Cairo bridge to close at midnight

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has announced it plans to close U.S. 51 at the Cairo, Illinois, bridge tonight.

Both the U.S. 51 Ohio River "Cairo" Bridge and U.S. 51 south of Wickliffe, Kentucky, near the Ballard-Carlisle County line will close at midnight, according to a news release from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

Engineers have been evaluating river-level projections from the National Weather Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers with other agencies, and based on the 9 a.m. update this morning, waters were rising more quickly than earlier river projections indicated, the release said.

U.S. 51 is required to close at the 6-mile marker between Wickliffe and the Ohio River Bridge at Cairo at about 55.4 ft., cutting off access to the bridge.

According to Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 1 spokesman Keith Todd, the latest river forecast at 11 a.m. today indicated those levels will be exceeded during the overnight hours tonight, the release said.

Pertinent address:

U.S. 51, Cairo, Illinois

Wickliffe, Kentucky