On Friday, the southbound lanes of the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge (Interstate 471) connecting Kentucky to Ohio were shut down due to a massive fire.
The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) has entered into an emergency contract with Great Lakes Construction to make repairs to the bridge.
All lanes on the bridge were closed for most of the day Friday. The northbound lanes opened to traffic around 9 p.m.
The southbound lanes have more damage. Officials said there are at least three steel beams that suffered damage and need to be replaced along with a portion of the bridge deck.
A sign truss was also damaged and must be replaced before the lanes can reopen.
Crews were dispatched around 3:30 a.m. and about 60 firefighters responded to the scene. They found a large fire at Sawyer Point Park that wrapped around parts of the bridge.
The fire was put out in approximately 40 minutes.
"To give you a timeline right now is just impossible," Matt Bruning, press secretary at ODOT said.
Bruning also said it’s hard to estimate how much it will cost as crews are still assessing the damage, but it could likely be in the millions of dollars.
Source: WLWT.com, Cincinnati Enquirer
