2023: (The truss is still being built in Jan 2022)
This bridge was designed by Modjeski & Masters and has a 500' main span.
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C Hanchey Flickr, License: Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) Lucy Jefferson Lewis Memorial BridgeHistoric Lucy Jefferson Lewis Memorial Bridge on U.S. Hwy 60 over the Cumberland River in Smithland, Livingston County, Kentucky. The Warren through truss bridge was built in 1931 by the Nashville Bridge Company. |
This post alerted me to this bridge replacement project:
Marcus Hinman posted two photos with the comment: "M/V Miss Deanna and M/V Maverick topping the bridge around this afternoon in Paducah."
David Miller: Is that the bridge that's going up on the cumberland?
Dennis DeBruler: David Miller To where?
David Miller: Dennis DeBruler smithland
Dennis DeBruler
David Miller Thanks, that allowed me to find the bridge project:
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Obviously, the approach spans for the old bridge used steel girders whereas the spans for the new bridge use concrete girders.
I better get some street views while I can.
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| Aug 2021 Patrick Gurwell Photo via BridgeHunter |
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| HeraldLedger, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet $63.6 million contract awarded for U.S. 60 bridge at Smithland [The article called it a "continuous truss." But a truss with just two piers can't be continuous.] "Initial work at the site will include a significant maintenance project on the existing 89-year-old structure." |
The new span is 700' long and the deck is 40' wide with two 12' lanes and 6' shoulders. That will allow most farm equipment to share the bridge with other vehicles. (The old bridge is 20' wide. Some farm equipment would fill up most of that width.) [wspd, this article also has a time-lapse video of the construction.]
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| Jan 7, 2022: WaterwaysJournal-rotate The steel truss of the new $63.6 million Cumberland River bridge rotates in the Tennessee River just off-shore from the Paducah-McCracken County Riverport Authority. The truss must be turned six times during construction. It will then be floated to Smithland, Ky., for installation. (Photo by Scott Swamback/American Bridge Company) [The 40' wide deck is in a 48' wide truss.] "Jim Smith Contracting Company and American Bridge Company chose the Paducah-McCracken County Riverport Authority as the construction site in August in part because of the capabilities of its Comansa tower crane. The site is also rarely affected by high-water conditions, allowing work to continue even when Mother Nature might otherwise interfere. The first piece of structural steel was placed September 9." [This project is evidently too small for the American Bridge Co. to mention on its web site.] |
This must be the "Comansa tower crane."
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| Street View |
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| Kentucky Transportation Cabinet via WaterwaysJournal-started The drilled shafts under the main piers are 80' long and 8' in diameter. |
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| Image via BridgeHunter |
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| Image via BridgeHunter |
I zoomed out and save a satellite image because it caught the river in a flood stage.
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| Satellite |
I better get some street views while I can.
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| Street View |
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| Street View |
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| Sep 14, 2022: West Kentucky Star posted It took a little longer than expected, but the 700 foot bridge truss spanning the Cumberland River in Smithland is in place. Adam Freeman: Is it the same width as the other bridge? Does it have a shoulder? Gayron Ferguson Jr.: Adam Freeman The new bridge has a truss design similar to that of the U.S. 60 Tennessee River Bridge at Ledbetter. It will have a 40-foot-wide, two-lane deck with 12-foot driving lanes and 8-foot shoulders that will provide ample clearance for most farm equipment to cross without stopping oncoming traffic. |
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| Bridges & Tunnels posted One of the few remaining truss bridges in Kentucky funded by the Murphy Toll Bridge Act of 1928 will soon be demolished. The Smithland Bridge was completed over the Cumberland River for US 60 in 1931 and was originally tolled with revenues being used to pay off its construction bonds. In 2017, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet selected a consultant to study possible options for replacing the Smithland Bridge. The state determined that the structure was functionally obsolete because of its narrow deck width of 20 feet and its structural deficiencies. KYTC began preparation work for constructing the new Smithland Bridge in June 2020 and work on the new near-$64 million crossing began shortly after. The American Bridge Company began work on the 700-foot main span at the Paducah-McCracken County Riverport Authority on the Tennessee River in July 2021. The truss was assembled atop seven barges and then floated 14 miles upstream on the Ohio and Cumberland Rivers to Smithland. Hydraulic lift towers jacked the main truss into place in mid-September 2022. The new Smithland Bridge is scheduled to be opened in December 2022 with the old bridge to be demolished between April and June 2023. ➤ Check out more photos and a video of the Smithland Bridge at http://bridgestunnels.com/location/smithland-bridge/ |
They have to weaken the piers before they use explosives.
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| 6:45 video @ 4:11 |
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