truss of the old bridge, said Andrea Clifford, public information officer for the Louisville district of the KYTC.

After the demolition, the new bridge will be slid onto the renovated, existing piers.

At that time, the bridge will be closed for about a week for the slide and to connect the approaches. An exact date for the slide has not yet been determined.

http://madisoncourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=178&SubSectionID=964&ArticleID=76923

I was able to get over and drive the old bridge for the last time last Saturday.  The new deck looks huge by comparison.

http://www.miltonmadisonbridge.com/construction/construction-update/

[andy]

The traffic has been moved to the new ramps and deck as of 9:30pm 6/4/2013.

There are still temporary "bridges" on each end of the bridge where the ramps and deck are offset pending demolition of the old deck and trusses.

http://madisoncourier.com/main.asp?SectionID=178&SubSectionID=963&ArticleID=77009

http://www.miltonmadisonbridge.com/news-center/

[andy]

Partial demolition of the old span announce for July 17.

http://www.miltonmadisonbridge.com/news-center/

[JMoses24]

Partial demolition of the old span announce for July 17.

http://www.miltonmadisonbridge.com/news-center/

Not anymore. Per the link I'll attach (from WSCH-FM in Aurora, Indiana upstream from Madison), the demolition is now scheduled for Thursday.

http://www.eaglecountryonline.com/news.php?nID=5897

[hbelkins]

Due to river current and high water. We've had an awful lot of rain in the Kentucky River valley, and the Kentucky flows into the Ohio upstream of Madison, and there's been a lot of rain in the upper Ohio valley as well.

[JMoses24]

Due to river current and high water. We've had an awful lot of rain in the Kentucky River valley, and the Kentucky flows into the Ohio upstream of Madison, and there's been a lot of rain in the upper Ohio valley as well.

In other words, their concern is that once the pieces go in, getting them out with divers will be WAY too dangerous.

Also, what's the chance a large enough piece of debris breaks off on its own, then it goes downstream in the fast current and hits something (could be the new bridge's temporary piers, the bridges in Louisville, or McAlpine Dam) and causes damage there? It's probably highly unlikely, but explosives sometimes don't do what you think they will. That may be a concern too.

[andy]

I'm sure there's not any concern for Louisville, its a long ways down stream.

I went over the new bridge Saturday, and they have the old bridge sripped pretty bare, so there's nothing much for the current to push.  However the temp piers are only a few tens of feet down stream.

I suspect the divers are the real concern, because closing the river for 24 hours is a big deal and I'm sure there will be severe penalties for going longer.

I also have not heard any reports on the slide date.  Most recently it was mid-July.  There remains three to four demolitions, each one week apart, then some work on the permanent piers - guessing six to eight weeks.  Sounds like mid to late September for the slide; anyone know for sure?