The American Public Works Association (APWA), an international organization of more than 30,000 members involved in public works, recently selected Kentucky’s Brent Spence Bridge project as Public Works Project of the Year in the category of disaster or emergency construction repair of less than $5 million.
The emergency project repaired and reopened the bridge following a truck crash and fire.
On Nov. 11, 2020, two tractor-trailers collided on the bridge’s lower deck and caught fire, damaging a portion of the bridge and forcing it to close for 41 days. When the bridge reopened, the restoration project was under budget and ahead of schedule.
The two-deck bridge carries 160,000 vehicles daily across the Ohio River between Kentucky and Ohio on Interstates 71 and 75.
“It would be hard to imagine a more challenging scenario,” Jim Gray, secretary of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, said. “Abrupt loss of a critical connection on one of the busiest commercial corridors in the eastern United States. A global COVID pandemic. And winter weather. We conquered this combination of factors by quickly assembling a great team, being innovative, and then working night and day without letup.”
APWA will recognize award winners in a video on Aug. 31.