BIG FOUR BRIDGE - Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky's Waterfront park has an amazing pedestrian walkway that crosses the mighty Ohio River and provides foot traffic & Bicycle access between Louisville and Jeffersonville, Indiana. This incredible old bridge was built from 1888-1895. It was named "Big Four" after the "Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis" railroad that was often referred to as the "Big Four" Railroad. 

I included this "Ghost Shadow" of the bridge on the water because 42 workers died during the construction of the bridge. In one instance, 12 men were working on one of the footings of the bridge and the caissons they were working in flooded, drowning them all. In another instance 21 men died when a long span of the unfinished bridge they were working on collapsed into the river. This incident is probably due to the fact that the building was rushing to meet a timeline and took some quality and safety shortcuts that turned out to have deadly consequences. 

The "Big Four" bridge passes over the mighty Ohio river near downtown Louisville, Kentucky. The Ohio river begins at the "Point" in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers join to form the Ohio. The river flows nearly 1,000 miles from that point to where it joins the Mississippi river. Dozens and dozens of barges full of various commodities like coal, crude oil etc. are pushed up and down the river by powerful tug boats. Standing on the "Big Four" bridge and watching a set of barges and its tug churn by makes for an interesting scene. 

Back when it was built, the "Big Four" bridge cost $2,000,000.00 and was over 9,000 feet long when all the spans were added up. I like to look at the old rivets, steel plates, cables and truss work of things like this and realize that each individual rivet was put there by a man who risked a lot to do it back in pre OSHA times. 

This bridge was in operation from 1895-1969 when it was abandoned. It's high approaches were removed a short time after its closure and therefore it gained the nickname the "Bridge to Nowhere". Around 2012-2013 the States of Indiana and Kentucky pooled their resources and came up with a plan to re open the bridge to foot traffic. The efforts of the politicians from those States and some local communities are responsible for the wonderful walkway this bridge is today. 

Louisville, Kentucky as seen from the Big Four Bridge.

There are street performers, food vendors, benches and amazing views along the 2,545 foot main span of the bridge. 

The bridge is accessed from the Louisville, Kentucky side of the Ohio River via a large concrete ramp that begins in beautiful Waterfront Park. This park is full of large grass lawns, tree lined walkways, front porch type chair swings, and is open daily from 0600am -1100pm

The "Big Four" bridge is a great "No Cost" point of interest where you can stretch your legs, enjoy the outdoors and amazing views of the Ohio River, downtown Louisville and the other bridges that span the Ohio to the west. The bridge itself is open 24 hours a day 365 days a year. The walk from Louisville beginning at Waterfront Park to Jeffersonville, Indiana is approximately 1 mile. During the summer months you can rent bicycles and segways on the Louisville side which make the crossing really fun. Take a moment to look at the old stone piers and rusty steel thrown up over 100 years ago and consider how pioneers of this Nation conquered, at great cost - the Mighty Ohio River.