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Big Four Bridge (Louisville)
Encyclopedia
The Big Four Bridge is an abandoned six-span railroad
truss bridge
that crosses the Ohio River
, connecting Louisville, Kentucky
, and Jeffersonville, Indiana
, United States. It was completed in 1895, and updated in 1929. It has its largest span
at 547 feet (166.7 m), for 2525 feet (769.6 m) in total. It gets its name from the defunct Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway
, which was nicknamed the "Big Four Railroad".
Access to the Big Four Bridge is currently limited, as the access ways onto the bridge for the general public were removed in 1969, earning the Big Four Bridge the nickname "Bridge That Goes Nowhere". The bridge is presently being converted into a bicycle/pedestrian crossing. The George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge downstream, which carries U.S. 31 across the river, is presently the only bridge allowing bicyclists and pedestrians travel between Louisville and its Indiana suburbs of New Albany
, Clarksville
, and Jeffersonville.
In February 2011, The Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels announced that the two states, along with the City of Jeffersonville, will allocate $22 million in funding to complete the Big Four Bridge project– creating a pedestrian and bicycle path to link Louisville and Jeffersonville. Indiana will spend up to $8 million and the City of Jeffersonville will provide $2 million in matching dollars to pay for construction of a ramp to the Big Four Bridge. Kentucky is pledging $12 million to replace the deck on the bridge and connect it to the spiral ramp that has been completed in Waterfront Park
. The Big Four Bridge could reopen to pedestrians and cyclists in early 2013.
ed, eight-panel Parker through truss
. The next three spans are 547 ft (166.7 m) long, and are riveted, sixteen-panel Pennsylvania
through trusses. The two southern spans are riveted, 10-panel Parker through trusses. It carried a single track
of railway.
The Big Four Bridge was first conceived in Jeffersonville in 1885 by various city interests. The Louisville and Jeffersonville Bridge Company was formed in 1887 to construct the Big Four Bridge, after a charter by the state of Indiana
; Kentucky also chartered the company in 1888. The riverboat industry, a big economic factor in Jeffersonville, had requested that the bridge be built further upstream from the Falls of the Ohio, but the United States Army Corps of Engineers
approved the building site, even after the vocal protestations.
The Big Four Bridge had one of the biggest bridge disasters in the United States, occurring on December 15, 1893 when a construction crane was dislodged by a severe wind, causing the falsework
support of a truss to be damaged and the truss—with forty-one workers on it—to fall into the Ohio River. Twenty of the workers survived, but twenty-one died. The accident almost cost more lives, as a ferry crossing the Ohio River just barely missed being hit by the truss. Hours later, a span next to the damaged span also fell into the river, but was abandoned at the time, causing no injuries. As a result, falsework was longitudely reinforced to prevent further occurrences, and also to prevent strong winds from causing similar damage by using special bracing on the bottom frame of the truss. Also, a new rule was enforced: "never trust a bolted joint any longer than is necessary to put a riveted one in place".
The Big Four Bridge was finally completed in September 1895. Because of the location of the bridge and the growth of the Kennedy Interchange
, the interchange had to avoid the columns that were on the approach to the bridge, causing the interchange to have several two-lane ramps rather than a single stretch of highway, and helped earn the nickname Spaghetti Junction
. Due to the various accidents, the Louisville and Jeffersonville Bridge Company was financially strapped after building the bridge, and later in 1895 sold it to the Indianapolis
-based Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway
, also known as the Big Four Railroad. This gave the railway its first entry into the Louisville market, although the railroad would have likely used the bridge even if they had not bought it, as they desired access to Louisville.
On February 19, 1904, a Baltimore and Ohio
train accidentally crossed the Big Four Bridge, due to engineer Dick Foreman falling asleep and going the wrong way at Otisco, Indiana
. The fireman kept shoveling coal
and did not pay attention. It was the conductor
that finally noticed the error midway across the Big Four Bridge. The wayward train had to back up all the way back to Otisco.
On September 12, 1905, the first interurban
crossed the Big Four Bridge. In January 1918, two interurbans collided on the Big Four Bridge, killing three and injuring twenty aboard.
Due to the increasing weight of the rail traffic, contracts were finalized in June 1928 to build a bigger Big Four Bridge, which opened on June 25, 1929. The new Big Four Bridge was built on the piers of the old bridge, a "novel building process", as it sped up the time necessary to build the new bridge; the old one served to reinforce the new one as it was being built. The old piers would still be used, but the falsework was entirely removed. During construction, the Big Four Bridge's usual rail traffic was routed over the Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Bridge
. The interurbans that used the Big Four Bridge would instead disembark at Sellersburg, Indiana
and have the passengers board buses into Louisville for the duration of the Big Four's reconstruction.
, President of Costa Rica, contacted Louisville mayor Jerry Abramson to inquire about buying the bridge to dismantle it and reassemble in Costa Rica
, as he believed it would be cheaper to import the bridge than build a new one. At the time the city did not actually own the bridge, and the plan never went through.
The Big Four Bridge fell into disuse after the Big Four Railroad's parent company, the New York Central Railroad
, was merged into the Penn Central in 1968. The Big Four Bridge's former traffic was then routed over Louisville's Fourteenth Street Bridge. By 1969 both approach spans had been removed and sold for scrap. As a result, the Big Four Bridge became the first Louisville bridge to fall out of use, and gained the nickname "Bridge That Goes Nowhere".
During the 1970s and 1980s, local radio station WLRS
-102 FM lit up the Big Four Bridge as part of their "Bridge the Gap" Christmas
promotion, which was used as a fund raiser for needy local families. Some of the lights spelled out "LRS 102".
After unsuccessful litigation to stop the project, the Big Four Bridge is, as of 2006, in the process of being converted into a pedestrian and bicycle bridge as part of Louisville Waterfront Park
and the ongoing revitalization of the Louisville riverfront. This conversion has been proposed and planned since the 1990s; funding is unclear as of 2007, although it may be funded as a part of the Ohio River Bridges Project
. The Indiana Department of Transportation
has pledged $1 million for the project to build a ramp to the Big Four Bridge on the Indiana side, on Riverside Drive, and Jeffersonville has pledged $200,000; early estimates were that the Indiana ramp would cost $2.8 million, but is likely to increase. The Kentucky ramp is expected to cost $4 million, but the ramp foundation is already done. Fixing the Big Four Bridge is expected to cost $3 million and take 18 months, but funds are still dependent on the federal budget. The only other facility still standing that was owned by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway is the Spring Street Freight House
. However, the mayor of Jeffersonville
, Tom Galligan
, called for a redesign of the entrance ramp to the bridge on the Indiana side, stressing that the proposed ramp would be unattractive and that the building of the column on a flood plain would probably not be possible. Galligan pointed out that neither the United States Coast Guard
nor the Army Corps of Engineers have approved of the planned rampway. Galligan said he would rather have a ramp that reached over the floodwall and ended on Mulberry Street, causing a less severe incline on and off the bridge. Previous plans to access the Big Four Bridge included building an elevator
.
The plans for bicycling include a suspension ramp that would allow bicyclists to leave the Big Four Bridge without dismounting their bikes. Due to the length of time any new downtown bridge would take to be built, and needing an alternative for cyclists and pedestrians to get across the Ohio River when the George Rogers Clark Bridge is closed, which happens yearly during Thunder Over Louisville
, bicyclists prefer the idea of converting the Big Four rather than relying on a new downtown bridge or the Clark Bridge.
During Thunder Over Louisville, the Big Four Bridge sets the limit on how close private boats can get to the fireworks, which are centered two bridges away on the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge.
Since its closing, the bridge has seen occasional fires; two in the 1970s, one in 1987 and one in 2008. In 1987 Christmas lights posted on the bridge to promote a toy drive started the fire; both the Jeffersonville and Louisville Fire Departments fought six to eight hours to put out the blaze.
On May 7, 2008 the bridge caught fire a quarter-mile (400 m) north of the Louisville end, shortly after noon, 70 foot above the Ohio River; suspected to have started from an electrical problem. This fire had more troubles due to the age and condition of the bridge; the wood trusses on the bridge were unsafe for firefighters to scale, due to the fire on the bridge ten years before. Louisville Fire & Rescue chief Greg Frederick decided that firefighters were not to be sent onto the bridge; a boat from the Harrods Creek Fire Department was used to put out the fire, as Louisville's fire boat did not have a hose which could reach the blaze upon the bridge.
It took two and a half hours to control the fire. Navigation lights used for the heavy barge traffic were being changed at the time of the report, according to Mike Kimmel of Louisville Waterfront Development. The Coast Guard shut down river traffic for about a mile around the bridge because debris was falling off the aging bridge. An official determination on the cause of the fire was expected in June 2008.
By mid-July 2009, work had begun to convert the bridge to a pedestrian walkway.
Rail transport in the United States
Presently, most rail transport in the United States is based on freight train shipments. The U.S. rail industry has experienced repeated convulsions due to changing U.S. economic needs and the rise of automobile, bus, and air transport....
truss bridge
Truss bridge
A truss bridge is a bridge composed of connected elements which may be stressed from tension, compression, or sometimes both in response to dynamic loads. Truss bridges are one of the oldest types of modern bridges...
that crosses the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
, connecting Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
, and Jeffersonville, Indiana
Jeffersonville, Indiana
Jeffersonville is a city in Clark County, Indiana, along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It is directly across the Ohio River to the north of Louisville, Kentucky along I-65. The population was 44,953 at the 2010 census...
, United States. It was completed in 1895, and updated in 1929. It has its largest span
Span (architecture)
Span is the distance between two intermediate supports for a structure, e.g. a beam or a bridge.A span can be closed by a solid beam or of a rope...
at 547 feet (166.7 m), for 2525 feet (769.6 m) in total. It gets its name from the defunct Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway
The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known as the Big Four Railroad and commonly abbreviated CCC&StL, was a railroad company in the Midwestern United States....
, which was nicknamed the "Big Four Railroad".
Access to the Big Four Bridge is currently limited, as the access ways onto the bridge for the general public were removed in 1969, earning the Big Four Bridge the nickname "Bridge That Goes Nowhere". The bridge is presently being converted into a bicycle/pedestrian crossing. The George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge downstream, which carries U.S. 31 across the river, is presently the only bridge allowing bicyclists and pedestrians travel between Louisville and its Indiana suburbs of New Albany
New Albany, Indiana
New Albany is a city in Floyd County, Indiana, United States, situated along the Ohio River opposite Louisville, Kentucky. In 1900, 20,628 people lived in New Albany; in 1910, 20,629; in 1920, 22,992; and in 1940, 25,414. The population was 36,372 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of...
, Clarksville
Clarksville, Indiana
Clarksville is a town in Clark County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River as a part of the Louisville Metropolitan area. The population was 21,724 at the 2010 census. The town, once a home site to George Rogers Clark, was founded in 1783 and is the oldest American town in the Northwest...
, and Jeffersonville.
In February 2011, The Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels announced that the two states, along with the City of Jeffersonville, will allocate $22 million in funding to complete the Big Four Bridge project– creating a pedestrian and bicycle path to link Louisville and Jeffersonville. Indiana will spend up to $8 million and the City of Jeffersonville will provide $2 million in matching dollars to pay for construction of a ramp to the Big Four Bridge. Kentucky is pledging $12 million to replace the deck on the bridge and connect it to the spiral ramp that has been completed in Waterfront Park
Louisville Waterfront Park
Louisville Waterfront Park is a municipal park adjacent to the downtown area of Louisville, Kentucky and the Ohio River. Specifically, it is adjacent to Louisville's wharf and Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere, which are situated to the west of the park....
. The Big Four Bridge could reopen to pedestrians and cyclists in early 2013.
Description
The Big Four Bridge is a six-span bridge, totaling 2525 ft (769.6 m) long, with a clearance of 53 ft (16.2 m). The northernmost span is a rivetRivet
A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the buck-tail. On installation the rivet is placed in a punched or pre-drilled hole, and the tail is upset, or bucked A rivet...
ed, eight-panel Parker through truss
Truss
In architecture and structural engineering, a truss is a structure comprising one or more triangular units constructed with straight members whose ends are connected at joints referred to as nodes. External forces and reactions to those forces are considered to act only at the nodes and result in...
. The next three spans are 547 ft (166.7 m) long, and are riveted, sixteen-panel Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
through trusses. The two southern spans are riveted, 10-panel Parker through trusses. It carried a single track
Single track (rail)
A single track railway is where trains in both directions share the same track. Single track is normally used on lesser used rail lines, often branch lines, where the traffic density is not high enough to justify the cost of building double tracks....
of railway.
History
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
; Kentucky also chartered the company in 1888. The riverboat industry, a big economic factor in Jeffersonville, had requested that the bridge be built further upstream from the Falls of the Ohio, but the United States Army Corps of Engineers
United States Army Corps of Engineers
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is a federal agency and a major Army command made up of some 38,000 civilian and military personnel, making it the world's largest public engineering, design and construction management agency...
approved the building site, even after the vocal protestations.
Construction
Construction began on October 10, 1888. The Big Four Bridge would be the only Louisville bridge with serious accidents during its building; thirty-seven individuals died during its construction. The first twelve died while working on a pier foundation when a caisson that was supposed to hold back the river water flooded, drowning the workers. Another four men died a few months after that when a wooden beam broke while working on a different pier caisson.The Big Four Bridge had one of the biggest bridge disasters in the United States, occurring on December 15, 1893 when a construction crane was dislodged by a severe wind, causing the falsework
Falsework
Falsework consists of temporary structures used in construction to support spanning or arched structures in order to hold the component in place until its construction is sufficiently advanced to support itself...
support of a truss to be damaged and the truss—with forty-one workers on it—to fall into the Ohio River. Twenty of the workers survived, but twenty-one died. The accident almost cost more lives, as a ferry crossing the Ohio River just barely missed being hit by the truss. Hours later, a span next to the damaged span also fell into the river, but was abandoned at the time, causing no injuries. As a result, falsework was longitudely reinforced to prevent further occurrences, and also to prevent strong winds from causing similar damage by using special bracing on the bottom frame of the truss. Also, a new rule was enforced: "never trust a bolted joint any longer than is necessary to put a riveted one in place".
Kennedy Interchange
The Kennedy Interchange, unofficially, though universally, referred to as Spaghetti Junction, is the intersection of Interstates 64, 65 and 71 at the northeastern edge of downtown Louisville, Kentucky, USA. It is named for the John F...
, the interchange had to avoid the columns that were on the approach to the bridge, causing the interchange to have several two-lane ramps rather than a single stretch of highway, and helped earn the nickname Spaghetti Junction
Spaghetti Junction
"Spaghetti Junction" is a nickname sometimes given to a complicated or massively intertwined road traffic interchange that resembles a plate of spaghetti. The term is believed to have been coined by a journalist at the Birmingham Evening Mail in the 1970s to refer to the Gravelly Hill Interchange...
. Due to the various accidents, the Louisville and Jeffersonville Bridge Company was financially strapped after building the bridge, and later in 1895 sold it to the Indianapolis
Indianapolis, Indiana
Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
-based Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway
The Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known as the Big Four Railroad and commonly abbreviated CCC&StL, was a railroad company in the Midwestern United States....
, also known as the Big Four Railroad. This gave the railway its first entry into the Louisville market, although the railroad would have likely used the bridge even if they had not bought it, as they desired access to Louisville.
Rail operation
One effect of the opening of the Big Four Bridge was increased transportation of freight by rail, significantly decreasing the number of packet boats that at one time crossed the Ohio River by the dozens.On February 19, 1904, a Baltimore and Ohio
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad was one of the oldest railroads in the United States and the first common carrier railroad. It came into being mostly because the city of Baltimore wanted to compete with the newly constructed Erie Canal and another canal being proposed by Pennsylvania, which...
train accidentally crossed the Big Four Bridge, due to engineer Dick Foreman falling asleep and going the wrong way at Otisco, Indiana
Otisco, Indiana
Otisco is an unincorporated town in Charlestown Township, Clark County, Indiana....
. The fireman kept shoveling coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
and did not pay attention. It was the conductor
Conductor (transportation)
A conductor is a member of a railway train's crew that is responsible for operational and safety duties that do not involve the actual operation of the train. The title of conductor is most associated with railway operations in North America, but the role of conductor is common to railways...
that finally noticed the error midway across the Big Four Bridge. The wayward train had to back up all the way back to Otisco.
On September 12, 1905, the first interurban
Interurban
An interurban, also called a radial railway in parts of Canada, is a type of electric passenger railroad; in short a hybrid between tram and train. Interurbans enjoyed widespread popularity in the first three decades of the twentieth century in North America. Until the early 1920s, most roads were...
crossed the Big Four Bridge. In January 1918, two interurbans collided on the Big Four Bridge, killing three and injuring twenty aboard.
Due to the increasing weight of the rail traffic, contracts were finalized in June 1928 to build a bigger Big Four Bridge, which opened on June 25, 1929. The new Big Four Bridge was built on the piers of the old bridge, a "novel building process", as it sped up the time necessary to build the new bridge; the old one served to reinforce the new one as it was being built. The old piers would still be used, but the falsework was entirely removed. During construction, the Big Four Bridge's usual rail traffic was routed over the Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Bridge
Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Bridge
The Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Bridge is a railroad bridge connecting the Louisville, Kentucky, area to New Albany, Indiana. Constructed from 1881 to 1885 by the Kentucky and Indiana Bridge Company, it opened in 1886...
. The interurbans that used the Big Four Bridge would instead disembark at Sellersburg, Indiana
Sellersburg, Indiana
Sellersburg is a city located within Silver Creek Township, Clark County, Indiana, United States. It had a population of 6,128 at time of the 2010 census...
and have the passengers board buses into Louisville for the duration of the Big Four's reconstruction.
Ownership
In 1988 Oscar AriasÓscar Arias
Óscar Arias Sánchez is a Costa Rican politician who was President of Costa Rica from 2006 to 2010. He previously served as President from 1986 to 1990 and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his efforts to end civil wars then raging in several other Central American countries.He is also a...
, President of Costa Rica, contacted Louisville mayor Jerry Abramson to inquire about buying the bridge to dismantle it and reassemble in Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
, as he believed it would be cheaper to import the bridge than build a new one. At the time the city did not actually own the bridge, and the plan never went through.
Post-railway use
New York Central Railroad
The New York Central Railroad , known simply as the New York Central in its publicity, was a railroad operating in the Northeastern United States...
, was merged into the Penn Central in 1968. The Big Four Bridge's former traffic was then routed over Louisville's Fourteenth Street Bridge. By 1969 both approach spans had been removed and sold for scrap. As a result, the Big Four Bridge became the first Louisville bridge to fall out of use, and gained the nickname "Bridge That Goes Nowhere".
During the 1970s and 1980s, local radio station WLRS
WLRS
WLRS is a commercial radio station located in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, broadcasting to the Louisville, Kentucky area on 105.1 FM Broadcasting....
-102 FM lit up the Big Four Bridge as part of their "Bridge the Gap" Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
promotion, which was used as a fund raiser for needy local families. Some of the lights spelled out "LRS 102".
After unsuccessful litigation to stop the project, the Big Four Bridge is, as of 2006, in the process of being converted into a pedestrian and bicycle bridge as part of Louisville Waterfront Park
Louisville Waterfront Park
Louisville Waterfront Park is a municipal park adjacent to the downtown area of Louisville, Kentucky and the Ohio River. Specifically, it is adjacent to Louisville's wharf and Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere, which are situated to the west of the park....
and the ongoing revitalization of the Louisville riverfront. This conversion has been proposed and planned since the 1990s; funding is unclear as of 2007, although it may be funded as a part of the Ohio River Bridges Project
Ohio River Bridges Project
The Ohio River Bridges Project is a controversial Louisville metropolitan area transportation project involving the reconstruction of the Kennedy Interchange , the completion of two new Ohio River bridges and the reconstruction of ramps on Interstate 65 between I-264 and downtown.One bridge will be...
. The Indiana Department of Transportation
Indiana Department of Transportation
The Indiana Department of Transportation is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Indiana charged with maintaining and regulating transportation and transportation related infrastructure such as state owned airports, state highways and state owned canals or railroads.-Districts:INDOT is...
has pledged $1 million for the project to build a ramp to the Big Four Bridge on the Indiana side, on Riverside Drive, and Jeffersonville has pledged $200,000; early estimates were that the Indiana ramp would cost $2.8 million, but is likely to increase. The Kentucky ramp is expected to cost $4 million, but the ramp foundation is already done. Fixing the Big Four Bridge is expected to cost $3 million and take 18 months, but funds are still dependent on the federal budget. The only other facility still standing that was owned by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway is the Spring Street Freight House
Spring Street Freight House
The Spring Street Freight House is a site on the National Register of Historic Places, located in Jeffersonville, Indiana. It was placed on the Register in May 2007, after being nominated by the Indiana Department of Transportation. It is one of the few railhouses built in the 1920s still...
. However, the mayor of Jeffersonville
Jeffersonville, Indiana
Jeffersonville is a city in Clark County, Indiana, along the Ohio River. Locally, the city is often referred to by the abbreviated name Jeff. It is directly across the Ohio River to the north of Louisville, Kentucky along I-65. The population was 44,953 at the 2010 census...
, Tom Galligan
Tom Galligan (mayor)
Thomas R. Galligan served as mayor of Jeffersonville, Indiana USA from 1996 to 2003. Galligan was unseated by Rob Waiz during the election year of 2003 and Waiz was sworn in as mayor in January 2004...
, called for a redesign of the entrance ramp to the bridge on the Indiana side, stressing that the proposed ramp would be unattractive and that the building of the column on a flood plain would probably not be possible. Galligan pointed out that neither the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
nor the Army Corps of Engineers have approved of the planned rampway. Galligan said he would rather have a ramp that reached over the floodwall and ended on Mulberry Street, causing a less severe incline on and off the bridge. Previous plans to access the Big Four Bridge included building an elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
.
The plans for bicycling include a suspension ramp that would allow bicyclists to leave the Big Four Bridge without dismounting their bikes. Due to the length of time any new downtown bridge would take to be built, and needing an alternative for cyclists and pedestrians to get across the Ohio River when the George Rogers Clark Bridge is closed, which happens yearly during Thunder Over Louisville
Thunder Over Louisville
Thunder Over Louisville, the annual kickoff event of the Kentucky Derby Festival, is an airshow and fireworks display held in mid April in Louisville, Kentucky...
, bicyclists prefer the idea of converting the Big Four rather than relying on a new downtown bridge or the Clark Bridge.
During Thunder Over Louisville, the Big Four Bridge sets the limit on how close private boats can get to the fireworks, which are centered two bridges away on the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge.
Fires
On May 7, 2008 the bridge caught fire a quarter-mile (400 m) north of the Louisville end, shortly after noon, 70 foot above the Ohio River; suspected to have started from an electrical problem. This fire had more troubles due to the age and condition of the bridge; the wood trusses on the bridge were unsafe for firefighters to scale, due to the fire on the bridge ten years before. Louisville Fire & Rescue chief Greg Frederick decided that firefighters were not to be sent onto the bridge; a boat from the Harrods Creek Fire Department was used to put out the fire, as Louisville's fire boat did not have a hose which could reach the blaze upon the bridge.
It took two and a half hours to control the fire. Navigation lights used for the heavy barge traffic were being changed at the time of the report, according to Mike Kimmel of Louisville Waterfront Development. The Coast Guard shut down river traffic for about a mile around the bridge because debris was falling off the aging bridge. An official determination on the cause of the fire was expected in June 2008.
By mid-July 2009, work had begun to convert the bridge to a pedestrian walkway.
See also
- List of crossings of the Ohio River
- List of rail trails
- Spring Street Freight HouseSpring Street Freight HouseThe Spring Street Freight House is a site on the National Register of Historic Places, located in Jeffersonville, Indiana. It was placed on the Register in May 2007, after being nominated by the Indiana Department of Transportation. It is one of the few railhouses built in the 1920s still...
- the other property of the Big Four Railroad still in existence in Jeffersonville
External links
- Big Four Railroad Bridge at Bridges & Tunnels
- Kentucky, Indiana pledge $22M to fund completion of Big Four Bridge -- Feb 2011
- New Funds Will Complete Big Four Bridge Project -- Feb 2011
- Video of May 7, 2008, bridge fire
- Video of May 7, 2008, bridge fire
- WHAS11NEWS Coverage of the fire
- WHAS11NEWS Slide Show of the fire