Dive Brief:
- Over the Ohio River, between Milton, Ind., and Madison, Ky., construction crews set a bridge record this month: 55 feet.
- The reason that's a record for the U.S. and likely the world is that 55 feet is how far they slid a 2,428-foot-long, two-lane bridge to replace a 1929 structure that they had demolished.
- The $104 million project for the Indiana and Kentucky agencies that co-own the bridge was slightly nerve-wracking technically, but it allowed for traffic to be cut off for only six weeks instead of the year that would have been needed if the new bridge was built in-place instead of next door.
Dive Insight:
The finished bridge did double duty, carrying traffic in its temporary location while the old bridge was demolished. Walsh Construction, Buckland & Taylor Ltd. and Burgess & Niple Inc. formed the design-build team that pulled off the project, which is expected to be get finishing touches this summer.