The Glover Cary Bridge lit up the Ohio River for a few minutes Thursday night, creating buzz ahead of the full relighting project that is expected to be completed by mid-October.
The City was originally hoping to finish the project by December 2019, but higher-than-expected construction bids and labor issues stemming from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet put the project on hold. All changes made to the project then had to be approved by KYTC before the City could move forward.
A series of technical setbacks again put the project on hold for several months, pushing the expected completion date to July 2020.
After that, COVID-19 caused more delays. Though about half of the downtown bridge’s new LED-like lights had been installed, it took extra time to receive some of the controllers that help the lights change color and function. That pushed the relighting process back another 30 days.
Since then, inclement weather and a few car accidents on the bridge — unrelated to the relighting — have been the only things to push the project back. But Hancock said minimal rainfall over the last two weeks helped the process move forward “extremely quickly.”
“I don’t have a hard date [for completion] just yet, but we are thinking mid-October if the weather stays this way. Of course, that could change in October,” Hancock said.
Contractors have completed the installation of lights and conduits for one entire half of the bridge and are working their way down the other side currently.
Hancock said the City has discussed several ideas to celebrate the bridge’s relighting. A ceremony of some kind will likely be held at the end of October, but Hancock said he wasn’t yet ready to announce any official plans.
“I’m very excited to bring this project to a close, and I think the community will be very proud to see the bridge relit,” Hancock said.
