EDDYVILLE, KY (5/21/12) - Construction workers poured a concrete deck on the US 68/KY 80 Eggners Ferry Bridge replacement span this morning.
 
With the new span set in place on Monday, workers turned their efforts to placing forms and reinforcing steel required for the new deck.
 
Starting just after daylight this morning, concrete trucks started rolling up to the west end of the bridge. The concrete was then pumped down the new span where a swarm of workers surrounded a finishing machine that spread the concrete along the awaiting forms and reinforcing steel.
 
Starting from the east end at 5:00 a.m., the finishing machine and crew took about 5 hours to move the entire length of the 322 ft. Span.
 
Once the new concrete has had time to cure, a crew will remove guides required for the finishing machine. The next step will be to install forms for curbing along the deck. The curbs are likely to be poured late Monday or early Tuesday. The entire deck will need a couple of days of curing time.
 
Work on the new deck is focused on meeting the Memorial Day Weekend deadline for restoring traffic. Hall Contracting and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Engineers are confident they can have the bridge ready to open as scheduled.
 
Once the deck has cured, A KYTC electrical crew will continue adding conduit to the new portion of the structure. Power for the bridge originally came from the LBL/Trigg County side. After the 322 ft. span was knocked off the bridge by the Cargo Ship Delta Mariner on January 26th, electric power to the bridge had to be temporarily re-routed to come from the Marshall County or western end of the structure. As part of the restoration of the missing span, electric power will again be supplied from the LBL end.
 
With the new deck poured on the replacement span, KYTC construction inspectors will carefully check samples of the concrete to assure it is of proper strength.
 
Before traffic can be restored, a team of KYTC bridge inspectors will check and document the new span.
 
The new deck is designed to closely match the existing 22 ft. wide deck on the rest of the 81 year old structure.
 
Hall Contracting of Louisville has a $7 million contract to replace the missing span and get the bridge reopened to traffic by Memorial Day weekend.
 
The bridge serves as the western entrance to The Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area providing a key transportation link for the tourism industry in Kentucky’s 15-county Western Lakes Region. According to Kentucky’s Western Waterland, a regional tourism promotion group, tourism dollars provide a direct annual contribution of $472 million to the region and a direct contribution of $7.4 billion to the Kentucky economy statewide.
 
Photos of today's concrete pour on the bridge deck are posted at www.facebook.com/kytcdistrict1. You do not have to be a Facebook member to access this page.
 
SurfKY News
Information provided by Keith Todd (KTC)

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