The Purple People Bridge is about to be purple again. Parts of it anyway. Bridge Company President Will Weber says a crew will start painting this week.
“Depending on weather, they’ll finish up by next Thursday, they’ll be painting the Newport archway of the bridge. So as you enter through the bridge, you’ll be able to see and experience what that purple will look like. And as we get additional funds, we’d like to do the same on the Cincinnati archway,” he says.
Permanent repairs to the Purple People Bridge got underway last week. A piece of sandstone fell from a northern pier in 2021, leading to a full-to-partial closure of the bridge for six months.
The bridge was first painted purple in 2001.
Weber says test swatches were painted on the south side of the bridge a few years ago. “We’ve had a lot of feedback recently, that if you are on the bridge, and you’re coming from Newport into Cincinnati, the purple on the top right has aged the best, has a great primer,” Weber says. ”That will be the new color for the Purple People Bridge.”
Weber says it will cost an estimated $1.5 million to paint the entire bridge.
