Up for Adoption: 82-Year-Old Kentucky Bridge Looking for a New Home

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Amie Vanderford / Getty

The bridge that's for sale, at 82 years old, is slightly less majestic than this one.

If only those bridge-stealers in Pennsylvania had waited a few weeks.

The best things in life are free, and officials in Kentucky are hoping that those things include an outdated highway bridge. They are so anxious to get rid of the historic span of Route 80 in the southeastern part of the state that they promise to dismantle and deliver it to its new home for free.

The 82-year-old bridge will be replaced by one capable of handling heavier traffic the state Department of Highways told Reuters. State officials hope that the incentive of a free bridge (minus reassembling and maintenance fees) will spare the 450-foot metal truss span from demolition.

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H.B. Elkins, spokesman for the Department of Highways, District 10, where the bridge is located, says it is structurally sound and usable even in a private driveway if so needed. He said possible applicants could include a municipality, a state or even a private person in need of a stream crossing or a unique driveway.

Taking the bridge comes with two conditions: it must be re-erected at the new site with its original characteristics retained, and the cost of saving the bridge cannot exceed the estimated cost of demolishing it.

This is the second bridge in Perry County that Kentucky has tried to give away in the past five years. According to Elkins, the first one attracted plenty of interest upfront but got no takers in the end.

The deadline to apply is December 20.

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