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Massive trucks to affect traffic, parking Tuesday

A truck similar to those that will make their way through Covington on Tuesday morning. (Photo used courtesy of Prestress Transportation.)

96,000-lb. beams part of new pedestrian bridge 

COVINGTON, Ky. – Call it an urban episode of the TV series “Outback Truckers.”
 
Three 117-foot-long trucks will thread their way through the streets of downtown Covington on Tuesday morning, delivering three 96,000-lb. concrete beams for a new pedestrian bridge being erected over the railroad tracks at 11th Street.
 
The delivery will impact parking and traffic: Parking will be prohibited near intersections along the route, as marked with signs, and the slow maneuvering of the massive trucks will temporarily affect local traffic.
 
The 9-axle trucks – owned by Prestress Transportation LLC – are scheduled to leave Lexington at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and arrive in Covington between 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., although gridlock on Interstate 75 caused by maintenance work on the Brent Spence Bridge into Ohio could delay that arrival.
 
The route
The trucks will arrive in Covington at the 12th Street exit, head north on Simon Kenton Way, east on Pike Street, east on West Seventh, south on Scott Street, west on West 10th Street and north on Washington Street, where a crane will unload them.
 
The second and third trucks will “stage” on Simon Kenton Way and be released on a schedule that gives the drivers time to maneuver the route.
 
The trucks will be accompany by escort vehicles and “scouts.”
 
Cars that ignore the no-parking signs will be towed. The signs will be removed after the last truck passes.
 
About the project
The beams themselves are 90-feet, 3-inches long.
 
The new 12-foot-wide pedestrian bridge over the CSX tracks is part of a $777,000 project designed, funded, and managed by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. It consists of replacing a pedestrian bridge at the same location and the permanent removal of a vehicular bridge that had been closed since 2013 because of rust and crumbling concrete.
 
Work began in March and is being done by Louisville Paving and Construction.
 
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