The Fourth Street Bridge linking Newport and Covington was demolished Monday as part of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s ongoing project to build an upgraded replacement bridge.
The cabinet plans to spend the next two years building a three-arch bridge that officials say will add a fourth lane, update bike and pedestrian connections, boost safety for all users and lift the weight restriction that prevents buses and other large vehicles from utilizing the crossing.
Kentucky officials agree the bridge — also called the KY 8 Licking River Bridge — needed an upgrade. Kentucky Secretary of Transportation Jim Gray said the bridge saw 700 pedestrians a day but was unsafe.
“The needs have evolved and outpaced what this bridge was originally designed to handle,” Gray said.
Watch Kentucky's Fourth Street Bridge demolition here:
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was present at the demolition and said safety is at the forefront of the bridge project.
“It's about making sure Kentuckians have safe, reliable connections, whether they're driving to work, riding a bus, walking to school, riding a bike, moving goods,” Beshear said.
Beshear also said the new bridge is part of an era of growth for not just Northern Kentucky, but the entire Commonwealth.
“Today's demolition is the first step towards [the] future,” Beshear said.
'It's going to be painful'
A crowd of officials, residents and passersby gathered on the Newport side of the Licking River, along Riverfront Commons, to watch the demolition. The bridge first fell in smoke, and a loud boom followed a few seconds after and echoed across the river to Cincinnati.
“I thought that my eardrums would explode,” said Luca Bervejillo Krueger, a school kid from Montreal visiting the area.
His younger brother, Caio, also did not expect the bridge to blow up how it did.
“I thought it would just disappear out of thin air or something,” he said.
Residents of Covington and Newport have mixed feelings about the bridge’s closure and demolition.
Hayden Trossman lives in Covington and was onsite at the demolition. He said traffic on the 11th Street Bridge, which is now handling the traffic that used to cross the Fourth Street Bridge, is an “absolute mess now.” He chooses not to leave his house after 5 p.m. on weekdays.
“They have to get a stop sign out there or something where the traffic comes through and [doesn’t] stop,” Trossman said. “It really clogs up the Covington side.”
Others, like Ron Turner, who said he was routinely a pedestrian on the KY 8 bridge, are excited for the new bridge to be completed.
“Hopefully we’ll have bike lanes and a streetcar,” Turner said.
Covington Mayor Ron Washington said the construction will disturb residents, but that it’s worth it.
“It’s going to be painful, but progress sometimes is painful,” Washington said.
Construction on the new bridge is set to start soon after the demolition; the crossing is scheduled to reopen by summer 2028.
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