A 14-member bi-state committee chose cable-stayed designs Dec. 12 for both bridges. A team led by Michael Baker Jr. Inc., a division of Michael Baker Corp., Moon Township, Pa., provided three final options for the Downtown Bridge after a year of public outreach. The winning design features a pair of 210-ft-high concrete towers mid-span and pairs of 125-ft-high towers at the ends of the 2,000-ft-long bridge. The six-lane bridge will carry northbound traffic, while the current crossing will carry southbound traffic, says J.B. Williams, Baker project manager. The estimated cost is about $240 million, says Williams.

Six miles upstream, the new East Bridge will feature a pair of needle-shaped towers rising 300 ft with cable stays down the median of the 1,200-ft-long main span, says Miguel Rosales, president of Rosales + Partners, Boston. The firm is part of a team led by Parsons Brinckerhoff, New York City.

The other two options were a cable-stayed bridge with diamond-shaped towers and an arch structure, says Dan Carrier, PB project manager. The chosen $230-million design will carry six lanes plus a 17-ft-wide footpath.

A $1.1-billion rebuild of an interchange of Interstates 64, 65 and 71 constitutes the region’s other major transportation job. Design work on both bridges will be complete by 2008.

A construction schedule is pending as Kentucky ponders how to come up with $789 million of its $2.8-billion share. The tentative plan is to build the East Bridge first, followed by the Downtown Bridge in conjunction with the interchange for a 2020 completion.

(Source: enr.com)