CINCINNATI — In the early morning hours of Nov. 1, 2024, flames engulfed a portion of the Big Mac Bridge after a wooden playground below the bridge was set on fire.
The fire destroyed massive steel girders that supported the bridge, leading to a 100-day closure.
“I’ve dealt with some emergencies, but nothing to this scale,” said Kathleen Fuller, Public Information Officer for the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) District 8.
WATCH: What officials say their biggest takeaways of the Big Mac Bridge fire and closure were, one year later
According to ODOT, closing and repairing the bridge cost $8.83 million; the original estimate was $10 million.
The closure also caused traffic jams on different highways and roads as tens of thousands of drivers changed their routes.
Now, one year later, I asked officials what they learned from it.
“Communication, communication, communication,” said Covington mayor Ronald Washington.
Fuller agreed.
“We tried to over-communicate this project to the point where really we became a poster child, in a way, for crisis communication and how to do it,” she said.
Fuller said the key to that communication was talking regularly, in person, with all organizations involved. But it didn’t stop there; they also made sure they were informing the public.
“Everybody had the big question, you know, obviously what happened, and when’s this bridge gonna reopen,” said Fuller. “We knew from the get-go, from day one, that we were gonna have to communicate with the public as best we could. To let them know of what was happening, you know, internally, you know of the conversations, what we were doing. We wanted to be as transparent as we possibly could.”
The City of Covington is already putting those communication lessons to use, with two upcoming bridge construction projects: the Brent Spence Companion Bridge, which will be built next to the current Brent Spence Bridge, and the 4th Street Bridge.
“We’re talking to our businesses, so we formed a group of businesses to advise the City of Covington. We’re talking to our residents so they can be advised,” said Washington.
We asked if there is a plan in place if another major event happens to hopefully avoid some of the issues we saw last year.
ODOT says it’s in the works.
“There are things that we are looking at, you know, again we hope that we never get into a situation like this, we hope it never happens, but if it were to happen, I think there’s a lot we can take away from,” said Fuller.
“If it happens, we gotta have a plan, not afterward but before, and that’s what we’re doing,” said Washington. “We’re doing that by talking to our community, talking to our businesses, and just as important, we’re making sure that our public safety services are involved.”
