68/80 Bridge over KY Lake to be open by May 27

In this mornings Lexington Herald, the State has awarded a $7 Million dollar contract to repair the 68/80 Bridge over KY Lake. The bridge is to be repaired and open by May 27th to get that Memorial Day traffic. There is no incentive to the contractor to get it done early but there is a penalty of $50,000 per day for every day past May 27th that the bridge is not complete. Hall Contracting out of Louisville received the bid that was well under the $11 Million Dollar bid that 2 other contractors had submitted. That sure does seem like a huge discrepency between 1 guy and the other 2. Hall is the same company that just completed the repairs on the Sherman Minton Bridge connecting Louisville and Southern Indiana.

:eek: I see a few $500,000 change orders coming!!!

I just don't see how they're going to have a bridge in there in less than 80 days........the clock is ticking!


I really thought they meant Memorial Day of 2013, not 2012....when the news article came out, it didn't really specify.


You know, they invited 3 contractors to bid on the project rather than going through a formal bid process. How did those 3 get picked? Was it based on their political donations during the last election?

And who the heck leaves $4 million on the table?!?! I can't believe they didn't try and retract that bid. It would take a lot of change orders to cover that!

I drove through Aurora yesterday, and saw several signs that said "welcome bridge workers" - I really don't see the workers staying on that side of the bridge. I figure they'll be working from the other side and staying in Cadiz, but who knows.

It didn't say if it was 2012 or 2013. It did say that there was no structural damage under the water which would have caused a much longer delay in repairs. I am with Scott, 80 day seems like a short window to get it repaired. The main reason for such a quick date to complete was the holiday traffic season opens Memorial Day.

[QUOTE=Netboy Extraordinaire;483671]It didn't say if it was 2012 or 2013. It did say that there was no structural damage under the water which would have caused a much longer delay in repairs. I am with Scott, 80 day seems like a short window to get it repaired. The main reason for such a quick date to complete was the holiday traffic season opens Memorial Day.[/QUOTE]

The traffic will actually start on Friday, the 27th is Sunday

I'm sure those Wranglers horse folks will be frustrated!

All I can figure is that they have a bridge somewhere already made that they will modify to fit. Maybe an old military style Bailey Bridge or something of that nature. I would say it will have a very light load rating, maybe so light that the horse trailers and large pickups can't cross, or even boats for that matter. I think commuter traffic would be their primary concern, as many who cross that bridge either work in Murray or attend Murray State...I can't imagine living in Cadiz and trying to get to class in Murray with that bridge out!

I look forward to hearing more details about this.

I don't know where the bridge girders will be built, but, they could be built at Stupp Bridge in Bowling Green and shipped right down 68/80. Once the the shop had the material those girder sections could prob be shipped in three weeks or so. If there's room on the schedule and in the shop to work them thru. I lasted little over two years there when they first moved to B G. They put out a good product but man that's a hellish place to have to make a living. I'm all for getting it back up as soon as possible!!!