Inspections of the Twin Bridges will continue Monday, this time on the southbound bridge.
Fearing the snarled traffic that occurred during the Aug. 5-10 inspections on the northbound bridge, Henderson Mayor Brad Staton has asked state Transportation Cabinet officials to re-think that plan and employ one that would allow for two southbound lanes to remain open, he said.
That plan would be akin to the configuration last fall when the Federal Highway Administration ordered T-1 steel inspection of the southbound bridge.
Officials then began the inspections by closing one lane on the southbound bridge, but after traffic backed up reportedly all the way to the Lloyd Expressway in Evansville at the beginning of the inspections, transportation officials changed the configuration.
The revision included marking three lanes on the northbound bridge—two for motorists driving north and one for southbound drivers. There was also a traffic diversion near Ellis Park in which southbound motorists could stay on the southbound bridge or move over to the south-going lane on the northbound bridge.
State officials, Staton said, told him they won’t start off with the configuration that was used last fall. They are planning to close one lane, as was done Aug. 5-10, and monitor traffic flow on Monday to determine if a different configuration is needed going forward, the mayor said.
He also asked if the bridge inspections could be done at night, but the mayor said he wasn’t given a reasonable answer.
The Hendersonian reached out to a state transportation cabinet spokesperson on Thursday and Friday with the same questions. He did not respond with answers before this story was posted on Saturday.
The inspections, which will be done by Palmer Engineering, will begin 8 a.m. and finish at 2 p.m. throughout the week, according to a transportation cabinet release.
The release urged drivers to watch for signage and other traffic control devices as they approach the bridge. Caution is necessary when workers and equipment are present close to the flow of traffic, said the release.
The inspections are needed because the Federal Highway Administration requires structural safety inspection every two years for any bridge that spans more than 20 feet, according to the release. The Twin Bridges were last inspected in 2022.
The T-1 steel inspection required by the FHWA in fall 2023 is different than the biannual bridge inspections, said the release.