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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (101140)	9/10/2011 1:06:57 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

I am afraid pollution will have to wait. This country has bigger fish to fry......like creating jobs and fixing our bridges and roads before they fall down. Sherman Minton Bridge closed indefinitely due to structural cracks The Sherman Minton Bridge was closed late Friday afternoon and will remain shut down indefinitely after officials discovered cracks in the span. Will Wingfield, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Transportation , said officials "do not have an estimate" on how long it will take to repair and reopen the bridge, which carries Interstate 64 traffic across the Ohio River. Wingfield said the cracks were found in two steel support beams below the lower deck closer to the Kentucky side. The bridge, which links New Albany with Louisville, is maintained by Indiana, and it was closed by order of Gov. Mitch Daniels. In New Albany, chaos ignited shortly after police shut down the approaches to the bridge after rush hour. Traffic was so snarled that police were dispatched to several intersections to keep order. "I hope that this is a wake-up call on cross-river mobility," said Kerry Stemler, co-chairman of the Ohio River Bridges Authority. He was attending a fundraiser at the Carnegie Center for Art & History in downtown New Albany. "This shows how important these bridges are to the community and the region." The closing leaves motorists in Kentucky and Indiana looking for alternate routes across the river. Late Friday, transportation officials were encouraging motorists to use Interstate 65, the Kennedy and Second Street bridges and Interstate 265 while an official plan is devised over the weekend. Wingfield said officials plan to take their time in determining what needs to be done. "Anytime you make a repair to a bridge, you need to understand what impacts that has on the larger structure, you don't want to make a repair in one regard and make additional complications in another," he said. Louisville metro government and Indiana transportation officials are to work through the weekend to devise a plan "to ensure the smooth flow of traffic in the days and weeks ahead," Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said in a statement. "We will be working around the clock to be prepared for rush hour on Monday morning," he said. "The public's safety is the most important concern and, with the information we now have, closing the bridge is the right decision until we can further assess the situation." The crack was discovered Thursday, and the decision to close the bridge was made after state and private engineers analyzed data from the crack, Wingfield said. The double-deck bridge's construction was completed in 1962 and cost $14.8 million. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear said in a statement Friday evening that the state would assist Indiana officials and the Federal Highway Administration in evaluating the crack. "Our highest priority is confidence that the public's safety is assured," he said. Chuck Wolfe, spokesman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, said cabinet Secretary Mike Hancock learned of the closing in a phone call late Friday afternoon from Indiana's commissioner. "We were told that in the course of an inspection that has been going on for several days that they discovered a crack that was worrisome, and they recommended the bridge be closed until it could be more thoroughly examined," Wolfe said. Wolfe said Indiana has been primarily responsible for maintaining the Sherman Minton since at least the mid-1980s. "We have agreements with our neighboring states on all bridges up and down the Ohio River," Wolfe said. "Kentucky is the maintenance lead on some. Kentucky is the maintenance lead for the Kennedy Bridge." Wolfe said Kentucky had scheduled an inspection of the Kennedy Bridge to start Monday, closing one southbound lane, but said that it would likely be canceled if the Sherman Minton remains closed. "The Sherman Minton carries, I think, something in excess of 50,000 cars a day. Shutting it down leaves only two alternatives downtown. … So it's quite likely going to be problematic on both sides of the river," he said. Wolfe said the Kentucky transportation cabinet has canceled plans to close a lane on I-71 next week for maintenance. While construction will proceed as scheduled this weekend, all lanes on I-71 will be open as of 5 a.m. Monday, he said. As for whether the Kennedy Bridge can safely handle extra traffic while the Sherman Minton is out, Wolfe said, "I've got to be very careful what I say about things like that because we have no reason to think it's going to make the Kennedy Bridge unsafe." But he added, "The Kennedy Bridge already handles more traffic than what it was designed for." The bridges coalition is leading a push to build two new Ohio River bridges that would add nine lanes of capacity, but Stemler said that in an instant "we just closed six" on the Sherman Minton. "Right now, everybody's in shock," he said. "You talk about paying a toll, we're really going to pay a toll now." Contact reporter Chris Quay at (502) 582-4241; contact reporter Grace Schneider at (812) 949-4040; contact reporter Tom Loftus at (502)875-5136. http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110909/NEWS01/309090090/1001/rsslink