Eggner Ferry Bridge, also known as Eggner's Ferry Bridge, is a four-lane

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

in Trigg and

Marshall Marshall may refer to: Places Australia * Marshall, Victoria, a suburb of Geelong, Victoria Canada * Marshall, Saskatchewan * The Marshall, a mountain in British Columbia Liberia * Marshall, Liberia Marshall Islands * Marshall Islands, an i ...

counties in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. The current through-arch bridge opened to traffic on April 7, 2016, replacing a two-lane

bowstring truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

constructed in 1932. The bridge carries

US 68 U.S. Route 68 (US 68) is a United States highway that runs for from northwest Ohio to Western Kentucky. The highway's western terminus is at US 62 in Reidland, Kentucky. Its present northern terminus is at Interstate 75 in Findlay, Ohio, though ...

and

Kentucky Route 80 Kentucky Route 80 (KY 80) is a state highway in the southern part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. The route originates on the state's western border at Columbus in Hickman County and stretches across the southern portion of the state, ...

across

Kentucky Lake Kentucky Lake is a major navigable reservoir along the Tennessee River in Kentucky and Tennessee. It was created in 1944 by the Tennessee Valley Authority's impounding of the Tennessee River via Kentucky Dam for flood control and hydroelectric p ...

. The main span of the original 1932 bridge collapsed on January 26, 2012 after it was hit by a ship. There were no injuries. The bridge was repaired and reopened to traffic on May 25 of that year. On the morning of July 25, 2016, the middle four spans of the old Eggner's Ferry Bridge were brought down using controlled explosives.

History

The bridge was built to cross the

Tennessee River The Tennessee River is the largest tributary of the Ohio River. It is approximately long and is located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. The river was once popularly known as the Cherokee River, among other names, ...

before Kentucky Lake was planned. The bridge was opened to traffic on March 25, 1932. On July 10, 1943, officials shut the bridge down for five months to build new

pilings A deep foundation is a type of foundation (architecture), foundation that transfers building loads to the earth farther down from the surface than a shallow foundation does to a subsurface layer or a range of depths. A pile or piling is a ...

and raise the structure to make room for Kentucky Lake. A

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water taxi ...

was established to cross the river while the bridge was closed.

Kentucky Governor The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-el ...

Simeon S. Willis Simeon Slavens Willis (December 1, 1879April 1, 1965) was an American attorney who served as the List of governors of Kentucky, 46th Governor of Kentucky, United States, serving from 1943 to 1947. He was the only Republican Party (United States), ...

presided over the re-opening of the bridge in February 1944. The bridge, plus a sister bridge that crosses nearby

Lake Barkley Lake Barkley, a reservoir in Livingston County, Lyon County and Trigg County in Kentucky and extending into Stewart County and Houston County in Tennessee, was impounded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1966 upon the completion of Bar ...

, was slated to be replaced by a tied-arch bridge with four traffic lanes plus a sidewalk and bike path. Construction of the new bridges was initially scheduled to begin in 2011 as part of an upgrade to the existing 68/80 corridor. The project was expected to be completed in late 2017; however, due to damage by a ship strike in January 2012, the timetable was moved forward. The new bridge opened for traffic on 2 lanes in summer of 2016. The old bridge was closed permanently in May 2016; on July 25, 2016 construction crews used explosives to demolish the original 1932 structure.

January 2012 incident

Delta Mariner at Eggner Ferry Bridge collapse site

A mainspan of the bridge collapsed after being struck by the cargo vessel MV ''Delta Mariner'' on January 26, 2012. At least four vehicles were reported to be on the bridge near the time of the collapse. One pickup truck stopped about 5 feet (1.5 m) from the edge of the missing section; the driver reported that two cars had stopped directly behind him, and he saw another car on the opposite side of the missing section. No injuries were reported. The

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

reported on January 27 that the ''Delta Mariner'' hit the bridge when it tried to pass through what is known as the recreational channel, which has a lower clearance, instead of the shipping channel, which the vessel normally used. Reports indicate that some of the bridge's navigational lighting was inoperative at the time of the incident.

Paducah Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Miss ...

television station

WPSD-TV WPSD-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Paducah, Kentucky, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for Western Kentucky's Jackson Purchase region, Southern Illinois, the Missouri Bootheel, and northwest Tennessee. Owned by ...

reported earlier in the week that the bridge was to be reduced to one lane on January 27 for a

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is Kentucky's state-funded agency charged with building and maintaining federal highways and Kentucky state highways, as well as regulating other transportation related issues. The Transportation Cabi ...

(KYTC) crew to repair the lights. KYTC spokesman Keith Todd stated that the lights facing the MV Delta Mariner were operational, and that the Coast Guard had made the lighting situation known to vessels operating on the waterway. Kentucky Governor

Steve Beshear Steven Lynn Beshear (born September 21, 1944) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 61st governor of Kentucky from 2007 to 2015. He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1974 to 1980, was the state's 44th atto ...

announced that the state would immediately review all options for restoring the roadway to service. "We are grateful that this wreck caused no injuries or loss of life. Since that bridge carries 2,800 cars every day, we were very fortunate that no one was on the span at that time," said Beshear. "We'll turn our attention to a full inspection of the bridge and determine what steps we can take next to speed up the replacement of that important artery." An ongoing concern was the economic impact of the loss of the bridge. The collapse had an immediate impact on employees and students at

Murray State University Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, H ...

who normally crossed the bridge during their commutes. According to university officials, about 270 students who attend classes in

Murray Murray may refer to: Businesses * Murray (bicycle company), an American manufacturer of low-cost bicycles * Murrays, an Australian bus company * Murray International Trust, a Scottish investment trust * D. & W. Murray Limited, an Australian who ...

, 210 of them attending full-time, live in two counties ( Trigg and

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

) for which the most direct route to campus is via the bridge. In addition, at the time of the collapse, the school's

nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

students had a clinical placement in

Hopkinsville Hopkinsville is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of Christian County, Kentucky, United States. The population at the 2010 census was 31,577. History Early years The area of present-day Hopkinsville was initially claimed in 1796 b ...

, the county seat of Christian County. These individuals were forced to take a longer route to the university, increasing driving times by approximately an hour, and also increasing their fuel costs to cover the extra distance. University officials worked with students to identify and resolve problems caused by the bridge collapse. On March 8, 2012, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet awarded an emergency repair contract to Hall Contracting of Kentucky, Inc. The contract called for repairing and reopening the bridge before the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. The same company had also completed emergency repairs to the

Sherman Minton Bridge The Sherman Minton Bridge is a double-deck through arch bridge spanning the Ohio River, carrying I-64 and US 150 over the river between Kentucky and Indiana. The bridge connects the west side of Louisville, Kentucky to downtown New Albany, In ...

between New Albany, IN and Louisville, KY on a contract with the Indiana Department of Transportation. The bridge was reopened on May 25, 2012.

History

January 2012 incident

References

External links