Will I-65 bridge linking Indiana and Kentucky be named for Col. Sanders?

• The parent company of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut tweeted a photo illustration in early February
• Some have voiced resolute online support for the name, while other question it
• Kentucky and Indiana are building two new toll bridges — one downtown, the other eight miles upriver
• Sanders’ history, like the bridges, spans both the Indiana and Kentucky sides of the river

Louisville-based Yum! Brands’ social media campaign to name the new Interstate 65 bridge for Col. Harland Sanders seems to be building steam.

The parent company of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut originally tweeted a photo illustration in early February showing a photo of the Kentucky Fried Chicken founder superimposed over a rendering of the downtown span of the Ohio River Bridges Project.

Subsequent posts with the hashtag ColonelBridge have garnered about 400 retweets this month, as well as comments from others on Twitter and Facebook, including Bryan Baise, a philosophy professor at Boyce College, which is part of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

“I only want it named #ColonelBridge if that lovely image of Col. Sanders shows up in the sky, waving to me and saying ‘Welcome to Kentucky,’ ” Baise tweeted.

Some have voiced resolute online support while others question whether Sanders is the best person to honor.

It’s one of two ideas that have been floated in recent months as construction emerges on both sides of the Ohio River between downtown Louisville and Jeffersonville.

Kentucky state Sen. Dan Seum, R-Louisville, introduced a resolution in January directing the Transportation Cabinet to designate the new bridge as the Ronald W. Reagan Memorial bridge.

The resolution was sent to the Senate Transportation Committee on Feb. 4 but legislators have recessed until April 14 with just two days remaining in the session.

Andrea Clifford, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Cabinet’s office in Louisville, said legislative action is one of two ways a highway or bridge can be named for someone.

The other requires a petition to local government, she said.

That petition could lead to a public hearing, where residents would have a chance to share their opinions.

The person who’s honored with the bridge name doesn’t have to be deceased, Clifford said, citing the 2010 naming of the Shawnee Expressway through western Louisville for former state Sen. Georgia Davis Powers.

Kentucky and Indiana are building two new toll bridges — one downtown and the other eight miles upriver. The $2.34 billion project, which also involves reconfiguring the existing Interstate 65 interchange with I-64 and I-71, is expected to be completed in December 2016.

Kentucky is in charge of the downtown portion of the project, while Indiana is responsible for the eastern crossing.

The downtown bridge is being built just east of the existing I-65 bridge that opened and was named for President John. F. Kennedy shortly after he was assassinated in 1963. The new bridge eventually will carry northbound traffic while southbound I-65 drivers will use a renovated Kennedy Bridge.

Sanders’ history, like the bridges, spans both the Indiana and Kentucky sides of the river. He was born in Henryville, Ind., in 1890 and founded Kentucky Fried Chicken in Corbin, Ky.

After developing more than 600 franchise locations around the concept of a “secret recipe” of 11 herbs and spices following the first franchise in Utah in 1952, Sanders sold Kentucky Fried Chicken for $2 million in 1964 to a corporation formed by John Y. Brown Jr., of Louisville; Lee Cummings, of Anchorage; Jack Massey, of Nashville, Tenn.; Kenny King, of Cleveland; and Pete Harmon, of Salt Lake City.

In 1971, Brown and Massey sold the company to Heublein Inc. PepsiCo Inc. bought it in 1986 and spun it off in 1997 as part of Tricon Corp., which later became Yum! Brands. The longer chain name was condensed to KFC, which now has about 14,000 restaurants worldwide, including 4,500 in the U.S., according to Yum’s website.

Reporter Charlie White can be reached at (812) 949-4026 and on Twitter @c_write.