The road bed of the Clay’s Ferry bridge had been completed in this July 1946 photo and workmen were installing the last few panels of hand rails on the Fayette County side of the Kentucky River span. Approaches to the bridge were still to be constructed. This elevated two-lane bridge carrying US 25 over the Kentucky River was officially opened in a formal ribbon-cutting ceremony August 17,1946. At the time is was the highest highway bridge east of the Mississippi, at 250 feet above river level and spanning more than 1,736 feet from the Fayette County side to the Madison County side. The new bridge replaced a narrow, river level, wrought-iron span, known as the Clays Ferry bridge, which was built in 1869, replacing ferry that connected the two counties. A twin span, on the new bridge, was added in 1963 as part of I-75. Both spans were widened in 1998 to form a single six-lane bridge. Herald-Leader Archive Photo