Governor Daniels closes major Ind. bridge

Traffic was occasionally backed up for miles Monday as morning commuters driving to work and school between Kentucky and Indiana were forced to take unfamiliar routes.

The more than 80,000 vehicles that would normally travel across the Sherman-Minton Bridge, which connects Louisville, Ky., and New Albany, Ind., were diverted to other throughways after the bridge was suddenly ordered closed Friday by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.

The Sherman-Minton Bridge had a “concerning crack in the critical load-carrying element of the bridge Thursday,” Jane Jankowski, Daniels’ press secretary, said in a press release.

The more than 50-year-old bridge is one of three bridges that crosses the Ohio River to connect Southern Indiana to Kentucky. Students from Kentucky use the bridge daily to attend classes at IU Southeast.

Structural engineers from both the public and private sectors, as well as from engineering universities, recommended closing the bridge after examining data from tests conducted Thursday, Jankowski said.

The bridge is to remain closed indefinitely while more examinations of the bridge are conducted.

Traffic is being re-routed to cross the Ohio River’s two other bridges, the Clark Memorial and the Kennedy.

— Zach Ammerman