RUSSELL, Ky. –  Over the next several weeks, contractors will return to the new Kentucky 244 Russell viaduct in Greenup County to install overhead lights along the U.S. 23 overpass and Bellefonte Street bridge.

Motorists and pedestrians should watch for intermittent shoulder closures, temporary sidewalk closures, and flagged traffic on Kentucky 244 during construction.

Work could take three to four weeks, or longer, to complete. Expect delays and slow down in work zones to protect yourself and workers.

The light installation is the finishing touch on the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s $24 million project to improve traffic flow and safety at downtown Russell by replacing the city’s old 1930s-era viaduct bridge.

The new viaduct opened to traffic in November 2021 with final construction and demolition of the old structure completed last year.

The project effectively relocated the main highway into and out of downtown Russell, that is Kentucky 244, northward to a new roadway that loops around a state-of-the-art curved “flyover” bridge across U.S. 23 and the railroad before reconnecting to Bellefonte Street.

The project was designed not only to provide continued state highway connection to downtown Russell but also to ease traffic congestion at the heavily-traveled U.S. 23 and Oakley C. Collins Memorial Bridge intersection by reconfiguring it from a four-way to a three-way, T-style intersection to reduces traffic signal wait times.