LEDBETTER, Ky. (AP) - The Transportation Cabinet says officials are looking at ways to speed up demolition of an old bridge over the Tennessee River in western Kentucky where land at the base of the approach piers has slipped downhill.
Cabinet spokesman Keith Todd says the slippage caused two approach spans of the old Ledbetter Bridge between Paducah and Livingston County to drop 3 to 4 feet.
The bridge is no longer used for traffic and was replaced last year. But there was concern Wednesday about possible threat to river traffic, prompting the Coast Guard to shut down the river for a while. It reopened later Wednesday but the Coast Guard isn’t allowing mariners to stop near the bridge.
The two-lane bridge opened to traffic in 1931.
The McCracken County Emergency Management Agency is monitoring the area.
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