Owensboro Bridge

The Owensboro Bridge, also called the Blue Bridge, is a continuous truss bridge that spans the Ohio River between Owensboro, Kentucky and Spencer County, Indiana. Dedicated to the memory of the late U.S. Congressman Glover H. Cary and often called the "Glover Cary Bridge," the bridge opened to traffic in September 1940. It originally was a toll bridge, but tolls were discontinued in 1954. It carried US 231 into Kentucky from Indiana from 1940 to 2002 when 231 was moved onto the newly completed Natcher Bridge. Subsequently, its designation was changed to Indiana 161 and Kentucky 2262.

Color

In anticipation of a repainting of the bridge initially scheduled for 2006, the local city beautification group PRIDE of Owensboro-Daviess County sponsored an August 2003 straw poll to help determine what color to paint the bridge. PRIDE gave participants a choice of "blue," "teal," "brick red," or "green" – or participants could "write in" their own preferences. Of the 8,245 participants in the poll, 44 percent preferred to keep the bridge its current blue. A majority of participants – 56% – preferred that the bridge be painted a different color, with 20 percent opting for teal, 18 percent for brick red, 12 percent for green, and 6 percent suggesting various "write-in" colors.
Subsequently, Kentucky and Indiana highway officials indicated the bridge was scheduled for its next repainting in about 2017 at an estimated cost of $17 million. The repainting was rescheduled to begin in the spring of 2013.