| Bridge Name: | Taylor-Southgate Bridge |
| Carries: | 4 lanes of 2 pedestrian sidewalks |
| Crosses: | Ohio River |
| Locale: | Newport, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Maint: | Kentucky Transportation Cabinet[1] |
| Design: | Continuous truss bridge |
| Mainspan: | 259abbr=offNaNabbr=off |
| Cost: | $56 million[2] |
| Open: | 1995 |
| Coordinates: | 39.096°N -84.5012°W |
The Taylor–Southgate Bridge is a continuous truss bridge that was built in 1995. It has a main span of 850feet, and a total span of 1850feet. The bridge carries U.S. Route 27 across the Ohio River, connecting Newport, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio.
Some regard this bridge, which was a replacement for the structurally deficient and functionally obsolete Cincinnati-Newport Bridge built by Samuel Bigstaff,[3] as a little too plain in its design for a major urban bridge, especially considering many cities today are opting for a more elegant design, such as a cable stayed bridge.[4]
The bridge is named for the families of James Taylor, Jr. and Richard Southgate, two important early settlers of Newport. Richard was the father of William Wright Southgate, a pre Civil War Congressman from northern Kentucky.
The bridge replaced the Cincinnati-Newport Bridge, a truss bridge built in 1890.[5] Commonly known as Central Bridge, it was demolished in 1992.[6]