Take a walk around Waterfront Park, as we did for last month’s Lincoln Statue unveiling, and you can’t help but notice that it looks like the ramp to the Big Four Bridge seems about ready to go up. There’s a great artistic rendering at the site, and plenty of dirt piled up in the shape of a loopy ramp.
David Karem, president of the Waterfront Development Corp., says that if you’re really an optimist, you might plan for riding your bike across the bridge in 15-18 months. Of course it’ll probably take longer than that. It also depends on an infusion of federal money (not yet guaranteed) if it’s going to happen at all.
Karem said the city has let the bids for construction of the ramp, and that it has the money it needs. Steel has been fabricated and is on its way from Tampa. It’s likely that the ramp on the Kentucky side will be complete, he said, in 12-15 months.
But before you and I could use it, the Big Four needs what Karem called “decking.” The money for the decking work (let’s just call it paving) is not yet secured, though he said requests from the Governor, Mayor and Congressman John Yarmuth are in the works and the money could be awarded anytime. He’s hoping it will happen this fall, in time to begin work that will take another 12-15 months.
“Our strategy has been to get it started,” Karem said, reasoning that the money to complete the project is likely to come during the construction phase on the ramp.
It’s certainly possible that the Big Four Ramp will get finished and sit idly for a time while the decking on the bridge is completed. Karem said work on a ramp on the Indiana side is also underway, though it’s a little behind Kentucky.
This is a project we don’t mind pulling for, because it would be a distinctive addition to Waterfront Park.
5 responses so far ↓
1 David Harpe // Jul 7, 2009 at 3:51 pm
Have they sorted out any of the safety issues with this thing? Seems like there are many.
2 Carter Burger // Jul 7, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Considering how things are going, I hope they don’t spend all this money and then the federal monies fall through.
3 cross that bridge when you get there // Jul 8, 2009 at 9:46 am
The safety issues are no different than with the Clark Bridge, only minus the cars. Which means that they are significantly diminished. Chattanooga and Cincinnati both have pedestrian bridges that were originally built for other uses and neither one has, to my knowledge, had major safety issues. Typical Louisville response. Our civic motto: “Always sweat the small stuff.”
4 David Crowell // Jul 8, 2009 at 10:46 am
I ride my bike across the 2nd Street Bridge nearly every day. Although I like the idea of riding on the Big 4 bridge, It doesn’t eliminate the scariest part of my commute – 10th St. in Jeffersonville.
5 Jerryisaloser // Jul 8, 2009 at 11:09 pm
We could pay for it by cutting out David Karem’s salary. After all, he gets fees from sitting in legislature, his private practice, and being one of Jerry’s toadys.
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