The US 45 Brookport Bridge will be closed for three weeks as the next phase of the Greenway Trail begins, meaning an estimated 5,000 vehicles will need to detour around the construction.
Paducah Parks and Recreation Director Mark Thompson says tunnel under the highway will connect the downtown and Noble Park portions of the trail. He says the project will create a safe route across the highway.
“The roadway is going to be cut and a large, what you would call culvert type pipe would be dropped in and that will actually become part of the road surface,” he said. “It will be about, just under 60 feet long.”
The underpass is part of a more than $600,000, 1.2 mile trail expansion. The trail will include walking, jogging and biking paths.
“When we complete this portion of it we will be four and a half miles of Greenway Trail that will connect downtown by the expo center all the way to Stewart Nelson Park,” Thompson said. “I think it provides a healthy atmosphere.”
The trail’s crossing at Cairo Road will have signs warning drivers of crossing pedestrians. Bicyclist and pedestrians will have to “exert caution” at the crossing because Thompson said a bridge or tunnel there was not a possibility.
