HICKMAN COUNTY RAILROAD BRIDGE CONSTRUCTION TO START MAY 18

Prep Work for Railroad Bridge Replacement on Baltimore Road in Hickman County is set to begin May 18, to prepare for a 90-day closure starting in July.

A contractor for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) plans prep work for a bridge replacement project on Baltimore Road in Hickman County starting Monday, May 18, 2020.

The contractor initially plans brush cutting and construction of an access road to facilitate future activities at the site, including placement of a crane.

The project will replace the last timber railway overpass structure in the region. The aging timber bridge, located near the end of Baltimore Road about 1/3rd of a mile west of the Hickman-Graves County Line, was constructed in 1946 by the Illinois Central Railroad. The rail line it crosses is now owned by Canadian National Railroad. Baltimore Road, which dead-ends in Hickman County just west of the bridge, only has access from Graves County via Baltimore Church Road. The overpass serves mostly farmland.

Once the pre-construction work is completed, sometime in Mid-July the contractor plans to close the roadway for up to 90 days to allow demolition of the existing timber bridge and construction of a new plate girder concrete bridge. The contractor and KYTC engineers will provide advance notice of the specific closure date as it approaches.

Harold Coffey Construction Company, Inc., of Hickman is the prime contractor on this $1,676,892 bridge construction project. The target completion date for all work at the site is May 2, 2021.

This project is part of the Bridging Kentucky Program which seeks to rehabilitate or replace hundreds of bridges across Kentucky. For more information on the program go to www.bridgingkentucky.com.