New Downtown Louisville Bridge Opens to Traffic in December

November 6, 2015

A construction project that began nearly 2 years ago is getting very close to the end. The Downtown Crossing bridge will soon carry traffic across the Ohio River between Louisville and Jeffersonville. The Downtown Crossing is part of the comprehensive Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project that includes a revamp of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge and improvement of interstate connections. All of these components together should hopefully help relieve traffic congestion, prevent auto accidents and generally make travel more efficient in the Louisville-Jeffersonville area. The entirety of the project is expected to be completed by December 2016. The Downtown Crossing is now expected to be open to traffic by Christmas this year.

Above: The Downtown Crossing at night. Photo courtesy of the Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project.

Above: Illustration of the Downtown Crossing bridge next to the Kennedy Bridge. Illustration courtesy of the Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project.

Before the bridge opens to traffic, you can get an up-close and personal look at the bridge on December 5, when officials invite pedestrians to walk the bridge. Visit the bridge between 10 am and 2 pm on December 5 to walk up the ramp to the bridge and across almost the entire length of the bridge. There will be “selfie stations” throughout so that you can snap a picture of yourself during this historic celebration event.

Commuters will likely breathe a sigh of relief once the bridge finally opens to traffic. After everything is said and done – including the revamp of the Kennedy bridge – the Downtown Crossing will carry six lanes of I-65 traffic northbound across the river, and the Kennedy bridge will carry six lanes of southbounders. But to start with, the Downtown Crossing will carry both directions of traffic as all but one lane of the Kennedy Bridge is closed for construction, which precedes the full closure of the entire Kennedy Bridge for several months.

Source: whas11.com/story/news/traffic/accident-construction/2015/11/05/public-invited-walk-new-downtown-bridge/75214886/