The conversion and reconstruction of the Big Four Bridge figures is technically separate from the much larger Louisville and Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project but figures prominently in the bigger scheme.

The states of Kentucky and Indiana together with the Indiana city of Jeffersonville have committed US$22 million to complete the Big Four Bridge project. The bulk of the funding – US$12 million – was pledged by Kentucky for replacement of the bridge deck. 

The bridge will also get new handrails and lighting. A new spiral access ramp to the bridge has also been built in the Waterfront Park in Louisville. Local people were given temporary access to the ramp yesterday to mark the start of the bridge deck replacement.

The Big Four Bridge is crucial to the separate and much larger Ohio River Bridges project,  because it fills a need for a pedestrian and bike pathway.

The Ohio River Bridges project involves two new highway bridges and reconstruction of the clogged and crash-prone Kennedy Interchange in downtown Louisville. A pathway was originally to have been part of a new Interstate 65 bridge between downtown Louisville and Jeffersonville. Elimination of the pathway was part of a plan to trim US$1.2 billion from the cost of the larger project.

The six-span truss bridge opened in 1895 and is named after four railway companies, known as the Big Four.