The U.S. 51 Ohio River bridge between Cairo, Illinois, and Wickliffe, Kentucky, will close for approximately 30 days starting Saturday to allow for repairs and maintenance to the bridge deck and the Kentucky approach to the span.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced over the weekend the bridge will close “promptly at 6:30 a.m.” Saturday and will remain closed until “around Aug. 31.”

According to Kentucky highway officials, the closure will allow for extensive maintenance along a nearly 2-mile section of the Kentucky approach and will enable workers to complete an ongoing deck maintenance project this summer.

The closure will also allow for what the Kentucky highway department described as “critical work” to be completed on the leading to and through a 90-degree curve on the Kentucky side of the bridge approach.

Placement of a concrete latex overlay along the curve would have required the bridge to be closed to truck traffic for an extended period, while closing the bridge to all traffic will allow all of the work to be completed more quickly and efficiently, the highway department said.

Also known as the Cairo Bridge, the 84-year-old span carries U.S. 51, U.S. 60 and U.S. 62 traffic across the Ohio River. A recent traffic count indicated 7,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily. About 35% of the traffic consists of commercial trucks.