View a map of the Downtown Bridge.
The new Downtown Bridge will carry traffic north on Interstate 65 and will span the Ohio River immediately upstream, or east, of the John F. Kennedy Bridge, which currently carries all I-65 traffic. Once opened, the new, six-lane bridge will allow the Kennedy Bridge to transition to a six-lane bridge for southbound traffic on I-65.
The new bridge will be a three-tower, cable-stayed bridge which was the type selected by the Ohio River Bridges Project’s Executive Bridge Type Selection Committee. This body selected the bridge type after an extensive public involvement process narrowed potential bridge types to three selections. The 14-member committee was made up of elected officials and citizen representatives from both Kentucky and Indiana.
The three-tower, cable-stayed bridge includes:
- A pair of 210' center towers and two pairs of 125’ adjacent towers supporting cables on either side of the bridge deck
- Two 750-foot deck spans on either side of the center towers with 250-foot deck spans on either side connecting to approach structures
- Two 12-foot shoulders on each side of the bridge
- A 17-foot pedestrian/bicycle path along the upstream (east) side of the crossing
Final design for the bridge began in early 2007 after the selection of the bridge type and is expected to last until 2009. Construction is expected to begin in 2015 with a completion target of 2019.
The Section Design Consultant for the Downtown Bridge is Michael Baker Jr. Inc., of Louisville, Ky. J.B. Williams serves as project manager.
For more information, contact the Downtown Bridge project team via the online comment form found here.