Kentucky transportation officials released the results of their study looking into replacing the U.S. 51 Bridge that connects Wickliffe, Kentucky to Cairo, Illinois.
CAIRO, Ill. (WSIL)-- Kentucky transportation officials released the results of their study looking into replacing the U.S. 51 Bridge that connects Wickliffe, Kentucky to Cairo, Illinois.
The study also considered building a new U.S. 60 bridge as its other option. The final results show replacing the U.S. 51 is better.
Businesses like Cosmic Creations in Cairo were happy to learn that the U.S. 51 Bridge Replacement Project is continuing. The restaurant’s owner Romello Orr says he worried if a new bridge were built for U.S. 60 instead people would stop going to Cairo.
“I think it's very impactful to keep that traffic flowing through town because you have my business and other small businesses that need that help,� Orr said.
Orr says he's one of the businesses helping to rebuild Cairo, and a lot of times customers will leave a Google review bringing in more business.
“Now that we have the Missouri Bridge closed, seeing how much traffic flows through here, even semi-trucks stop and eat at my restaurant,â€� Orr said.Â
Keith Todd with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says they started the U.S. 60 Connectivity Study in 2023. It was looking into constructing a bridge that connects U.S. 60 around I-57 and I-24 in Illinois.
“We're going to go ahead and proceed with the U.S. 51 bridge planning that we've done to build a bridge upstream from the existing,� Todd said.
Todd says the study found that replacing the U.S. 51 bridge had fewer environmental impacts.
“The wildlife, the wetlands, the floodplain, that it was just gonna be cost prohibitive to try to build through that corridor,� Todd said.
He also said the construction cost for the new U.S. 60 bridge would be around $1.3 billion compared to about $50 million for the reconstruction of the U.S. 51 bridge.
“If we had built a road across the floodplain, a lot of it had to have been elevated. You'd had to have a lot of bridges, and the cost of doing that just from what the study team found was pretty much prohibited,� Todd said.
Todd says they have a meeting scheduled for July 11th where they will talk about the construction timeline.
“We'll also be announcing a bridge design type that the U.S. 51 team is looking at,� Todd said.
He says the input from people around U.S. 51 like Orr helped them gain insight on the study.
“We found about 85% of the people that attended our public meetings were against this because of the environmental issues because of the wildlife and the floodplain,� Todd says.
“We need folks to come back and keep providing us with good information."
The U.S. 51 Bridge Replacement Project meeting on July 11th will be at the Cairo High School at 5 p.m.
