The WVB East End Partners bridge project connecting Indiana and Kentucky celebrated a milestone today.  Construction crews have worked to build the 2,500-foot-long structure connecting Clark County and Prospect in Kentucky for a few years now. WVB East-End Partners assembled sections of the bridge span at the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville. Those pieces were shipped on barges and erected from the river with cranes, beginning at both shores and moving toward the middle.

That’s typical procedure for building cable-stay bridges — though cable-stay bridges, themselves, aren’t very typical, Morphonios said.

“I don’t know that you’ll see bridges of this nature built again in his area for quite a long time, because this one is designed to last 100 years,” he said.

Assembling the last section takes about a day or two, he said. The two ends must be jacked open to allow the last piece to squeeze in. Then, the section must be aligned properly so the bolts fit into holes on the structural steel.

“It’s a slow process,” Morphonios said.

 

A evergreen called a topping tree was placed during the final lift. It’s a common ceremonial ritual in the construction industry when the last beam or section is placed.

“[The milestone] is kind of a testament to all the hardworking men and women that have worked so many long hours on this bridge since early 2013 and worked in hot weather, freezing weather, weekends — so it’s really a big milestone for them,” Morphonios said.

 

“I think there will be a dignitary ribbon cutting to honor the two states and the governors, the local city mayors and everybody that was involved as a stakeholder in making this project happen,” Morphonios said.

Until then, construction crews must pour the concrete deck of the bridge and install roadway features, including barrier walls and lighting.

The entire $1.05 billion east-end crossing project includes not only the bridge but connecting interstate work in Indiana and Kentucky. Indiana’s approach stretches 4.5 miles and is comprised of new Indiana 265 interchanges at Port Road/Indiana 62 and Old Salem Road.

The east-end crossing is one part of the $2.3 billion Ohio River Bridges Project that will result in three tolled bridges.

A larger ceremony to celebrate the new bridge’s opening has yet to be finalized. Morphonios said limited parking spots limits anything large like the “Walk the Bridge” event last winter, celebrating the Abraham Lincoln Bridge.

“So we’re still trying to think of something to do if not this winter when we open to traffic or beforehand, but maybe this coming spring — something to celebrate the project,” he said.

As for a name — that’s up to Gov. Mike Pence. A bill in the Indiana General Assembly to name the Bridge after Lewis and Clark didn’t make it to the governor’s desk.

“Every time I ask those that are with our state agencies that we work with, nobody seems to know,” Morphonios said. “So I don’t have any close guesses.”

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