NEW ALBANY – The closure of a key bridge spanning southern Indiana and Louisville, Ky., is contributing to the largest decline in spring enrollment in four years at two universities.
Indiana University Southeast and the University of Louisville say the closure of the Sherman Minton Bridge has affected travel times and created congestion and delays that have impacted students.
“Definitely I think it’s a factor,” Tanlee Wasson, the IU Southeast director of institutional research, told the Courier-Journal in Louisville.
The 50-year-old steel span along Interstate 64 has been closed since Sept. 9 after cracks were found in the bridge that serves as a crucial traffic artery carrying more than 80,000 vehicles a day between Louisville and southern Indiana. The Federal Highway Administration determined that cracks in welded areas were detected at least 30 years ago and should have been deemed “critical” in inspection findings.
Since the closure, traffic has shifted to the area’s two other Ohio River bridges, causing longer rush-hour delays.
Those delays have affected the two universities whose students often cross the bridge for classes.
At the New Albany campus, spring enrollment fell to 6,547, a 3.7 percent decline compared with last spring. The decline followed average spring-to-spring increases of more than 5 percent in each of the past three years.
The University of Louisville saw spring-to-spring enrollment fall by 801 students after increasing by more than 200 students in each of the two previous years.
Both schools also saw declines in the number of students from the neighboring state enrolled under a reciprocity agreement that allows them to pay in-state tuition at either institution.
Wasson said IU Southeast is trying to determine how many of its Indiana students who work in Louisville didn’t re-enroll because of concerns that they couldn’t get back to school in time for class because of the bridge closure.
Danielle Kopp, 19, of New Albany found it too difficult to balance her classes in Louisville with a job in Indiana after the bridge closed.
The unpredictable commuting time and safety concerns prompted her to withdraw, said her father, Mike Kopp.
IU Southeast Chancellor Sandra Patterson-Randles said the school understands “the inconvenience and unpredictable travel times caused by the bridge closure” that students and staff have had to endure. But she hopes that enrollment will return to the higher numbers once work on the bridge is complete.
A Louisville company that was awarded a $13.9 million contact to repair the bridge says it is on track to complete the work by a March 2 deadline.
