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The Vince Road Bridge is a one lane bridge in east Jessamine County. For almost 100 years, this bridge has served the county. Now, the one-lane bridge is ready for an update including more support and an added lane.

“When there’s a wreck or something near the north exchange, a lot of traffic is diverted to Vince road and as a one lane bridge, that’s a choke point,” said Jessamine County Judge-Executive David West. “It’s a good bridge, it’s just a one lane and with today’s traffic counts and traffic flows, we’ve finally taken a step to turn that into a two lane bridge. It had gotten to the point where we could not anchor guard rails sufficiently as well. So there’s not much presently to keep a car from sliding over into the creek. This bridge will have all the safety features that are necessary and meet all the codes and standards of bridge construction today” 

This project cost the Jessamine County Fiscal Court $300,000. It was paid for by American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) monies last year. 

“We actually approved this last year and the delay was the steel beams being constructed to specifications. Once they came in, the contractor was ready to begin the project,” West said.

Horne engineering drew up the plans for this bridge several years ago and now is ready to go through with those plans. 

“Weather permitting, the contractor anticipates the bridge being finished by June 20, 2024,” Christopher Horne, owner of Horne Engineering told the Journal that when the water gets high in the creek under the bridge, it would be difficult to do a lot of the restructuring work necessary, like the abutment walls and the footers. 

According to Horne, the bridge’s stone arch was built in the 1930s during the Great Depression thanks to a new deal program. While the county wanted to preserve the original arch, Horne said it wasn’t possible to add lanes without ruining the original structure. 

Still, the road will be much safer and, Horne said, “The people that worked on that (bridge) had to feel very proud when they finished that project, for sure.”

Horne said no driveways will be inaccessible during construction, but “there just won’t be the connection along Vince Road so northbound traffic on Vince will be rerouted by Groggins Ferry Road on 27 and southbound traffic that would have come down Vince will have to proceed down 27 to Groggins to come that way,” Horne said. 

“It’s just another exciting improvement. One that has been years in the making. We did negotiate with the Slugantz family that owns some property there. We had to purchase property with them and they were very reasonable so their cooperation in making this project happen is very much appreciated by the court,”said West.

“It’ll be a big improvement for that part of the county,” Horne said.