LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As repairs to the Second Street Bridge stretch into a second week, businesses in Jeffersonville say they've hardly noticed.
"Honestly I have not seen a whole lot of difference," Chris Meier, who is a manager at Red Yeti, said. "So I haven't seen a whole lot of impact. There maybe is a slight minimal impact if anything. We are close enough to this walking bridge that we get a lot more foot traffic than we do of the driving traffic."
If anything, Meier said business has picked up this week.
"We're excited about that and thankfully people are keeping us in mind despite the bridge woes," Meier said.
Ask Mike Vittitow about the bottleneck on the bridge, and you'll hear a whole different story.
"Very stressful, very hectic," Vittitow said. "Here's the thing: With any of the repairs, these are things that absolutely have to be done and should be done. But, I think on the end of city planning and stuff like that, I think that's where it's been lacking."
Vittitow said he commutes from Louisville to Southern Indiana just about every day.
"Well now I'm kind of forced to take the Kennedy [Bridge]," Vittitow said. "Of course, there's tolls involved in that. So that's been a little more unpleasant. And the traffic being funneled that way--there's a noticeable difference."
Crews will begin temporary rolling roadblocks on the Second Street Bridge, Monday, narrowing traffic to a single southbound lane.
That will take place between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and kick off with a temporary closure of the entire bridge.
"Heard about it earlier this week," Vittitow said, describing his reaction to the news as, "Dire panic."
Repairs the the bridge began on March 20, just weeks after an accident caused a semi to dangle on the side of the bridge. The incident left the 95-year-old bridge with damage to the sidewalk and railing.
Drivers needing to travel northbound to southern Indiana are urged to use alternate routes – Sherman Minton (I-64 West) or the Lincoln Bridge (I-65).
Work on the Clark Memorial Bridge is expected to wrap up in mid-April, in time for Thunder Over Louisville.
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