GALLATIN CO., Ill./UNION CO., Ky.—Here’s an advisory from the Illinois State Police and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet:
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans to restrict traffic to one lane
on the KY 56/Illinois Route 13 Ohio River Bridge at Shawneetown starting
Monday, April 1, 2013.
The lane restriction is to allow a contract inspection team to use a
“snooper” truck and climbers to conduct a detailed inspection of the bridge
structure.
Motorists should be prepared to encounter one lane traffic with alternating
flow controlled by flaggers between about 8:00 a.m., CDT, and about 4:00
p.m., each weekday. Climbers may be working on the bridge until dark
without lane restrictions.
Appropriate caution is required in the work zone where equipment, flaggers,
and maintenance personnel will be on the bridge deck in close proximity to
traffic flow.
All bridges get a detailed inspection every two years. Long-span bridges
over rivers and lakes get additional walk-through inspections annually.
The inspection of the Shawneetown Bridge is expected to take about a week
to complete, weather permitting.
The Shawneetown Bridge connects KY 56/Morganfield-Shawneetown Road at the
0.0 mile marker with Illinois Route 13 across the Ohio River between
Morganfield, Kentucky, and Shawneetown, Illinois. About 3,800 vehicles
cross the bridge in an average day.
The 3,200 ft. structure opened to traffic in 1956, maintaining a historic
transportation link that started with ferry service at the site as early as
1802.
The Shawneetown Bridge is at Ohio River navigation mile point 858.1
Timely traffic advisories for the 11 counties of KYTC Highway District 2
are available by going to www.facebook.com/kytcdistrict2
to be a Facebook member to access this page.
