Stretching across the Ohio River to create a major travel corridor between Kentucky and Indiana, the William H. Natcher Bridge is already an area icon with its diamond-shaped towers and elegant, sweeping span. Designed for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, the bridge provides an important boost for commuting convenience and economic opportunity: offering Kentucky residents easier, faster access to the industrial corridor along Interstate 64 and Indiana residents a link to the industrial corridor along US 231.

PB served as chief designer on the project, from concept to final contract documentation, and performed hydraulic modeling and scour analysis, ship impact analysis, and flood-relief structures location and size. The challenge was to create a bridge as easy and economical to construct, inspect, and maintain as it was beautiful, with a span protected from expansion joint water leakages and other damaging factors.

The Natcher Bridge opened to traffic on October 21, 2002—on time and within budget, with high praise from the client. “The William H. Natcher Bridge is a magnificent structure,” says James C. Codell, III, Secretary of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. “Parsons Brinckerhoff identified our needs and exceeded our expectations.”