UPDATED: Spring St./Old 131 bridge to close by next Monday.

In yesterday's New Albany Tribune, it was noted that Sunday, January 15, would be the last day for the Spring Street bridge to be open prior to an extended closing for widening and repairs.

As I've know since this project was announced some time back, the bridge's closing stands to play hell with my bike route to Louisville.

It would be possible to take a long loop down Blackiston Mill Road and return to old Hwy 131 via Gutford Road -- but who wants to ride on Blackiston Mill Road? It's narrow, and traffic is very heavy.

The only other alternative is to hit Spring Street as far east as possible (from the south side, Beharrel Ave.), then travel the divided highway as far as SS Marine, then exit right onto Emry Lane and eventually connect with the new bridge over Mill Creek, into Clarksville.

That's fine eastbound -- what do you do westbound on the return trip?

The old railroad trestle in the Loop Island Wetlands is another possibility, but you'd need mountain bike tires to navigate the unpaved paths on both sides, and I'm not sure where the route leads south of the junkyard on the Clarksville side.

I'm going out today to research.

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After riding today, I must say that the available options are unattractive.

From the south side of Beharrell, it's only a quarter of a mile or so to S & S Marine, and although there is a shoulder, it is seldom smooth, with frequent gravel and even mud patches, and of course strewn with glass and debris. At least looking down to avoid the impediments takes your mind off the thunderous and fast traffic.

From S & S, it's all pavement, but everyone should be aware that it's a heavy industrial area, dirty and gritty, with more junkyards than you imagined existed, a quarry or three, and just by the river, a wooded area that looks as though Katrina hit it (I was able to bike a short distance toward the Loop Island Wetlands before running into impassable mud).

Coming back from Jeffersonville, I retraced my route. The traffic on the westbound lanes of the main road at S & S was very heavy, so I returned to Beharrell via the eastbound shoulder riding into traffic -- not for everyday use, but I felt better knowing what was coming at me, and the volume of traffic was lighter.

To reiterate, using Blackiston Mill Road as a path to Gutford Road and a reconnect to Old 131 is a possibility, but not very much fun, though perhaps better than the extended four-lanes of Spring eastbound.

As I said, no good options exist. It looks like I might be taking the truck with bike to a parking place on the other side (perhaps S & S) of the creek, then offloading and continuing toward Louisville.