A state highway placard shows four types of bridge under consideration to replace the Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley bridges on Highway 68. The audience at the event had an opportunity to look at over two dozen designs and give the state feedback about which features were appealing.
According to design specifications, each bridge will feature two, 12-foot lanes in both directions of travel, a break down lane in each direction, a center divider and a pedestrian/bicyclist lane. For maritime traffic on the lakes, the bridges will be designed with a 502-foot navigational span, offering 60-feet of clearance from summer-pool lake levels and the lowest part of the structure.
Though the state allocated funding to design the bridges, no money has been earmarked to build the two bridges, which, if built today, would cost between $80 million and $100 million each. Several members of the audience, while looking at about two-dozen different bridge designs inquired about the cost of each. The multitude of designs could be built to the same standards despite appearance and construction method. Each would shoulder the same dead and live loads, seismic and wind resistance, and safety against a barge collision.
Find full details of the proposed new bridges in The Cadiz Record.
