If you’re a commuter who used to cross a temporarily closed historic span over the Ohio River, you’re going to have to wait awhile longer to use your old route.
The iconic John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge connecting downtown Cincinnati to Northern Kentucky was set to reopen by the end of this month. But officials today said complications mean it won’t reopen until Aug. 9.
The bridge closed to cars April 17 after pieces fell from its northern sandstone tower. It is still open to pedestrians, however.
The state is paying Structural Systems Repair Group $77,998 to install netting on the bridge’s north tower that will catch any other pieces of sandstone that might fall between now and the time the bridge is permanently repaired. Because the 152-year-old span is a national historic landmark, the Kentucky Historic Preservation Office had to approve the plan.
The 1,057-foot span was the world’s longest suspension bridge at the time it opened in 1866. Its architect, John A. Roebling, went on to design the Brooklyn Bridge, completed in 1883. Before it was closed to automotive traffic, the Roebling carried roughly 8,000 cars a day.
Contractors have since been hard at work clearing 200 pounds of loose sandstone chunks from the tower. However, that work is taking longer than expected.
“This project has been very challenging and we are working diligently to get the Roebling Bridge open,” Robert Yeager, chief district engineer for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, wrote in a news release today. “We want to be sure that the netting is secure for public safety and to protect the integrity of our historic bridge.”
A more permanent effort to fix the span’s crumbling sandstone will start next year, necessitating further closures on the bridge, officials say. That project, still in the design stages, is expected to cost roughly $8 million.
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This article appears in Jul 24-31, 2019.