The Big Four Bridge is a six-span former railroad truss bridge that crosses the Ohio River, connecting Louisville, Kentucky, and Jeffersonville, Indiana, United States. It was completed in 1895, and updated in 1929. The largest single span is 547 feet, with the entire bridge spanning 2,525 feet. It took its name from the defunct Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, which was nicknamed the Big Four Railroad. It is now a converted pedestrian walkway from Louisville into Jeffersonville, Indiana. Access to the Big Four Bridge is limited to pedestrian and bicycle use. A pedestrian ramp on the Kentucky side was opened on February 7, 2013. The original approaches that carried rail traffic onto the main spans were first removed in 1969, earning the Big Four Bridge the nickname Bridge That Goes Nowhere. The George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge downstream, which carries U.S. 31 across the river, was previously the only bridge allowing bicyclists and pedestrians to travel between Louisville and the neighboring Indiana cities of New Albany, Clarksville, and Jeffersonville. In February 2011, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels announced that the two states, along with the City of Jeffersonville, would allocate $22 million in funding to complete the Big Four Bridge project, creating a pedestrian and bicycle path to link Louisville and Jeffersonville. Indiana would spend up to $8 million and the City of Jeffersonville would provide $2 million in matching dollars to pay for construction of a ramp to the Big Four Bridge. Kentucky pledged $12 million to replace the deck on the bridge and connect it to the spiral ramp that was completed in Waterfront Park. On February 7, 2013, the Louisville ramp was opened for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Initially planned for August 2013, the Jeffersonville ramp opened on May 20, 2014. The Big Four Bridge was first conceived in Jeffersonville in 1885 by various city interests. The Louisville and Jeffersonville Bridge Company was formed in 1887 to construct the Big Four Bridge, after a charter by the state of Indiana; Kentucky also chartered the company in 1888. The riverboat industry, a big economic factor in Jeffersonville, had requested that the bridge be built further upstream from the Falls of the Ohio, but the United States Army Corps of Engineers approved the building site, even after the vocal protestations. Construction Construction began on October 10, 1888. The Big Four Bridge would be the only Louisville bridge with serious accidents during its building; thirty-seven individuals died during its construction. The first twelve died while working on a pier foundation when a caisson that was supposed to hold back the river water flooded, drowning the workers. Another four men died a few months after that when a wooden beam broke while working on a different pier caisson. The Belle of Louisville crossing under the Bridge in the 2008 Great Steamboat Race The Big Four Bridge was finally completed in September 1895. Because of the location of the bridge and the growth of the Kennedy Interchange, the interchange had to avoid the columns that were on the approach to the bridge, causing the interchange to have several two-lane ramps rather than a single stretch of highway, and helped earn the nickname Spaghetti Junction. Due to the various accidents, the Louisville and Jeffersonville Bridge Company was financially strapped after building the bridge, and later in 1895 sold it to the Indianapolis-based Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway, also known as the Big Four Railroad. This gave the railway its first entry into the Louisville market, although the railroad would have likely used the bridge even if they had not bought it, as they desired access to Louisville. Due to the increasing weight of the rail traffic, contracts were finalized in June 1928 to build a bigger Big Four Bridge, which opened on June 25, 1929. The new Big Four Bridge was built on the piers of the old bridge, a novel building process, as it sped up the time necessary to build the new bridge; the old one served to reinforce the new one as it was being built. The old piers would still be used, but the falsework was entirely removed. During construction, the Big Four Bridges usual rail traffic was routed over the Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Bridge. The interurbans that used the Big Four Bridge would instead disembark at Sellersburg, Indiana and have the passengers board buses into Louisville for the duration of the Big Fours reconstruction. The Big Four Bridge fell into disuse after the Big Four Railroads parent company, the New York Central Railroad, was merged into the Penn Central in 1968. The Big Four Bridges former traffic was then routed over Louisvilles Fourteenth Street Bridge. By 1969 both approach spans had been removed and sold for scrap. As a result, the Big Four Bridge became the first Louisville bridge to fall out of use, and gained the nickname Bridge That Goes Nowhere. After unsuccessful litigation to stop the project, the Big Four Bridge was converted into a pedestrian and bicycle bridge as part of Louisville Waterfront Park and the ongoing revitalization of the Louisville riverfront. This conversion had been proposed and planned since the 1990s. The Indiana Department of Transportation pledged $1 million for the project to build a ramp to the Big Four Bridge on the Indiana side, on Riverside Drive, and Jeffersonville pledged $200,000; early estimates were that the Indiana ramp would cost $2.8 million, but was likely to increase. The Kentucky ramp was expected to cost $4 million; the ramp foundation is already done. Fixing the Big Four Bridge was expected to cost $3 million and take 18 months. The only other facility still standing that was owned by the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railway is the Spring Street Freight House. However, the mayor of Jeffersonville, Tom Galligan, called for a redesign of the entrance ramp to the bridge on the Indiana side, stressing that the proposed ramp would be unattractive and that the building of the column on a flood plain would probably not be possible. Galligan pointed out that neither the United States Coast Guard nor the Army Corps of Engineers had approved of the planned rampway. The plans for bicycling included a suspension ramp that would allow bicyclists to leave the Big Four Bridge without dismounting their bikes. Due to the length of time any new downtown bridge would take to be built, and needing an alternative for cyclists and pedestrians to get across the Ohio River when the George Rogers Clark Bridge is closed, which happens yearly during Thunder Over Louisville, bicyclists preferred the idea of converting the Big Four rather than relying on a new downtown bridge or the Clark Bridge. By mid-July 2009, work had begun to convert the bridge to a pedestrian walkway. With the approach ramps, the bridge will span about 1 mile. In February 2013 pedestrians were allowed to access the completed bridge from the ramp on the Kentucky side with construction still continuing on the Indiana ramp. The Big Four Bridge spans the Ohio River and connects Louisville, Kentucky to Jeffersonville, Indiana for Pedestrains and Bicyclists. The ramp coming off of the Big Four Bridge into Historic Downtown Jeffersonville opened May 2014. (Info from Wikipedia and Downtown Jeffersonville)
Posted on: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 21:35:37 +0000
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