From Our Archives;

From Our Archives;

Thursday April 14th, 1955

5 Barge Tow with Bridge Steel nears site

A tow of 5 river barges loaded with 723 tons of structural steel for a new highway bridge over the South Fork of the KY River at Beattyville passed through Kentucky River lock 4 at Frankfort today. The shipment originated at Wheeling, West Virginia from the plant of the American Bridge Co. subcontractors for the erection of the steel. Leaving Wheeling on March 23, the tow passed down the Ohio River to the mouth of KY River and is now proceeding up to Beattyville.

The bridge is being constructed by the Dept. of Highways at a total cost of $668, 992. It will consists of 4 steel girder spans totaling 600 ft in length and with a reinforced concrete roadway 26 ft in width with safety walks on each side 2.5 ft wide. The piers and abutments of the bridge have been completed by the RR Dawson Bridge Co. of Bloomfield, KY at a cost of $319,693. The prime contractor on the project is Foster and Creighton of Nashville. The chief load carrying members of the bridge will be 2 steel girders built up of plates and angles varying from a depth of 15 ft over the main piers to 9 ft at the intermediate points. Resting upon these huge girders are a series of transverse steel floor beams upon which the concrete floor is laid.

The bridge is designed for load capacity of H-20 as specified by the American Assoc. of State Highway Officials. This is the highest loading ordinarily applied to highway bridges. A unique feature of the construction is the substitution of high strength bolts for the usual rivets used in fastening the sections of steel together. The speed and ease with which this can be done will result in a substantial saving in costs. Instead of heating and driving required for installation of rivets, the bolts are inserted cold and tightened by means of an air powered torque wrench which will apply a uniform tension of 32,400 pounds to each of the bolts. Completion of the bridge is schedule for Oct. 1st of this year.