Fire On I-75/I-71 Brent Spence Bridge Shuts Down Bridge

[rjs4470]

2 hours ago, MJAlltheWay24 said:

A little crazy to say but during the past 8 months, I can't be more happy that I'm working from home than right now.

A lot of people are in the same boat, which leads me to believe that the commute isn't going to be as bad as many think. Don't get me wrong, it will still probably be an issue, but it won't be nearly as bad as it would have been if this had happened at the same time last year.

[theguru]

Do we have any timeline for the Brent Spence opening back up?

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Just finished texting with a friend of mine who's on the Covington fire department. He spent a good bit of the morning yesterday on the bridge, and said he would be absolutely shocked if there was any way to open the bridge within a month.

The wreck/fire took place near a structural expansion joint in the bridge (something along the line of the picture below, which I pulled off Google...not from the Brent Spence). Long story short, the expansion joint metal is warped from the heat of the fire, as is some of the exposed metal from the upper bridge deck that had the fire burning beneath it. He also said that in the area where the fire took place, the concrete has literally been burnt up. Currently the top 2" or so is just gravel, which would be the concrete aggregate that was not burned. But the lime-based cement that held the aggregate together has actually been burnt up. The fire was apparently hot enough that the frames of the two tractor-trailers were fused together. Recovery crews spent like three hours with cutting torches to get the two frames separated so they could be removed from the bridge.

[theguru]

Thanks @Colonels_Wear_Blue and that is horrible news.

[TheDeuce]

Yeah there's no way that bridge is back open in 2020. One positive is truck traffic inside the loop should be non-existent for a while. 

[sportsfan41]

1 hour ago, rjs4470 said:

A lot of people are in the same boat, which leads me to believe that the commute isn't going to be as bad as many think. Don't get me wrong, it will still probably be an issue, but it won't be nearly as bad as it would have been if this had happened at the same time last year.

Not as bad as you think, ha!!  Eastbound and Westbound 275 are bumper to bumper both ways for as far as the eye can see.  It took us 15 minutes to merge onto 275 from the AA highway in Wilder.

[theguru]

10 minutes ago, sportsfan41 said:

Not as bad as you think, ha!!  Eastbound and Westbound 275 are bumper to bumper both ways for as far as the eye can see.  It took us 15 minutes to merge onto 275 from the AA highway in Wilder.

That is what I would expect.  The "major artery" is cut off so everything else is going to be grossly overloaded. 

[theguru]

[rjs4470]

3 hours ago, sportsfan41 said:

Not as bad as you think, ha!!  Eastbound and Westbound 275 are bumper to bumper both ways for as far as the eye can see.  It took us 15 minutes to merge onto 275 from the AA highway in Wilder.

Or I could be terribly wrong. I know the few times I’ve travelled downtown on the last few months, traffic has been way lighter than normal and downtown is a virtual ghostown, since so many are working from home.

[Beechwoodfan]

I work in Cincinnati 7am-730 pm. Usually I get to work before the traffic gets busy and home after.  Spent 3 days trying to find the best way to get back and forth.  There isn’t one. Glad I am not a 9-5 er.

[theguru]

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

[Voice of Reason]

4 minutes ago, Colonels_Wear_Blue said:

Are the trucks still on bridge?

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Just now, Voice of Reason said:

Are the trucks still on bridge?

No. That video was taken on the early afternoon on Wednesday prior to the truck frames being removed.

[theguru]