Singing Bridge
Singing Bridge (2020)
Coordinates	38°11′47″N 84°52′44″W / 38.1965°N 84.8788°W / 38.1965; -84.8788
Carries	2 vehicle lanes & 2 pedestrian walkways
Crosses	Kentucky River
Locale	Frankfort, Kentucky
Begins	St. Clair Street
Ends	Bridge Street
Characteristics
Design	Pennsylvania truss
Total length	409.1 feet (124.7 m)
Width	24 feet (7.3 m)
Load limit	3 tons
Clearance above	20 feet (6.1 m)
History
Constructed by	King Bridge Company
Opened	1893
Statistics
Daily traffic	5,000 (2019)
Location

The Singing Bridge (also known as the St. Clair Street bridge^[1]) is a two-lane vehicle and pedestrian bridge in Frankfort, Kentucky that is so named because of the humming sound it makes when driven over. As of 2019^[update], the bridge carries over 5,000 vehicles per day across the Kentucky River^[2] along St. Clair Street to Bridge Street, joining Downtown Frankfort with South Frankfort. It is a contributing structure to the Frankfort Commercial Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places.

The bridge gets its name from the humming noise it makes as vehicles travel across its open-grate steel deck, which replaced a solid flooring in 1937.^[3]

History

The over-400 foot long bridge is a Pennsylvania truss bridge built in 1893 by King Bridge Company, and was rehabilitated in 1956 and in 2010.^[4] The bridge originally carried U.S. Route 60 (US 60) until that highway was rerouted over the nearby War Mothers Memorial Bridge.

In 2019, the 125-year-old bridge's load rating was reduced from 9 tons (1988) to 3 tons,^[2][5] then it was closed to vehicle traffic in late 2020 when an accident caused damage to a truss and rail. Repairs were started in March 2021 to repair the damage and to inspect for further damage caused when an unmoored floating marina's roof hit the bottom of the bridge on March 3, 2021, during high river levels.^[6][7][8]

Gallery

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  View from on the bridge
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  View from Bridge Street
• 
  View from St. Clair Street