Historic Wolverine Bridge Closed

Engineers and inspectors from the Kentucky Department of Highways District 10 Office closed the historic O & K Bridge at Wolverine on Friday, November 6, after the discovery of a damaged truss brace.

Officials said that the bridge will remain closed until further notice.

Crews from the Highway Department placed large barrier signs and dirt berms to warn drivers of the closure and prevent traffic from crossing the bridge until a full assessment of the structure is completed and a mitigation plan is developed.

Highway officials reminded drivers that Kentucky law makes it “illegal to move or drive around a barricade in order to drive on a closed bridge or highway.”

Alternative routes were announced, and drivers were routed to Highway 205 (old Highway 15) and to Highway 3193 (Wolverine Road).

An official road count for the bridge identified an average of 170 vehicles crossing the span daily.

The original bridge was constructed at the spot just upstream from the Cy Bend beginning in 1899 as the Ohio & Kentucky (O & K) Railroad pushed up Frozen Creek and into Morgan County on its way to the rich cannel coal veins at Cannel City and beyond. 

The O & K constructed an iron single-span Whipple Through Truss bridge to span the North Fork of the Kentucky River.

In its heyday, the O & K crossed the bridge four times daily, carrying passengers and freight until the track’s abandonment was approved in July 1933.  The last train crossed the bridge on November 1, 1933. 

The rails were sold for scrap, and the last were removed in 1947 along the O & K route.  The track bed was converted to a highway and is today known as Wolverine Road.

The bridge was described as a “bridge consisting of a 200-foot span with about one hundred feet of trestle approaches on each end.”

Most recently, the span was repaired in 1956 and rehabilitated and repainted in 2015, but no damage was noted.

An assessment of the bridge in Kentucky completed by the Kentucky Transportation Center at the University of Kentucky estimated in 2014 that the Wolverine Bridge was “one of only two left in use in the state.”  The study noted some “deficiencies” with the bridge and its sandstone foundation.  At the time, officials estimated that the bridge needed $2,000,000 worth of work, and the replacement cost was estimated in excess of $5,000,000.

No restoration or replacement plans have been announced.