The bridge over Chaplin River, which is under construction, will be under a complete shutdown Tuesday, Sept. 7 as construction workers lay beams for the eastbound lane of the bridge.

“It’s going to be a major shutdown here at the bridge,” said Perryville Police Chief Parker Hatter.

Beams for the westbound lane have already been laid.

In a discussion with a crane operator, Hatter said he learned the bridge will shut down for likely four and a half to five hours.

Hatter worked it out with the crew that the shutdown will work around school traffic, in the best effort to get it started once children have been dropped off at school and finished once it’s time for them to be picked up at the end of the school day.

That being considered, the tentative start time will be around 8:10 a.m., Hatter said, since Perryville Elementary School drop-offs end usually around 7:50 a.m. but some parents will also need to get other children to Boyle County middle and high schools.

“That was my biggest request, was to try to start once after school started and be finished before they let out,” Hatter said.

For how traffic will be redirected, Hatter said he has been working with Perryville Fire Chief Anthony Young, and they are encouraging everyone to take Mitchellsburg Road, Lebanon Road, U.S. Hwy. 68 to Harrodsburg.

Hatter said he and Young have also been trying to work with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to notify people from out of town using their GPS systems, those driving semi trucks, for example, to take a different way and not take Perryville Road, avoiding the west end of Boyle County.