From Design to Reality: Progress Continues on US 127 in Southern Kentucky
Members of Palmer’s structural team recently traveled to southern Kentucky to witness a major milestone on one of our design projects—steel bridge girders being launched across a deep valley.
The new US 127 bridge over Salt Lick Creek will span 1,275 feet and feature piers rising more than 200 feet above the valley floor (see photo below). Contractor Bush & Burchett is using the Incremental Launching Method to place the steel girders, a precise and efficient approach well-suited for a project of this scale.
This bridge is part of the $105 million US 127 realignment project, which will construct a six-mile section of roadway from the Cumberland River in Russell County to KY 3063 in Clinton County. The project includes five new bridges and will provide increased capacity and improved safety along this important primary route.
US 127 runs the north-south length of Kentucky—from the Ohio River to the Tennessee border—and serves as a key transportation corridor in Southern Kentucky. Its current alignment crosses Wolf Creek Dam, which impounds Lake Cumberland. This project will re-route the highway off the dam, introducing a new crossing of the Cumberland River and approximately five miles of new alignment.
It’s always rewarding to see our designs take shape in the field, and this project represents a significant investment in the region’s transportation infrastructure.
