The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has awarded a $128.3 million contract for a new bridge over Lake Barkley to Denver-based PCL Civil Construction.
The new Lake Barkley Bridge will carry US 68/KY 80 over Lake Barkley joining Trigg and Marshall counties and serve as the eastern entrance to LBL.
“Replacement of the bridges over Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley has been a priority of my administration, and it’s a great pleasure to see the awarding of the culminating contract,” said Gov. Steve Beshear. “The importance of these bridges to the tourism industry of Western Kentucky cannot be overstated.”
The new bridge will place the 83-year-old Henry Lawrence Memorial Bridge and is part of the larger Lakes Bridge Project.
The current bridge has only two lanes, each 10 feet wide with no shoulders. The new bridge will feature a unique basket-handle tied arch design with four travel lanes, each 11 feet wide, plus 4-foot shoulders and a 10-foot-wide pedestrian/bicycle path.
Last year, KYTC awarded the contract to Johnson Bros. Construction to construct a replacement the Eggners Ferry Bridge over Kentucky Lake. Construction on the bridge began in October.
Once completed, the twin bridges will provide a continuous, four-lane route from Aurora to Cadiz, crossing both lakes and Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. It will eventually be part of a four-lane corridor from Mayfield to Bowling Green.
The Kentucky Lake bridge is due open in 2016 and the Lake Barkley bridge is expected to be completed by late 2017.
