Steel Repairs Finishing Up On John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge At Louisville
Traffic control measures to be removed Monday morning
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Nov. 22, 2024) – A steel repair project on the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge, which carries Interstate 65 South over the Ohio River at Louisville, will be complete by Monday, Nov. 25 – ahead of schedule.
Traffic control measures currently in place will be removed beginning at 9 a.m. Monday, restoring full access to all lanes on the bridge.
This bridge repair project follows a federally required inspection of older bridges across the country built with “T-1” steel – a high-strength, quenched and treated steel known for being highly amenable to welding and machining. The inspections identified 44 locations in need of repair to prevent potential issues in the future. The repairs were carried out as a precautionary measure to ensure the bridge’s safety and reliability for future travel.
The work was successfully performed under a nearly $3 million contract by Southern Road and Bridge, LLC.
BACKGROUND:
In May 2021, a fracture was discovered in a weld – referred to as a “butt weld” – in a T-1 steel component of the Interstate 40 Hernando de Soto Bridge between Memphis, Tennessee, and West Memphis, Arkansas.
The bridge, like many others across the country, was built prior to the bridge welding code by the American National Standards Institute, American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, and American Welding Society.
As a result, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) in December 2021 issued a memorandum to all states to identify, inspect and test specific T-1 steel bridges to verify the soundness of all butt welds with the use of non-destructive testing.
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