On a rainy, overcast day in Frankfort, Kentucky, I joined Todd Wilson—an award-winning transportation engineer and Carnegie Mellon University graduate—for a tour of historic bridges and tunnels along the Kentucky River valley. Our route took us through a landscape shaped by over a century of civil engineering, where river crossings once defined the movement of goods, people, and the development of the capital city. Chief among our stops were the Broadway Bridge and the Frankfort Railroad Bridge.
The Broadway Bridge, now in the midst of demolition, was a 1910 Baltimore Petit through truss and the fourth known crossing at the site. Earlier versions included a covered bridge destroyed during Morgan’s Raid in 1862 and a Fink truss built in 1868. This iteration carried U.S. Routes 127 and 421 over the Kentucky River for most of the 20th century and was once shared with a railroad, streetcars, and horse-drawn wagons. It was bypassed by a modern alignment in 1989, closed in 1993 due to structural concerns, and remained dormant until a partial collapse of its sidewalk in 2024 triggered its dismantling. Only portions of the truss remain today; they are fenced off and awaiting the final removal phase.
Just upstream, the Frankfort Railroad Bridge endures in active service. Completed in 1929 by the American Bridge Company for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, the structure features a central Pennsylvania through truss supported by Warren through truss and deck plate girder approach spans. Now operated by R.J. Corman Railroad, it continues to carry freight across the river nearly a century after its completion.
The visit, part of a wider examination of historic crossings throughout the valley, reminded us of the continued relevance of these engineered landmarks as infrastructure and as markers of the passage of time.