Commuting between Cincinnati and Covington just got a little easier. The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge is opening this Friday after being closed for over a year.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) District 6 announced on Facebook Wednesday that the bridge, which spans Cincinnati and Covington, will be reopening April 8.
The bridge has been closed to vehicular traffic since Feb. 15, 2021, when it started undergoing a restoration project. Pedestrians have still been able to use the bridge's walkway during construction.
The Roebling was originally slated to reopen in November 2021, but the "restoration project continues as engineers work to design plans for additional repairs to address deeper masonry stone deterioration uncovered in a section of the archway during the project," said a release from the KYTC.
The Roebling opened in 1867 to connect Covington and Cincinnati and carries around 8,100 vehicles a day. At the time of its debut, the Roebling's central span of 1,057 feet was the longest in the world.
The bridge closed on April 17, 2019 due to sandstone fragments breaking off the east side of the north tower and reopened that August after the installation of protective netting around deteriorating portions of the bridge's upper towers. It also temporarily closed for two days in November 2020 "due to numerous and continued violations of the bridge's weight limits," a tweet from the Covington Police Department explained.
The longer-term bridge restoration project began in 2021.
In June 2021, the Kenton County Public Library visited the bridge and recorded a video about its restoration.
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