The Gratz, Kentucky Kentucky River Bridge, which carried Kentucky State Route 22 for over 80 years, was demolished this morning. Located along the border with Owen and Henry County, the blue-hued truss was constructed in 1931 and was the lone fixed crossing between Carrollton and Monterey. Gratz, for which the bridge approach cuts through, was once a thriving and prosperious community, tied to the rise and fall of commerce along the Kentucky River. And although it boasts only a few dozen citizens today, it was well connected with an important east-west route well before the advent of interstate highways.

 

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The 1,100-foot bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, although its narrow width and aging superstructure kept it from being utilized to its full potential. Trucks from a nearby quarry could not make the journey over the bridge due to weight restrictions, for instance.

 

Work began in 2008 on a new fixed crossing 500 feet upstream of the truss. Originally planned to be a steel girder bridge, value engineering resulted in a pre-cast and pre-stressed concrete beam bridge, which saved the state of Kentucky nearly $1 million. The replacement bridge, completed at a cost of $12.5 million, boasts a main span of 325-feet, which is the longest single-span, pre-stressed, post-tensioned span in America. There are also two 200-foot spans and one 175-foot span. Bridge components were delivered by barge via the Kentucky River and by truck.

 

2 The record setting replacement.

 

3 Approach ramp.

 

4 Visible deterioration.

 

5 Western approach.

 

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Find more photographs and history after the jump.

Gorgeous.