By Todd Hatton
Golden Pond, KY – Kentucky Transportation Cabinet engineers and two consulting firms have begun geotechnical work for two new bridges to carry US 68 and Kentucky Highway 80 across Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. Land-based crews started drilling for soil and rock samples to help design the bridge foundations this past week. Two additional crews began working from barges on the river over the weekend. This phase of the work is expected to last about 3 to 4 months. Plans call for the actual construction of new bridges to start within the next two years with completion in about four to six years. Each bridge will cost an estimated 165 million dollars.