The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet gave an update on the progress of the 4th Street Bridge replacement project at the Newport City Commission meeting Monday evening.
A representative from the cabinet brought the commission up to speed on their plans for the bridge’s design, answered questions from commissioners and discussed ways the public could stay informed.
“Nothing on this project is typical,” Project Manager Mike Bezold said during the question and answer portion of his presentation. “We have made a commitment to make a signature structure in this area that is aesthetically pleasing and enhances the area.”
The current bridge was built in the 1930s, and the cabinet has classified it as functionally obsolete, although heavy vehicle, pedestrian and bicycle traffic continue to travel over the bridge daily.
Functionally obsolete bridges are those that do not have adequate lane widths, shoulder widths, or vertical clearances to serve current traffic demand, or those that may be occasionally flooded, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation.
Sidewalks on the bridge are small and not up to standard with the Americans with Disabilities Act, making crossing difficult for people who use wheelchairs or have other mobility limitations, Bezold said. In addition, the narrow drive lanes and concrete barriers separating the road from the walkways make the bridge dangerous for cyclists.
The cabinet has formed an aesthetics committee comprised of state and local public officials, historic preservation experts and representatives from the contracted businesses involved in the project. The committee met for the first time at the end of May, but the meeting was not open to the public.
The total budget of the project, including construction, planning and accompanying road work is $68 million.
Firstly, Bezold talked about the project’s architectural contractor, Boston-based Rosales + Partners, whose principal is the well-known Guatemalan-born bridge architect Miguel Rosales.
Rosales has a large portfolio of numerous bridge types and designs in cities throughout the world. Rosales + Partners is also involved in the Brent Spence Bridge project.
“He has a lot of really amazing bridges,” Bezold said. “And we’re really excited to see what he comes up with for this bridge.”
Representatives from Rosales + Partners did not attend the meeting, but KYTC Public Information Officer Jake Ryle relayed a statement from Rosales.
“I’m looking forward to working with the project team and the Newport and Covington communities to create a signature bridge design that residents will be proud of and visitors will appreciate,” Rosales said. “This is a beautiful community with a proud history, and I look forward to helping capture that by creating a bridge that will be a centerpiece for the Northern Kentucky skyline.”
Bezold said that Rosales would have some preliminary designs for the bridge ready by August or September. He added that the timeline for completion of the bridge depended on the design the committee chose and the construction materials involved, so he could not give an estimated completion time at the meeting.
However, he did lay out some parameters for what the committee wanted in their ideal design.
“The number one thing that we’ve looked at from day one is bike and [pedestrian] safety,” Bezold said, “Because right now the current bridge does not have safe movement for bikes at all. And there is no Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant sidewalk anywhere between Newport and Covington.”
As such, he said that their chosen design would have dedicated paths for pedestrians and cyclists. He also said that the bridge would have four lanes for vehicle traffic.
Newport Commissioner Ken Rechtin asked Bezold for the cabinet’s reasoning behind having four lanes for cars and other vehicles.
“There was a planning study that was finished in 2016 that looked at all the traffic numbers and all of the data that are present there now,” Bezold said. “And then it looked at the future growth that’s expected on both sides of the river.”
He explained that continuing development in Newport and Covington–he gave the Ovation development in Newport and the parcel developments on the former IRS site in Covington as examples–would necessitate that number of lanes.
He also said that four lanes would make bus traffic, the weight of which the current bridge can’t support, much easier.
“With four lanes you have the possibility in the future if you want bus rapid transit,” Bezold said. “You have a lane for each direction of bus rapid transit.”
He added that if the bridge did not need four lanes, “you could put a median in there or something,” to reduce the number of lanes to three.
Vice Mayor Beth Fennell asked about the possibility of light rail on the bridge.
“Light rail is something that we’re not looking at at this time because it doesn’t connect to anything,” Bezold said.
When Fennell continued to push the point, Bezold said, “Light rail weighs more than vehicular cars or bus rapid transit.”
Bezold said that the possibility of light rail could be discussed in the future, but he made no indication beyond his other comments about the likelihood of rail cars on the bridge.
For more information on 4th Street Bridge project, visit ky8bridge.org or email the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet at info@ky8bridge.org. You can also submit comments and questions to the cabinet using their online contact form.
The next Newport City Commission meeting will take place on July 24 at 7 p.m. at the Newport City Building on Monmouth Street.