Bridge Location
The Milton-Madison Bridge Project has reached an important milestone as the project continues to move through the required environmental phase. After months of study and community discussion, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) and the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT) recommended that four alternatives receive in-depth study:
1) Superstructure replacement
2) A hybrid of alternatives 9 and 10 at Tiber Creek
3) A hybrid of alternatives 11 and 12 at Canip Creek
4) Do nothing - as required by federal law, this alternative remains to provide a baseline for comparison of other alternatives
As the Milton-Madison Bridge Project moves through the required environmental phase, several possible bridge alignments will emerge. The location alternatives that have been suggested so far are described in the Location Alternatives Report. Public meetings are planned to present bridge location alternatives to the communities.
The project will focus on connecting Indiana SR 56 to KY 36. There are presently no plans to continue the project to the top of the hill on the Indiana side or the Kentucky side to connect US 421. However, during the design process, the project will keep in mind any future development that might link other highways to the bridge.
"We won't solve all the traffic problems in Milton and Madison with this one project," says Gary Valentine, the project's KYTC manager. "But we'll work hard to make sure the work we do is compatible with any future road projects in the area."
Click map to enlarge
A number of changes have occurred in the fourteen years since the 1995 Milton-Madison Bridge Study. One of the more significant is that several of the 1995 location alternatives now fall within the Madison Historic Landmark District, an honor the city earned in 2006. Strict guidelines are imposed on development after a city earns designation as a National Historic Landmark District.
"We have to be very careful in Madison because of its National Historic Landmark District designation," says Steve Smith, INDOT's Milton-Madison Bridge Project manager.
The project must also consider Milton's history. Milton is one of the oldest towns in the Commonwealth with two designated historic districts, Third Street District and Hunter's Bottom District, located upstream from the existing bridge.
