Kentucky Bridge Replaced in 17 Weeks

摘要

On January 26, 2012, a tall barge collided with and collapsed a 322-ft span of Eggner's Ferry Bridge, which carries US 68/KY 80 over Kentucky Lake in Western Kentucky. No vehicles were on the span at the time and no injuries resulted from the collapse. However, the bridge closing caused a 50-mile detour and cut off a link to the area and the western gateway to the land between the Lakes National Recreational Area. To expedite replacement, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) prescribed a single-span steel truss using an accelerated bid-procurement process. The design-build contract for replacing the span was awarded on March 7, 2012. The bridge opened to traffic on May 25, 2012-two days ahead of schedule, 11 weeks after bid award and 17 weeks after bridge closure. Such an accelerated schedule required very close cooperation between KYTC, Michael Baker Jr., Tensor Engineering and Hall Contracting of Kentucky Inc.