LEDBETTER, KY (KFVS) -
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet have placed a traffic monitoring system on bridge.
The traffic monitoring system will help highway engineers gather information about the violations to better coordinate a law enforcement presence at the bridge, according to transportation officials. The equipment will be able to detect trucks that may be crossing the bridge when police are not on site.
Enforcement agencies had received a number of reports of vehicles exceeding the weight limit crossing the bridge.
Kentucky State Police, Kentucky Vehicle Enforcement, the Livingston County Sheriff's Department and the McCracken County Sheriff's Department have stepped up enforcement at the bridge this week.
The bridge is restricted to a 3-ton load limit and is on an accelerated inspection schedule.
Transportation Cabinet Spokesperson Keith Todd says he is encouraging the public to continue to report the license number, DOT number, company name, and any identifying information from vehicles that violate the load limit.
Todd says that about 99 percent of area residents are obeying the load limit. However, there are a few truck drivers who have ignored the 3 ton limit, and are jeopardizing use of the bridge by passenger vehicles.
Area law enforcement agencies have stepped up enforcement of the 3-ton weight limit. The Ledbetter Bridge was reduced to a 3-ton maximum load limit after a review of the structure's most recent inspection report mandated the restriction.
A 3-ton limit was put into place to help maintain the safety of the 81-year-old bridge while a new $93 million bridge is being constructed upstream. The new bridge is expected to be complete in mid-2014.
There are multiple signs on each side of the bridge, including message boards, that state the 3-ton limit to drivers as they approach the bridge from all directions. Officers say a basic citation for violation of the load limit carries a fine and court costs of $245. Additional fines may be included for drivers of commercial vehicles that are cited for violating the load limit.
Meanwhile, Todd says transportation engineers and bridge inspectors used a work platform Friday to further examine the bridge deck. Engineers were gathering additional information needed to formulate repair plans that might help keep the aging bridge open while a new river crossing is being constructed upstream.
The new $93 million bridge under construction is scheduled to be completed in mid-2014.
Also known as the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge and The Ledbetter Bridge, the bridge connects McCracken County to Livingston County between Paducah and Ledbetter. The bridge is at US 60 Livingston County mile point 0.0 and McCracken County mile point 19.718. The bridge was opened to traffic in 1931 and carries approximately 7,700 vehicles across the Tennessee River in an average day, according to the KYTC.
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