Sherman Minton Bridge Closed Indefinitely After Crews Find Potential Weakness

[Project Grudge]

Source: WFPL: Louisville Public Media

The bridge carries traffic on Interstate 64 between Kentucky and New Albany, Indiana. Traffic is being rerouted to I-265 and I-65. It will likely back up traffic on the Kennedy and Clark Memorial bridges between Indiana and downtown Louisville.

Further inspections of the Sherman Minton Bridge will take place in the coming days, according to a statement from Governor Daniels.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer says closing the bridge is “the right decision.” City officials will meet with state officials to prepare for Monday’s rush hour and any subsequent delays.

The closure comes one day after President Barack Obama’s jobs speech, in which he mentioned the Brent Spencer Bridge between Kentucky and Ohio as an example of the nation’s crumbling infrastructure. Several observers on Twitter were quick to point that out. The hashtag #loubridge is the most commonly used for tweets about the situation. WFPL will use it whenever possible.

Read more: http://www.wfpl.org/2011/09/09/sherman-minton-bridge-closed-after-crews-find-potential-weakness/

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Crumbling infrastructure. If anyone knows Louisville and the amount of trucking traffic that goes through the area, they can confirm how bad this is going to be. Rush hour commutes will be a nightmare in this city.

[Hubert Flottz]

1. Too bad we can't spend anymore money on anything that needs fixed.

Mitch said so. He wants Obama to fail and that bridge to fail too.

[PuffedMica]

6. Yeah, we need that money for three wars

One day's operating expense in Iraq could build a new bridge before the end of next year.

[kyjimbo51]

7. bridge closure

What would Gov.Perry do? Fire the inspectors!

[Hubert Flottz]

13. Sounds about right.

National Security begins at home, IMHO.

[OswegoAtheist]

2. It's a bleak picture

As things stand right now, our future comes in two flavours:

a. We barely have enough funding to have inspectors make a few rare appearances at bridges, dams, dikes, etc. They can't fix them, but at least we'll know approximately when and why they'll fail. Highways and rail lines become an increasingly complex maze of detours, turnarounds and dead ends.

b. Same as a., but we can't even pay for the inspections.

Oswego "Surprise! by flawed structural design" Atheist

[ashling]

3. Rush Hour will officially be referred to as

McConnel Hour

[aquart]

4. Could create a lot of jobs if we just fixed what's broken.

[hunter]

10. A lot of jobs here and in China, Japan, and the U.K...

... if it's anything like the replacement San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge here in California.



wikipedia

[NBachers]

5. Well then just cut funding for the inspectors- problem solved

[pmorlan1]

8. I live in Louisville

This will cause major headaches for the people who live in Indiana and work in Kentucky. I'm just glad we didn't have a collapsed bridge with cars and people in the water. I'm probably being cynical but when they shut down the bridge we also wondered if this was to bring a sense of urgency to starting the new bridge project that has been in the works for years.

[Historic NY]

9. Maybe someone ought to pressure their Repuke Senator's to pass the damn bill...

right away.

[tartan2]

11. And that Repuke Senator would be

none other than Mitch McConnell! Forget about the bridge, Mitch's main goals are to make sure President Obama is a one term president and the other goal would be obstruction!!

[daa]

12. Rich repugs they should pay to fix it themselves nt

[quakerboy]

15. Are you kidding me?

Think about what you are saying. These are the job kreaters and the tax payers. Plus it aint like they need the bridge. They have helecopters and sech.

No, this bridge is for the benefit of them Lazy jobless non-taxpayin persons, and so suchlike sociatal leaches should be fixing it. Make them work for their free unemployment money, eh.

[FarCenter]

14. Looks like they need to complete I-265 upstream

So that I-64 traffic doesn't have to go through downtown Louisville.

[greymattermom]

16. 71 overpass

I just drove down Blankenbaker and they were inspecting the 71 overpass near River Road. Maybe there is a plan to this. Close all suspect bridges, snarl traffic, get funds to hire people to get back to work. The usual route to the casino from Louisville is now closed.