Ohio River Closures Set For Bridge Repair

Repairs to the Louisville & Indiana Railroad drawbridge in Louisville, Ky., will force two closures of the Ohio River.

The river will close at the bridge at Ohio River Mile 604.4 from October 15 to October 20 and again from November 4 to November 9. The closures will be only for the area immediately surrounding the bridge.

The closure is necessary as the drawbridge’s lifting cables and associated equipment, including sheaves and brakes, are replaced, said Eric Washburn, U.S. Coast Guard Eighth District bridge branch supervisor.

“Once the cables come off, the bridge cannot raise,” he said.

Additionally, he said, there will be construction barges in the navigational span.

Washburn added that the replacements are necessary because the lifting cables are coming to the end of their service life.

Once the Coast Guard had worked out the proposal for the repair work with the bridge owner, Washburn said he discussed the closure plans with Coast Guard Sector Ohio Valley, the Army Corps of Engineers and several members of the marine industry.

“Industry members requested a large block of time between closures to move barges upriver and then back downriver,” Washburn said. “That is why there is the time between the two closures, rather than one longer closure.”