EKB News

Surveyors met this week at the West Prestonsburg Bridge to perform a "laserscan" of the entire structure to determine the feasibility of restoration work to be done, said Brent Graden, Director of Eocnomic Development for the Cityof Prestonsburg. "We want to make sure that the structure will be safe forpedestrians. We also want to make sure that we come in under budget. Thisbridge is a symbol for not only our city but for a symbol of progress for EasternKentucky. Back in 1930, it was literally the only way that Eastern Kentuckywas connected to Northern Kentucky. It symbolizes our hard work and Appalacian know-how."The bridge scan, performed by Berding Surveying out of Milford, Ohio, workedmost of the week to complete the task. "This was a Lydar laser scan of the entire bridge. The scan works by recording the flight of the laser from Point A to Point B. It then goes on to record millions of "points" all over the bridge.Once we get this work data back, we can then use this information, or "point cloud", to create a 3D image of the structure. This saves a lot of time for our workers. They don't have to crawl all over the bridge and take handmeasurements. This system can be accurate to 1/8 of an inch. Next, we takethis "point cloud" and start coloring in the beams, the walls, the flooring, etc …until it starts to resemble the bridge. What's left is a very acccurate 3D imageof the bridge that will help us to determine structure concerns."The next company, Palmer Engineering from Winchester KY, will then come to the area and perform non-destructive core drilling to determine strength andmineral use. The feasibility study being performed on the West Prestonsburg Bridge is a part of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Transportation Cabinetand the Heritage Council to help restore the 78 year old structure to pedestrianstatus. The feasibility study could be ready for discussion in the next fourmonths with possible restoration to follow afterwards.