Eastern Railroad Discussion > Efforts to open K&IT (NS) bridge to pedestrian traffic.

There has been an effort to open the highway lanes of the K&IT RR Bridge between Louisville, Ky and New Albany, In. to pedestrian and bicycle traffic.  When the bridge was built it had a traffic lane on each side for highway traffic.  The Kentucky and Indiana Terminal Railroad (K&IT RR) owned the bridge and became a part of the NorfolkSouthern system about 30 years ago  The road surface for the traffic lanes was the grid system, the kind where you can see down through the surface.  There was a 10¢ toll both ways. I don't recall ever crossing it myself but I've been told that the toll was more of an honor system.  They had a bin to throw the money in but no gate or attendant.  Probably worked pretty good in the 40s and 50s but not so much today.  A new interstate highway bridge was built about a mile downstream in the 70s.  The railroad bridge didn't see a whole lot of traffic but it was handy for people working in west Louisville and living in New Albany, or vise versa.  A few people used it to avoid traffic backups on the interstate bridge.  The bridge remained in service until 1979 when a dump truck exceeded the load limits and dropped a wheel through the surface.  The K&IT wasn't making any money on the bridge, at least not enough to repair it so they closed it down both ways.  

One side of the bridge is serviceable, I don't know about the other side. The lanes for highway traffic are on cantilevers, outside the main structure of the bridge.    About 19 months ago there was a fire on the bridge.  See http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,3452436,3452436#msg-3452436   When the fire department arrived they were not allowed to take their trucks on the bridge due to the load limits. Tools were carried to the fire site in pick-up trucks.   They had to drag the hoses from the bridge ramp to the fire.  About a year earlier an inspection of the interstate bridge turned up major flaws and that bridge was shut down for six months.  There were efforts to get NS to open the bridge at that time but they refused, however, NS did use it for their own vehicles and employees. It probably would have provided very little relief since the existing roads would not have been able to handle the six lanes of interstate traffic.  They were built for 1920s traffic traffic levels and some local traffic patterns have changed over the years.

There is another railroad bridge about three miles upstream that has been converted to a pedestrian bridge.   The Big Four bridge last saw a train in 1969.  The approaches were removed years ago but there was no money or interest in removing the bridge itself.  A few years ago it was opened to pedestrian traffic.  New ramps were built on both ends, lighting installed, and a park at both ends.  There is a walking path on the Kentucky side that virtually connects the two bridges.  It wouldn't take much to complete it at the K&IT bridge end.  Parts of a path are in place on the Indiana and the local government are in favor of making it complete.  If complete and the bridge was opened to pedestrian traffic it would form a 13 mile loop.

This link is to a local article.  Personally, I'd like to see it opened as a railfan.  The ramps would provide good access to photograph NS trains crossing the river.  On the other hand, as a railfan I also understand where the NS policy comes from.  If you haven't read about rail fans getting harassed around the tracks you haven't been on Trainorders for more than a day.

The first picture is the approach to the bridge.  I have a better picture but it's on my old computer and I haven't transferred them yet.  There is a better picture in the article.   The single track is CSX owned.  NS has two tracks crossing the bridge.

The second picture is the Google Earth view.  The track used to extend north of the bridge an make a loop to the east  and then head west, under the bridge.  There are remnants of where the right of way used to be if you look close.  Construction has taken over part of it,  Residents didn't like it if they were there when a train came through.  They could be surrounded by a slow moving, long freight and no way in or out of the area.  In the 70s the track was rerouted to allow a more direct route and providing relief for the residents.  The tracks going west along the river is the NS route to St. Louis.

John



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/09/16 15:45 by wa4umr.

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I have been there twice and pondered about the same scenario, but how on earth do you police something like that? For that matter, how do they police the existing NYC bridge made into a pedestrian way? And of course, this one is more complicated as there is an active railroad next to it, and so the walkway would have to be fully caged in to prevent idiots from doing what idiots do. Then , by fully fencing it in, it becomes a great deal more difficult for emergency crews to view or approach from the air. In a perfect world, what a great idea, but I'm afraid this might be a too-risky idea. When somebody jumps, falls or is pushed off the bridge, who pays, the city, which city, which state, or the railroad, or which railroad? === === = === JLH 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/10/16 05:14 by highgreengraphics.

I have crossed the K&I Bridge numerous times in automobiles beginning as a child passenger in the 1950s and later as a driver until it closed. Once in 1963, I rode a Greyhound bus across it. The only time I rode a train across it was in 1957; I rode a B&O Louisville/Cincinnati round trip passenger special (for Catholic Elementary Schools) across it.

The K&I Bridge crosses the Ohio River from the west end of Louisville KY to New Albany IN. This bridge was the first for motor vehicle traffic at Louisville. The steel grid vehicular decking was installed in the early/mid 1950s as I recall having seen this work being done. It appeared to me that they were replacing wooden decking. (Once we had to sit in the car a long time waiting on the decking work; it really made an impression.)

Prior to completion of the Sherman Minton I-64 Bridge in 1962, US-150 and US-31W were routed across the K&I Bridge. Afterwards, US-150 was re-routed across the Sherman Minton I-64 Bridge. US-31W was re-routed completely with US-31 dividing in Louisville into US-31E and US-31W in Louisville instead of further north in Sellersburg IN.

The railroad will almost certainly not agree to open either vehicular lane as a pedestrian path. They would assume a huge liability without any benefit. I really cannot blame them.
ALLEN

KRM152,

Time to get out the slides from the early 1980s?  I have some from summer of 1981 that show the Pennsy dwarf signals.

JL

They are doing this on the Harahan Bridge in Memphis over the Mississippi River on the old auto lane on the side of the double tracks.  Looks to be a cage affair.  Should be interesting.

The PRR bridge is not the pedestrian bridge. The Big Four (NYC) built that one and it was used by NYC trains to enter Louisville and the Indiana RR interurban cars until they quit running in 1939. Also, C&O trains used the Big Four bridge as a lead to back into or depart from the Big Four yard which they also used for their freight trains. I rode over it on a Big Four transfer run in 1956 but that was when railroads were pretty friendly around Louisville. We have a video sequence from one of the Indiana RR interurbans crossing the Big Four bfridge in 1939 in our video :Streetcars of River City",
-Jim Herron

Baxtersta posted a much better photo of the nighway bridge at http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,3960890

John