The Fourth Street Bridge connecting Newport and Covington over the Licking River will close this week as crews make preparations to demolish it and build its replacement.
Drivers who usually drive Route 8 across the bridge can take the Girl Scout Bridge (KY 1120) to the south to get across the Licking River during the two-and-a-half-year construction project.
Pedestrians and cyclists can make use of a free shuttle that will run starting at 6 a.m. on weekdays and 10 a.m. on weekends. It will run until 11 p.m. every night and pick up from Scott and Greenup streets in Covington and Central Avenue and Isabella Street in Newport.
The span constructed in the 1930s is at the end of its functional life, the Kentucky Cabinet of Transportation says. Its replacement will have four lanes for automotive traffic as well as 12-foot dedicated cycling and pedestrian paths separated from vehicular traffic.
Transportation officials say the present bridge's three lanes for cars are adequate for current traffic patterns, but increased activity from surrounding development like the IRS site redevelopment in Covington and the Ovation Center in Newport will make the fourth lane necessary in the future.
There's been a lot of public input about the bridge, including an alternative design put forward by the Devou Good Foundation.
Some of that input focused on pedestrian and bicycling safety on the bridge. Former Covington Mayor Joe Meyer said more than 1,000 pedestrians and cyclists cross the current bridge every day and that present infrastructure for them is "appalling."
The bridge's shared-use path will connect with a recently opened bike lane on Fourth Street in Covington.
KYTC originally intended the bridge to remain open while construction took place on its replacement, but now says it must demolish the old bridge first.
The work will begin this week with the relocation of utilities around the site. Demolition will start this spring. The new bridge should be completed by fall 2028.
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