John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge

Infobox_Bridge
bridge_name= John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge


caption=The John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge in 2006 as seen from Louisville Waterfront Park
official_name=
carries= 7 lanes of Interstate 65
crosses= Ohio River
locale= Louisville, Kentucky and Jeffersonville, Indiana
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design= Cantilever bridge
mainspan= 700 feet x 2 spans
length= 2,498 feet
width=
clearance=
below=
traffic=
open= December 6, 1963
closed=
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coordinates= coord|38|15|52|N|85|44|37|W|region:US_type:landmark
lat=
long= The John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge is a seven-lane, single-deck cantilever bridge that carries Interstate 65 across the Ohio River, connecting Louisville, Kentucky and Jeffersonville, Indiana. The main span is 700 feet (two spans) and the bridge has a total length of 2498 feet. There are four lanes that go northbound and three lanes that carry southbound traffic across the bridge.

Designed by the Louisville engineering firm of Hazelet & Erdal, construction began in the spring of 1961 and was completed in late 1963 at a cost of $10 million. The span had yet to be named when U.S. President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Four days later, Kentucky Governor Bert T. Combs announced that there was wide agreement that the bridge would be named in Kennedy's honor. The bridge was dedicated and opened for northbound traffic on December 6, and southbound traffic began flowing a few weeks later.

Between the late 1990s and 2006, the bridge was covered with rust-like spots for years and the state of Kentucky had failed in attempts to rectify this, a subject of local controversy. The state had twice had contractors paid to repaint the bridge fail to do so. The attempts cost over $23 million, with little apparent result. The first of the two contracts, awarded in 1999, ended two years later in a bribery scandal that resulted in criminal prosecution. [cite news|first=Sheldon S.|last=Shafer| url=http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060209/NEWS01/602090404/1008/NEWS01/| title=Kennedy Bridge painting deal canceled; State says job only 6 percent complete|publisher=The Courier-Journal|accessdate=2006-07-23]

In October 2006, the state awarded a $14.7 million contract to a Lexington company to paint half the bridge by Summer 2007. The new contract differed in that the project was split in two, and the original plans for a three color paint scheme were replaced with a simpler all beige colored one. The very southernmost portion of the bridge was completed in three colors (brown, beige, and green), although this will be painted over. [cite news|url=http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061006/NEWS01/61006015|first=Sheldon S.|last=Shafer|title=State awards $14.7 million bid to paint half of Kennedy Bridge|date=2006-10-06|publisher=The Courier-Journal]

On December 5, 2007, the painting project was completed at a cost of $59 millon dollars which included the two previous failed painting projects. [cite news|url=http://www.whas11.com/topstories/stories/120407whasjdtopstorybridge.6afad7f5.html]

econd span

Plans are in the works to build a new span immediately upstream from the Kennedy Bridge as part of the Ohio River Bridges Project, a project to relieve traffic congestion in the Louisville area. The new bridge will provide six lanes for northbound I-65, while the Kennedy Bridge will be converted to carry six lanes of southbound traffic.

References

ee also

*Kennedy Interchange ("Spaghetti Junction")
*List of crossings of the Ohio River

External links

* [http://www.kentuckyroads.com/images/kennedy_bridge/ John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge at Kentuckyroads.com]

Crossings navbox
structure = Bridges
place = Ohio River
bridge = John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge
bridge signs =
upstream = Big Four Bridge
upstream signs =
downstream = George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge
downstream signs =