Crews are grappling with inclement weather and extra responsibilities on the design-build portion of the $2.6-billion Ohio River Bridges Project (ORBP), linking Kentucky and Indiana. The main contractor hopes to ramp up work and stay on schedule.

Walsh Group won the $860-million design-build Downtown Crossing contract in 2012, with a December 2016 slated completion. Walsh is also in a $763-million concessionaire contract to build ORBP's East End Crossing.

暴风雨，洪水和大风给市区的过境时间表施加压力，沃尔什面临每天80,000美元的较晚罚款。此外，肯塔基州的运输官员在一月份决定对51岁的约翰·肯尼迪纪念桥的一部分进行完全改造。沃尔什集团（Walsh Group）副总裁史蒂夫·凯尔（Steve Kehle）说：“我们必须增加人力，并在今年剩下的时间内开始进行双重转变。”

额外的改装包括肯尼迪桥甲板的完整更换和支撑它的纵梁梁。铁工协会IAIW Local 70的业务代表Jim Stiles说：“该项目的建设将于今年夏天达到顶峰。”开放时，新桥将带有北行的交通，而现有的桥梁将携带南行车。

Ironworkers "are comfortable with the scope and scale of this project because many of them worked on the Milton-Madison bridge just up the river," notes Stiles. "The cold weather did shut us down, but now it's the high water: It's too high to get manpower and equipment on the barges and out to the towers in the middle of the river."

Downtown Crossing spokeswoman Mindy Peterson says crews have begun to install the steel stay cables and are prepared to ramp up the pace of work. "We fleeted the barges, which are being constantly monitored by tugboats, and the lower portion of the bulkhead and causeways had to be cleared of all cranes and equipment. We'll have to restage those areas once the river does recede."

Foundation work is complete on the bridge's three structural towers. "The final pour on the last structural tower will occur within the next two weeks," Peterson says. "Then, we will start really cranking up installation of the stay cables."

Crews also continue the massive job of reconstructing the Kennedy Interchange and untangling the many veins of "Spaghetti Junction," where Interstates 64, 65 and 71 converge. To maintain two lanes of traffic in each direction during peak hours, crews must build new overpasses and roadways. Once these are completed, traffic will be shifted to allow for the old connections to be demolished. Chuck Wolfe, spokesman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, says, "We call it the Big Squeeze."

本文于2015年6月5日更新。