U.S. 51 Ohio River "Cairo" Bridge Safely Reopened Following Bridge Inspections Performed After Evening Tow Boat Incident
No damage identified after tow boat antenna mast made contact with portion of bridge approach span
PADUCAH, Ky. (May 10, 2024) – The U.S. 51 Ohio River "Cairo" Bridge has safely reopened to vehicular traffic after being temporarily closed this evening. The bridge was closed to allow a bridge inspection after a tow boat antenna mast made contact with a bridge beam.
The U.S. Coast Guard Ohio River Operations Center reported a harbor tug lost power after retrieving an empty barge from the fleet area just upstream from the bridge. While without power, the tow boat drifted downstream where the antenna mast hit a steel beam at the bottom of one of the bridge approach spans near the Kentucky shoreline.
KYTC certified bridge inspectors surveyed the truss girder beam impacted by the antenna mast and found no damage to the bridge.
The U.S. 51 Ohio River "Cairo" Bridge reopened to traffic at 9:33 p.m., CDT.
PHOTO NOTE: The file photo of the U.S. 51 Ohio River "Cairo" Bridge below is a shot from the Kentucky shoreline with the span hit by the antenna mast in the right side of the photo. It is a truss girder span immediately at the shoreline.
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The U.S. 51 Ohio River "Cairo" Bridge carries US 51, US 60, and US 62 traffic across the Ohio River at US 51 Kentucky mile point 7.372.
Also known as The Cairo Bridge, the structure carries approximately 4,700 vehicles across the Ohio River each day between Wickliffe, KY, and Cairo, IL. About 40 percent of that is commercial trucks. The bridge connects with the US 60/US 62 Mississippi River Bridge to Bird’s Point, Missouri at the southern tip of Illinois.
The U.S. 51 Ohio River "Cairo" Bridge was constructed by the Cairo Bridge Commission as a toll facility and opened to traffic on November 11, 1936. Tolls were removed from the crossing on November 11, 1948, when the state highway agencies of Kentucky and Illinois took over maintenance of the structure.
The bridge is at Ohio River navigation mile point 980.4.
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