Brief Traffic Halt for Demolition of Old Eggners Ferry Bridge Piers set for Monday & Tuesday, Aug 22 & 23

UPDATE: The blast to take out below-water sections of two piers on the Old Eggners Ferry
Bridge have been rescheduled.  The first blast is now expected sometime this
afternoon.  The second blast is expected sometime after noon on Tuesday.

The blasts will require highway traffic on the New Eggners Ferry Bridge to be halted
for about 10 to 15 minutes for the detonation.
A contractor for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans an explosives detonation
to blast away the below-water portion of two piers on the Old Eggners Ferry Bridge
at Kentucky Lake on Monday and Tuesday, August 22 & 23, 2016.

In recent weeks, the contractor has used industrial-strength jackhammers to chip
away the above-water sections of the piers, leaving only the underwater sections to
be demolished with explosives.  To facilitate the detonation, the contractor plans
to briefly halt traffic on the New US 68/KY 80 Eggners Ferry Bridge on Monday and
Tuesday morning between approximately 7 a.m., CDT and 9 a.m.

Police will provide assistance with rolling road blocks to halt traffic just prior
to the detonation.  There should be one blast each morning and they are expected to
require traffic to be halted for approximately 10 to 15 minutes each.

There will be a 1,000 foot clear zone around the blast site.  The public may observe
the blast from the Kenlake State Park Amphitheater.  However, the blast will be
mostly below water level and not as spectacular as the blast that took down the
truss spans of the structure on July 25th.

Once each pier been imploded, the demolition crew and Transportation Cabinet
inspectors will check the new bridge for possible blast debris before allowing
highway traffic to be restored.  All boat traffic through the bridge construction
zone will also be halted for a short time to facilitate the blast.

Immediately following the blast, the contractor will move equipment back into the
area to recover debris from the bottom of the lake.

Again, highway and boat traffic will be halted on the New Eggners Ferry Bridge for
about 10 to 15 minutes on Monday & Tuesday morning between 7 a.m., and 9 a.m., CDT,
to allow explosive demolition of two piers on the Old Eggners Ferry Bridge at
Aurora.

Highway traffic was moved to the New U.S. 68/KY 80 Eggners Ferry Bridge on April 8,
2016.  That move prompted an accelerated effort to demolish the old bridge which
opened to traffic in March 1932.

Johnson Brothers Corporation of Ft. Worth, TX, a Southland Company, is the prime
contractor on the $133 million New Eggners Ferry Bridge project, which includes
demolition of the old structure.

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