The Brent Spence Bridge is a double decker, cantilevered truss bridge that carries Interstates 71 and 75 across the Ohio River between Covington, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio. The top deck carries Kentucky-bound traffic while the bottom deck carries Ohio-bound traffic. History The bridge was named for Kentucky's longest serving congressman at the time, Brent Spence, who served in the U.S. Congress for over thirty years before retiring in January 1963. The bridge, which opened a year after his retirement, was named in his honor by then Kentucky governor Bert T. Combs. Spence did not feel that he deserved the honor, and lobbied for the Bridge to be named for President Kennedy (who had been assassinated only three days before the bridge was supposed to open). Combs, however, resisted this effort at modesty by Spence and kept the name, though Combs would name the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge in Louisville, Kentucky (which opened two weeks after the Spence) after the late president just days after Kennedy's assassination. When the bridge opened in November 1963, it carried only three lanes of traffic each way across the Ohio River. In 1985, the emergency shoulders were eliminated, and the bridge was re-striped with four lanes in each direction, increasing the traffic capacity by 33%, earning the bridge the determination of being 'functionally obsolete' due to carrying more traffic than it was originally designed to carry. The bridge was designed to carry 85,000 vehicles per day, but in 2006 it carried 150,000 vehicles per day. Recent reports show that contrary to previous traffic expectations, traffic on the Brent Spence Bridge has actually decreased by 9 percent between 2009 and 2015. On September 15, 2011, chunks of concrete from the Ohio side ramp connected to the bridge fell onto a vehicle. This incident prompted fears that the bridge might be in danger of collapse, but the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet later declared the bridge safe. In the early morning hours of November 11, 2020, a fiery accident involving two semi-trucks, one of which was carrying caustic chemicals, caused the bridge to be closed to traffic. Following the accident, the Brent Spence Bridge was closed for safety inspections. Traffic on Interstates 71 and 75 that normally used the bridge to cross the Ohio River, was rerouted to other auxiliary interstates. The U.S. Coast Guard also temporarily closed the Ohio River to all traffic while the bridge inspections