Published: June 24, 2008 10:37 am      

Funding a question for Big Four project

Jeffersonville approach a last piece of the puzzle

Officials are still trying to determine how best to pay the approximately $13 million costs associated with converting the Big Four Bridge into a pedestrian crossing between Southern Indiana and Louisville.

Converting the abandoned railroad bridge has been long discussed — at least since the mid-1990s — but funding remains a question.

Officials are looking to the Ohio River Bridges Project as a possible source of funding, according to Mike Kimmel, deputy director of Louisville’s Waterfront Development Corp., which is in charge of the conversion.

The Ohio River Bridges Project seeks to build two new spans between Indiana and Kentucky — one in downtown Jeffersonville and the other near Utica. An estimated $50 million pedestrian walkway is planned on the new downtown bridge that would be constructed as a part of that project.

The waterfront development corporation would like to have money used for that part of the project to go toward the Big Four conversion, Kimmel said, noting the money that could be saved by doing so.

A feasibility study is being conducted to determine whether or not the Big Four would be a viable option.

“The study will determine if the Big Four Bridge is a suitable pedestrian path — and everybody knows it is,” Kimmel said.

That study is largely complete, aside from one question mark: Jeffersonville’s bridge approach, said Matt Bullock, interim manager for the Ohio River Bridges Project.

“That’s kind of a piece of the puzzle that hasn’t been resolved,” he said.

The Jeffersonville approach — which would lead foot and bike traffic from the bridge’s deck down onto the city streets — has been much discussed. Former Jeffersonville Mayor Rob Waiz had one design, which zigzagged sidewalks straight up from beneath the bridge.

When Mayor Tom Galligan’s administration took over in January, officials proposed another design, which would spiral traffic out away from the bridge, over the floodwall and down to Mulberry Street.

Jim Urban, the city’s planning director and point man on the Big Four project, could not be reached for comment Monday. Bullock said problems had recently arisen with the new design because part of the construction would have been in the city’s historic district.

The issues are arising as construction of a ramp is already taking place in Louisville.

A Louisville incline could be completed before the money for the decking or the Jeffersonville approach even comes through, Kimmel said. Once the $13 million is found, the project will take approximately 18 months.



Fire damage?

A fire occurred on the Big Four earlier last month. Inspectors will check the structural integrity of the bridge later this month. Kimmel said problems are not anticipated as a result of the fire.

He noted that three fires have taken place on the bridge over the years and none of them have affected the steel. It was railroad ties that burned last month, possibly caused by an electric problem in one of the navigation lights below the bridge’s deck.