Brookport Bridge to close for three hours Thursday morning

PADUCAH, KENTUCKY - The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet plans to close the U.S. 45 Ohio River "Brookport" Bridge for about 3 hours on Thursday morning, September 3.

The U.S. 45 Ohio River "Brookport" Bridge will be closed to all traffic starting at about 8 a.m., CDT, on Thursday, to allow reinstallation of height restriction signage at the Brookport end of the bridge.

There will be no marked detour. Motorists may self-detour via the I-24 Ohio River Bridge between Paducah and Metropolis.

The U.S. 45 Ohio River "Brookport" Bridge is expected to be restored to normal traffic flow by about 11 a.m., Thursday.

The overhead signs that provide notice of a 9-foot 6-inch height restriction for vehicles that cross the bridge were knocked down by semi trucks illegally crossing the bridge during a recent crash that blocked the eastbound lanes of the Interstate 24 Ohio River Bridge between Paducah and Metropolis.

As a reminder to truckers, due to the deck width the U.S. 45 Ohio River "Brookport" Bridge has an 8-foot 6-inch load with restriction. It also has a 9-foot 6-inch height restriction, and a 15-ton weight restriction that prohibits most commercial trucks and all STAA trucks from crossing the 91 year-old structure. Farm equipment and permitted loads of any kind are prohibited from crossing the bridge.

Also known as the Brookport Bridge and the Irvin S. Cobb Bridge, the structure is at U.S. 45 McCracken County mile point 12.882.

The 10-span truss bridge carries about 5,000 vehicles across the Ohio River each day between Paducah, Kentucky and Brookport. The 5,385-foot structure at Ohio River navigation mile point 937.3 was opened to traffic in 1929.

Timely traffic advisories for the 12 counties of KYTC Highway District 1 are available by going to www.facebook.com/kytcdistrict1. You do not have to be a Facebook member to access this page.

Navigate traffic at goky.ky.gov, at waze.com, or with the WAZE App.

<h3 class="breakHead">Note to motorists who regularly travel the U.S. 45 Ohio River "Brookport" Bridge</h3>

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has created a group specifically for the Brookport Bridge on Gov Delivery. To sign up for traffic alerts and advisories via email and text go to https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/KYTC/signup/13651. Look for the U.S. 45 Ohio River "Brookport" Bridge corridor group. You may also sign up for other corridor groups, or by counties in Kentucky that you regularly travel through.