Divers went to the bottom of Kentucky Lake early this morning to investigate how stable the  piers holding up the remaineder of the Eggner’s Ferry Bridge are.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokesman Keith Todd says the divers will issue a formal report to the state as early as Friday regarding the stability of the two piers that supported the 322 foot collapsed section of the bridge and another pier just east of those two.

Todd says if the report comes back that one of the piers is unstable, that is bad news for the prospects of repairing the current bridge while a new one is built.

Sight-seers have also become less of a problem due to a larger police presence, according to Todd, who also says the Coast Guard is making preparations for removing the collapsed section off of the cargo vessel that remains parked where it has been since Thursday night.

Todd says a crane arrived Sunday and it will be used for the removal process in some capacity.

If repair of the old bridge isn’t possible, then the use of a ferry remains possible until expedited construction on a new bridge can be completed—though that would still take years to finish.

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01/31/2012/am