On Friday afternoon, life as we know it in Louisville changed. The Indiana and Kentucky Departments of Transportation shut down the Sherman Minton Bridge. This is also known as the I-64 bridge. They found a gargantuan crack in one of the steel support beams and shut the bridge down in a heartbeat. Of course this has caused major major major traffic problems for Southern Indiana and Louisville. Commutes that would have taken people 20 or 30 minutes is now taking them two hours.
The DOTs say it will be 3-4 weeks before they can get a full assessment of the damage and repair, so until then people will have to just be patient and make the best of it. Yeah right. Some are saying it will take at least six months to fix the cracks; others aren't being as optimistic, and say that the bridge will need to be rebuilt.
The bridge shutdown happened Friday night, and on Saturday afternoon, restaurant and store owners in New Albany were already complaining of losing money. I don't even want to think of what the Horseshoe Casino boat will be saying in a few days. But it wouldn't surprise me one bit if they don't come up with some type of ferry to get people to and from the casino boat.
At any rate, this is one of the biggest things to happen to my generation here in Louisville. It's most definitely the most disrupting. All I can do is hope for the best - that will only involve repairs and not a total rebuild. As always, I'll keep you posted.
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