Ribbon cut on U.S. 68/KY 80 Lake Barkley Bridge multi-use trail. The ceremony caps 20 years of planning for construction of new bridge.
Attending the event were Trigg County Judge-Executive Hollis Alexander, Sen. Stan Humphries and Rep. Larry Elkins who celebrated the new structure and trail. Local tourism representatives echoed the anticipated positive impact the nine-mile multi-use trail will have for visitors of the popular Land Between The Lakes Recreation Area.
A tourism attraction in its own right, the bridge features LED architectural lighting that illuminate the basket handle arch and trail. The 8.5-mile paved trail on the Canton-end of the bridge connects to its sister bridge- the Eggners Ferry in Aurora- that mirrors the same arch bridge design. The trail will eventually extend eastward along the new U.S. 68 corridor to the west edge of Cadiz.
Spanning the length of more than 10 football fields, the new bridge is one of the longest in the state and is 700 feet longer than the former bridge. The 75-foot-wide bridge surface carries two lanes of traffic in each direction and features a brand new barrier-separated 10-foot-wide multi-use path on the south side. The path opened on Sept. 13 and serves as the eastern entrance to Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.
PCL Civil Constructors of Denver was the prime contractor on a $128 million contract awarded in December 2014 to construct the new four-lane bridge at the Canton crossing just downstream from the original bridge. The bridge opened to four lanes in mid-October 2018, but frequent lane restrictions were needed for crews to connect the bridge to the trail and complete other finish work. A few, remaining punch list items may cause minimal traffic impacts.
