Ohio River bridges developments and news

[seicer]

Market Street Bridge

Market Bridge Becomes Priority
Fort Steuben Bridge's closing calls attention to remaining spans
By Joselyn King, The Intelligencer / Wheeling News-Register, January 20, 2009

WELLSBURG - The Fort Steuben Bridge closed sooner than expected, and now local lawmakers on the West Virginia side of the Ohio River are speeding up their efforts to keep the Market Street Bridge open for at least another decade.

That is because Brooke County residents have one less way to travel outside their community, noted Delegate Tim Ennis, D-Brooke. If the Market Street Bridge were to be closed, the county then would be without two of its three bridges.

Only the Veterans Bridge connecting Weirton with Steubenville would remain. The next closest bridges would be in Wheeling or in Newell.

And inland options out of Brooke County wouldn't be much better. Experts say the circuitous W.Va. 88 out of Wellsburg can't handle large amounts of traffic.

And though a new bridge is being discussed for Brooke County, studies, design and construction of the bridge will take years, according to Ennis.

Last year he received a letter from Howard Mullens, assistant state highway commissioner, telling him there were no plans to close the Market Street Bridge until after a new bridge is constructed. But Ennis has learned there presently is an engineering study being conducted on the Market Street Bridge.

"Obviously, the bridge is in desperate need of a quality paint job," he states in a letter to Gov. Joe Manchin. "If the study identifies necessary repairs, then these repairs should be done to assure the traveling public can continue to use the Market Street Bridge deep into the 21st century."

Ennis believes any repairs and improvements needed to the bridge would fall under the criteria for funding of the economic stimulus package being proposed by President-elect Barack Obama.

"If the Division of Highways would decide to close the Market Street Bridge, this would mean Brook County would have lost two-thirds of its bridges crossing the Ohio River," Ennis continued in his letter. "Quite simply put, Brooke County would be devastated. Can you imagine Charleston losing two-thirds of its bridges?"

State Sen. Jack Yost, D-Brooke, said he and state Sen. Ed Bowman, D-Hancock, met with Manchin last week to discuss Brooke County's bridges, infrastructure issues in the Northern Panhandle and Obama's stimulus package.

"There will will be a study to see what it will take to make the Market Street Bridge safe for at least 10 years," Yost said. "We're all in agreement - we can't just close the bridge."

[seicer]

Brent Spence Bridge (Interstate 71/75)

Toll idea refuses to die
By Barry M. Horstman, Cincinnati Enquirer.com, February 8, 2009

Most Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky leaders know where they don't want a replacement for the Brent Spence Bridge built - Queensgate - and also know how they don't want to help pay for it - with a toll.

But just as they are having trouble, in the words of Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune, "driving a stake through the heart" of the Queensgate site, so, too, are they finding it difficult to dispose of possible tolls as one way to help fund the estimated $3 billion project.

And that, many local officials concede, is not necessarily a bad thing.

"At some point, you have to be for something," said Mark Policinski, executive director of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, which oversees the region's transportation planning and funding. "You can't just say, 'We're agin it.' That doesn't get you anywhere."

That attitude, shared by even some of the strongest opponents of tolls, should not be interpreted as any softening of opinion on the issue. Indeed, as far as tolls are concerned, the question is not so much whether local leaders and regional representatives in Columbus, Frankfort and Washington are still against them, but when voicing that opposition will have the most impact on federal authorities who ultimately will provide most of the funds for a new Interstate 71/75 bridge between Ohio and Kentucky.

Now, most agree, is not that time on a project still likely at least two to three years away from the beginning of construction that could take six years to complete.

"We may not know for another 18 months or so what, if anything, the federal government expects of us," Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery said. "So for now, it's a needless anxiety."

Others, however, would like to see tolls removed from the bridge financing discussion as soon as possible, lest federal officials gaze too longingly at that possibility.

At a Cincinnati City Council transportation subcommittee meeting last week devoted to the Brent Spence project, Councilman Chris Bortz zeroed in on the tolls question.

"The two most important issues to the public are how much are you going to disrupt my life and what's it going to cost me," Bortz said.

Staffers advised the council members that, however strongly they might oppose tolls, it would be premature to seek to eliminate that possibility while it still is not known how much Ohio and Kentucky might have to contribute to the project - or where the states would get that money, perhaps as much as $600 million between them.

Others, noting that any tolls would have to be approved by the states' legislatures, have embraced that stance.

"I don't believe tolling would be supported by the Northern Kentucky legislative caucus," said Boone County Judge-executive Gary Moore. "But until we know what the funding may be, it shouldn't be eliminated from the menu of potential options."

Ohio State Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Green Township, puts it more colorfully. "It's not something you kick out of bed until you know what the alternatives are," Seitz said. Seitz, though, stressed that he, too, has strong reservations about tolls perhaps being used to finance the Brent Spence project.

The debate over tolls mirrors the ongoing effort to rule out Queensgate, a site local leaders warn could undercut Cincinnati's plans for development in the neighborhood and leave Covington with no direct southbound access from the new bridge.

Despite close-to-universal regional disdain for the Queensgate option, federal officials have requested more information about it. Though frustrated by the need to further discuss a location they have no intention of pursuing, local leaders also now realize that it is not enough to simply say they do not want a new bridge built in Queensgate, west of downtown Cincinnati. Instead, they must build a persuasive statistical, economic and environmental case that nudges federal officials toward the local preference for a new bridge immediately west of the existing span.

Similarly, a rigid no-tolls position now would be dismissed by federal authorities as little more than a pre-emptive not-from-my-pocket strategy. To try to eliminate tolls as a funding source, local officials need to highlight potential problems and perhaps also point to alternatives such as an increase in the gasoline tax, an option favored by some.

"To simply make a statement now is not viewed as credible by them," said Cincinnati City Councilwoman Roxanne Qualls, who chairs the transportation subcommittee. "It won't have an impact unless you're willing to put some ... work behind it."

Local officials already have begun that work, arguing that toll booth plazas could increase the project's cost and clog traffic, despite technological advances such as computer chips on windshields that bill tolls automatically, eliminating the need to stop to pay cash each time.

From a local perspective, perhaps the strongest argument against tolls is that they would force Greater Cincinnati motorists to bear a disproportionate share of the cost for a bridge that is a critical link in the Interstate 71/75 corridor from Michigan to Florida.

That, in turn, could be a disincentive to companies thinking of doing business here.

"You forced this massive highway through the heart of our city and now you want us to pay tolls every time we cross the bridge?" Bortz said. "If that's the question, the response from the community should be a resounding 'No.' "

The 45-year-old Brent Spence now carries about 150,000 cars and trucks daily, nearly twice the capacity it was designed for. Within five years the number is expected to grow to 200,000 vehicles.

Although commonly referred to as a replacement project, the new span would in fact expand the existing Brent Spence, which has roughly 60 years of life remaining. The heavy volume of cross-river traffic between Cincinnati and Covington, which now produces miles-long backups, would be split between the two bridges.

As a vital part of a national highway system, a new bridge deserves national funding, local officials insist. That argument figures prominently in an admittedly optimistic scenario suggested by some in which the federal government conceivably could include the entire $3 billion tab among the hundreds of billions of dollars that Congress is considering spending on economic stimulus and infrastructure programs.

"This is a federal responsibility, not just Northern Kentucky's and Ohio's," said Sen. Jack Westwood, R-Crescent Springs. "This bridge would be a strong candidate for those funds."

If, however, the formula typically used for mega-projects is applied, the federal government would provide 80 percent of the funds, with the other 20 percent coming from state and local governments.

Under that plan, Ohio and Kentucky could be responsible for up to $300 million each.

For that reason, approaching Washington with a hand out - while appearing to be unwilling to reach into its own pocket - could weaken the region's position, officials warn.

"You have to have some skin in the game," said Kenton County Judge-executive Ralph Drees. "When it comes to money, cities like to look to the counties, counties look to the state and the states look to the federal government. But if you're not willing to pay part of the cost, you shouldn't complain if you get left out."

[seicer]

Brent Spence Bridge (Interstate 71/75)

Tolls, location problems in bridge planning
Kentucky Enquirer, February 9, 2009

COVINGTON, Ky. -- Government officials in northern Kentucky and southwestern Ohio find themselves discussing a bridge where they don't want one built, paid for with tolls they prefer not to collect.

The Brent Spence Bridge is an important link in the "snowbird route" between the Midwest and the Gulf Coast. It carries Interstate 75 between Cincinnati and northern Kentucky. It is also aging and carrying a lot more traffic than it was designed to handle.

The Kentucky Enquirer reports federal transportation officials want more information on a site in Queensgate, just west of downtown Cincinnati. Local officials don't want a replacement bridge built there.

Officials are also having trouble getting away from tolls as one way to help pay for the estimated $3 billion project.

Mark Policinski, who heads the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, said at some point officials will have to favor some proposal.

[Alex]

Wow, they refer to it as an important "snow bird route", so that's why it should be upgraded or replaced? How about the fact that its a busy commuter route with no shoulders on it!

[seicer]

It functions well, but it does have design characteristics that make it more dangerous than other highways. With that, a replacement is needed but I would hold off on a complete replacement for at least another decade. The bridge isn't collapsing and is nowhere near that condition.

--

Purple People Bridge: Do you care?
By Mike Rutledge, Kentucky Enquirer, February 24, 2009

NEWPORT - Do you love the Purple People Bridge, or could you live without it?

That's what operators of the Ohio River span that links Newport with Cincinnati want to know. They've posted a survey at www.purplepeoplebridge.com and hope you will fill it out, even if you've never walked on the pedestrian bridge.

"We're trying to find out how people use the bridge, and what's their perception of the bridge," said Lisa Raterman, a member of a publicity committee for the span that once was the drab, rusting L&N Bridge, which once carried railroads and automobiles.

"As we look at the future, and the need probably in two years to repaint the bridge, we'll have to look at funding of the bridge, and so we need to understand the public's perception of it."

The cost of the repainting job - its lavender coats are starting to fade - is estimated to be $600,000.

So the nonprofit organization that operates the bridge wants to know, "Is it something that they value, and that we should keep open?" Or: "Is it something that if it went away, nobody would miss it?

"Not that the plans are to shut it down, but is it something of value that the community wants to make sure it's around for years to come?" she said.

If you walk the bridge daily or weekly, operators want to hear from you. If you've never stepped atop the lavender landmark, your thoughts also are sought.

The survey should take 5-7 minutes, Raterman said.

"Basically we're trying to get more substantive information about who's using the bridge - how they're using it, when they're using it, and so forth," said Sue Sturgeon, president of the Greater Cincinnati Master Gardener Association, which plants gardens on the bridge each spring. "Because one of the options that's being looked at is right now they pay for lighting the whole bridge dusk to dawn, seven days a week."

"There is an option to close the main span and turn off the lights - and save a whole lot of electric," she said. "One of the questions on the survey is to find out exactly when people use it ... so we can find out what the disruption would be."

It was the vision of Wally Pagan, then the president of the Southbank Partners development group, to convert the bridge into a walking/biking span. The bridge was closed to traffic in 2001 and reopened in its new persona two years later.

[seicer]

Oh, do tell Mr. Bunning (R-Kentucky) how you would pay for this mega project ($3 billion+), when the Federal Highway Trust Fund is bankrupt, and when you believe that any and all appropriations (you call them earmarks) is inherently evil?

Bunning: No tolls on Brent Spence
By Patrick Crowley, Enquirer, March 17, 2009

Even as Kentucky works to complete legislation that would establish new bridge tolling authorities U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning said this morning he remains opposed to using tolls on the Brent Spence bridge.

"I'm not for (tolls)," Bunning, a Southgate Republican, said in a conference call with Kentucky reporters.

Because the Brent Spence is served by two major federal highways - Interstates 75 and 71 - replacing the Ohio span between Covington and Cincinnati "is the responsibility of the federal government," Bunning said.


"It is not a responsibility of the local people and the state government," said Bunning, who is running for re-election in 2010. "It is the responsibility of the federal transportation department."

Kentucky lawmakers are putting the finishing touches on legislation that would allow for agreements between Kentucky and Indiana to use tolling to build Ohio River bridges.

The bill is specific to Louisville and western Kentucky, where new river bridges are planned. But the legislation that is expected to be approved next week does not mention Northern Kentucky.

Even though the region is not mentioned in the bill, Northern Kentucky lawmakers fear that a mechanism for tolling will be in place and ultimately tolls will be suggested for the Brent Spence. Replacing the bridge will cost as much as $3 billion.

"That's our concern with this bridge bill," Rep. Adam Koenig, R-Erlanger, said this morning.

[seicer]

Stay of execution: Weather delays bridge demolition
By Beth Sergen, Pomeroy Sentinel, April 15, 2009

POMEROY – This week's rainy weather has delayed the demolition of the center span of the old Pomeroy Mason Bridge, giving the obsolete structure one more day above the Ohio River.

Originally the detonation of explosives set to bring down the center span was set for between 8 and 9 a.m. today but now, due to weather, that time has been changed to sometime between 8 and 9 a.m. Thursday, according to David Rose, Ohio Department of Transportation District 10 spokesperson.

Rose said weather conditions play a major factor in determining when ODOT can "shoot"  the center span. There has to be at least a 2,000-foot ceiling because cloud cover could add to an aftershock effect, hence the need for a clear day.

As reported earlier, traffic on the Bridge of Honor and surrounding roads will be halted five minutes prior to the blast and will probably be closed anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes afterwards.

Rose said there are plans to have two law enforcement officers on the Ohio side of the Bridge of Honor and two on the West Virginia side of the Bridge of Honor, as well as one law enforcement officer possibly in the Mason, W.Va., Wal-Mart parking lot to control traffic.

Motorists will also notice message boards to alert them of delays.

Rose said prior to the blast, there will be three different sirens/horns with the first sounding five minutes from the demolition, the second sounding three minutes from demolition and the third sounding one minute before demolition. Then, George S. Rainwater, who is in charge of the explosives, will get on a loud speaker to begin the five second countdown. After the explosion there will be four sirens to sound the all clear.

As soon as the center span falls, workers will inspect the Bridge of Honor to make sure there is no debris and will attempt to open it "immediately,"  according to Rose. ODOT then has 24 hours to clear the channel of debris though Rose said it's possible the old span could be out of the Ohio River in 12 hours. Work will also be taking place on the old piers which will eventually be set with charges to bring them down as well, though not tomorrow.

As for the piece of the old bridge which is suspended above Ohio 833, this will also eventually be brought down, but not tomorrow.

Rose said there are 19 C4 charges set on the old bridge. Copper surrounds these charges. The explosion actually pushes the copper through the steel of the bridge, cutting it to release the center span which should drop in one piece. On the side of the old bridge facing the new bridge, the charges will be covered with sandbags to protect against shrapnel damage.

There will be a 1,500 foot "clear zone"  radius from the old bridge where no one is permitted during the blast for safety reasons. ODOT has suggested the Pomeroy levee as a viewing area for the public.

The contractor responsible for the detonation of the bridge is Duane Houkom Inc., from Texas. Kristofer Hecht and Rainwater are the two individuals responsible for the blasting on this bridge. The cost for bringing down the old bridge "from pier to pier"  is $1 million, according to Rose.

[seicer]

^ Another new article posted above.

Two Brent Spence bridges?
By Patrick Crowley, Cincinnati Enquirer, April 16, 2009

NEWPORT - Regional planners are set to unveil a final conceptual plan for the reconstruction of Brent Spence Bridge Monday, a "hybrid"  plan that adds a new bridge just west of the existing span.

Under the plan, which still must be vetted by the public and approved by the federal government, local and Interstate 71 traffic would be routed over the Brent Spence while traffic from Interstate 75 would travel the new bridge. Presently, southbound traffic from both interstates converge at the Ohio terminus of the bridge.

About 150,000 vehicles daily travel the 45-year-old bridge, about double the capacity it was built to handle. The design scenario will allow much of the traffic, which is expected to grow to 200,000 vehicles a day within five years, to be split among the two bridges.

On Monday the Brent Spence Bridge Advisory Committee, which was formed by the Kentucky and Ohio transportation departments, is scheduled to release its conceptual study at a meeting of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, or OKI, a region-wide planning body.

"It is our understanding that in that study ...the hybrid solution will be advanced,"  OKI Executive Director Mark Policinski said during an interview after the council's Wednesday annual meeting in Newport. "The hybrid solution is a bridge immediately to the west of the current bridge with connections in Kentucky favored in Kentucky and connections in Ohio favored by Ohio."

Policinski said he expects OKI's board to sign off on the plan at Monday's meeting. A public comment period will then be held before the final plan is submitted to the federal government.

Funding for the $3 billion project is not mentioned in the plan and has not been fully secured.

But Policinski said having Ohio and Kentucky officials and planners in agreement on a route is a "huge"  step and will keep the project moving toward final approval and funding. Barring delays construction could begin with three years and take six years to complete.

"Where we were a year ago and where we are now is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug,"  Policinski said.

Kentucky U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, a Southgate Republican, said he was glad to hear a final route is close to being selected. Bunning spoke at Wednesday's OKI annual meeting and said that he has helped secure $34 million for the project's initial planning.

Bunning said about a year ago that planners were trying to choose between seven different routes and plans for the Brent Spence project.

"A year ago we met with the same OKI people and said, seven (plans) won't do it,"  Bunning said. "You've got to come up with something that we can take to the Transportation Committee in the U.S. Senate and request a reasonable amount of money so we don't have tolls."

Tolls have not been totally ruled out as an option to help pay for the project, though Bunning and many other federal, state and local officials oppose tolling on the bridge.

Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery, who serves as OKI Chairman, said the hybrid plan contains elements desired by Kentucky officials, including maintaining exit ramps into Covington

[CMHroads]

Speaking of Ohio River bridges, I have read that ODOT is working on reworking the US22/SR7 interchange at the end of the Veteran Mem'l Bridge.  Since they no longer need to keep the ramp to the old bridge open, they may have more room to avoid having such a sharp curve to get to SR7.  Apparently this work will delay the new river crossing becasue the Market Street bridge will need to stay open while the VMB is worked on.  Should be fun.

[Sykotyk]

I don't see how they can't have such a sharp turn. The turn is necessitated by the massive rock wall that US22 cut into as it traveled west into Ohio.  There does need to be better signage about the turn for southbound OH-7/eastbound US-22 traffic. Usually that's the one that gets the big accidents. West bound, not so much.

But will be nice to get rid of the left turn on the OH-7 southbound to the FSB.

Sykotyk

[CMHroads]

^Yeah, not sure how they'd avoid a sharp turn.  Maybe they can lessen it somewhat.

[seicer]

New bridge next to Brent Spence?
By Barry M. Horstman, Cincinnati Enquirer, April 18, 2009

They looked to the west. They searched far to the east.

They worried those on the Ohio River's north shore by pondering routes to have Interstate 71 bypass downtown Cincinnati or bisect a community for which the city has big redevelopment plans. They troubled Northern Kentuckians on the south bank by examining ideas that could have made the phrase "you can't get there from here" part of the project's legacy.

Now, after months of study aimed at divining the best location for a new Brent Spent Bridge, regional officials apparently have decided that traffic engineers got it right a half century ago, settling on a spot only feet from the current span.

The road ahead, though, is still a very long one.

In a preliminary but important step forward for a plan likely still nearly a decade from completion, transportation planners in Ohio and Kentucky are poised to recommend adding a second bridge across the Ohio immediately west of the 45-year-old Brent Spence.

Under the proposal, the cross-river traffic that now often overwhelms the Brent Spence would be divided. Local and I-71 traffic would remain on the current route and the new bridge would carry vehicles on I-75. The bridge, a vital link in the Interstate 75/71 corridor from Michigan to Florida, now carries about 150,000 cars and trucks daily, nearly twice the capacity it was built to handle. Within five years, that volume is expected to grow to 200,000 vehicles.

The side-by-side bridge plan - one local leaders identified months ago as their preferred scenario - underlines how significantly ideas evolved from those first considered.

Early discussions contemplated perhaps phasing out the old bridge when the new one opened.

Distant river crossing points far from the current Brent Spence were weighed, including ones that would have substantially rerouted interstate highways by, among other choices, building a bridge near New Richmond and Alexandria, Ky.

From locals' perspective, one of the most worrisome possibilities among the nearly two dozen proposed envisioned a new bridge in Queensgate, west of downtown Cincinnati.

Cincinnati leaders strongly opposed that idea because it would have undercut redevelopment plans for the community, and Northern Kentuckians found it equally distasteful because it would have left Covington with no direct southbound access from the new bridge.

Despite the close-to-universal disdain for the Queensgate option, federal officials seemed unwilling to rule it out, asking for more information about it as the conceptual report was being compiled. Today, however, leaders on both sides of the river know they have finally managed to, in the words of Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune, "drive a stake through the heart" of that alternative.

"There were lots of wild proposals in the beginning," said Campbell County Judge-executive Steve Pendery. With considerable time and effort, officials studying the bridge question finally "eliminated the lousy options" and focused on the site closely parallel to the Brent Spence that many wanted from the start.

"Compared to where we were a year ago, today is a different world," said Mark Policinski, executive director of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments. "To this point, we've moved pretty quickly thanks to some extraordinary regional cooperation."

Before relishing the thought of approaching the Brent Spence without seeing a miles-long line of red brake lights, though, consider this: Even now, Cincinnati City Councilwoman Roxanne Qualls notes, the project is at only step five in a 14-stage review process.

Under a best-case scenario - one that assumes there will be no major planning or financing delays, an iffy proposition for a project of this magnitude - construction will not begin for about three years and will take about six years to complete.

The project's next phase will start Monday when the Brent Spence Bridge Advisory Committee, formed by transportation officials from Ohio and Kentucky, unveils its final conceptual proposal calling for a new bridge just west of the existing one.

If, as expected, the OKI board endorses the plan, public hearings would be scheduled, probably for later this spring. Barring an unlikely outpouring of public distain for the plan, Federal Highway Administration officials then could sign off on it as early as mid-summer.

That would be followed by several years of engineering and environmental reviews. If all goes smoothly with those studies, local officials say construction could start by 2012 or 2013.

How realistic that timetable is may come into sharper focus in coming months in Washington, where legislators from both states are pushing for $800 million in federal money for design and initial construction costs.

The Obama administration's focus on major infrastructure projects that can also boost the economy by creating jobs makes this a timely moment, bridge supporters say, to be seeking such a sizable sum.

Federal officials, who ultimately will have final say on the route, timing and cost of the project, are expected to provide upwards of two-thirds of the money, with the rest likely coming from Ohio and Kentucky state governments. The project's estimated $3 billion price tag covers not only the bridge, but ramps and highways extending through a roughly seven-mile corridor.

Sens. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and Jim Bunning, R-Ky., already have helped get $46 million for early planning - more than four times what it cost to build the bridge, which opened in November 1963 only three days after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

The newest member of Greater Cincinnati's congressional delegation, U.S. Rep. Steve Driehaus, D-Price Hill, also has drawn accolades from local leaders for effectively lobbying during his first 3½ months in Washington for the much bigger amount now being sought.

In order to keep on a schedule under which the new bridge could open within a decade, it is critical that Congress awards the Brent Spence project most or all of the amount requested in this year's federal transportation bill, because that reauthorization process occurs only once every six years.

"If we're not in this year's bill, you've not only lost an opportunity, but you've lost that opportunity for some time," Driehaus said.

However, the freshman congressman has reason to be optimistic. When Driehaus and U.S. Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Hebron, met recently with U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., the chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to discuss the Brent Spence funding request, Oberstar was so impressed he said he would like to use the bridge as a model for how Congress needs to adopt a new funding mechanism for projects of regional or national significance.

That stops far short of having an $800 million check in hand.

But having the chairman of the powerful House committee in your corner makes that possibility much more tangible.

"We of course said that if the chairman wanted to use the Brent Spence Bridge as a model for a new authorization category, that would be just fine," Driehaus said dryly.

As encouraging as that is, Pendery, like others, notes that the project still has many hurdles ahead of it.

"Everyone's saying the well-adjusted adult things at this point," Pendery said. "But we've still got to get there."

[seicer]

Unused money for I-69 found
By Chuck Stinnett, Gleaner, April 18, 2009

Kentucky has allocated no funds for developing Interstate 69 in the coming years.

But thanks to some detective work, an Owensboro businessman has identified millions of federal dollars that are already approved for I-69, but have gone unused.

Now, a coalition of chambers of commerce in western Kentucky is pressing the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to begin using the $5.1 million to make some progress on a project that has all but stalled.

"Five million dollars won't buy a lot of blacktop," said Jody Wassmer, president of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce. "But it can do a lot of background work for I-69 in Kentucky."

Specifically, the Chamber Leadership Initiatives for Northwestern Kentucky is asking the state to use that money on three projects:

- Ohio River bridge study: Complete the environmental impact study for building a new bridge across the Ohio River between Henderson and Evansville, and connecting it the Pennyrile Parkway south of Henderson and I-164 north of the river.

A draft version of the environmental impact statement was completed in 2004 for that 13.2-mile project, but a final version was never approved and the Federal Highway Administration (FHwA) never issued a "record of decision" on the matter.

- Pennyrile-WK projects: Use an existing study on upgrading portions of the Pennyrile Parkway and Western Kentucky Parkway between Henderson and Eddyville to determine which improvements are necessary for converting them into I-69.

That study, completed in late 2007, put the cost of upgrading 80 miles of those parkways at between $145 million and $300 million, depending on which projects the FHwA says are absolutely necessary and which could be granted "design exceptions" and ignored, for now.

"We need a common-sense approach because of the lack of money," according to Wassmer, who said those state parkways already come closer to meeting current interstate standards than some existing interstates.

- Purchase study: Conduct a similar scoping study to determine what would be needed to upgrade the Purchase Parkway to interstate standards to carry I-69 traffic through in far western Kentucky.

"My opinion is, get done whatever we can get done," said Brad Schneider, president of the Henderson Chamber of Commerce.

While Indiana and Tennessee already have construction underway on portions of I-69, C-LINK has been frustrated with Kentucky's lack of progress.

The state's six-year road plan last year called for spending $1.44 billion on two Ohio River bridges at Louisville and one bridge between northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, but nothing for I-69.

However, former C-LINK chairman Nick Cambron of Owensboro determined that the federal legislation known as SAFETEA-LU in 2005 allocated $50 million for I-69 work in seven states stretching from Indiana to Texas.

A Kentucky transportation official, Russell Romine, verified in writing that $5.1 million of that is set aside for Kentucky, Cambron said.

Eventually, those federal dollars will total $7 million, according to Cambron.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe confirmed that Kentucky had $5.1 million available to spend as of January.

C-LINK officials, including Wassmer, Cambron and Schneider, met one month ago in Frankfort to discuss the availability of those funds with FHwA's Kentucky Division Administrator Jose Sepulveda and State Highway Engineer Mike Hancock.

Some western Kentuckians believe that the state has intentionally put I-69 on the shelf to concentrate on the Louisville bridges. Wolfe said the state is working not only on those two bridges and the one in northern Kentucky, but on an Ohio River bridge projects near Madison, Ind.; a bridge over the Tennessee River near Paducah; and I-69.

"I think the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet hierarchy knows and has known for a long time that the $5.1 million is there and hasn't been spent, but they're not sure what to spend the money on," Wassmer said.

Cambron is willing to give state highway officials the benefit of the doubt. "Because there has been so much turnover at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, I don't doubt when they say they didn't know" about the $5.1 million, he said. "They probably didn't know."

"It's true there has been a lot of turnover," Wolfe said, "but nothing has been forgotten down here," adding: "It is not the cabinet's desire to just sit on anything."

Cambron said if western Kentucky wants I-69, its citizens and elected officials need to be prepared to work for it and not count on Frankfort and Washington to deliver it on their own.

"We need to knock on the door and keep asking the question and keep asking the question," he said.

He also credited two western Kentucky legislators -- state Sens. Dorsey Ridley of Henderson and Jerry Rhoads of Madisonville -- for taking the initiative to introduce legislation to set up special authorities to collect tolls on new bridges at Henderson and Louisville.

That legislation failed to win approval during the recently completed 2009 General Assembly; it could come up again in a special session this year or during the 2010 General Assembly.

But Cambron and Wassmer said it was Ridley and Rhoads who put the I-69 bridge back in discussions in the legislature.

"We wouldn't be here talking about this if Dorsey Ridley and Jerry Rhoads had not pushed for that infrastructure authority," Cambron said, thanking them for "really bringing this to the forefront."

But he said chambers of commerce and community boosters need to continue to campaign for it.

"We've got to keep turning the wheel and asking the questions and never, ever failing to bring up I-69," Cambron said.

"Just to get this conversation going again is progress," Schneider said.

[seicer]

Bridge near Brent Spence in 2015?
By Barry M. Horstman, Cincinnati Enquirer, April 21, 2009

Major construction on a new Brent Spence Bridge just west of the existing one probably will not begin until 2015 and is likely to displace some residents on both sides of the Ohio River, Greater Cincinnati leaders learned Monday.

Construction also could affect Goebel Park in Northern Kentucky, as well as the former Harriet Beecher Stowe School building and Longworth Hall in Cincinnati, an advisory committee reviewing the bridge issue was told during a 90-minute meeting at the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, Downtown.

Officials have narrowed the search to two plans that envision a new double-decked bridge being built about 120 feet west of the existing span to absorb some of the Interstate 75/71 and local traffic that now often overwhelms the Brent Spence.

The two remaining options - one a combination of two earlier possibilities - are very similar and fall largely within the footprint of the existing bridge and the access ramps and highways leading to it.

They are being studied on parallel tracks to give the region a backup plan in the event that their minor distinctions create an obstacle for one of them. Officials hope to avoid any future delays as the bridge study enters several years of environmental, engineering and design studies.

U.S. Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, praised the advisory panel for responding to his challenge a year ago to quickly reach a consensus in order for the project to be eligible for up to $800 million in the 2009 federal highway authorization legislation, a process that occurs only once every six years.

The fact that the proposed path heavily overlaps the current bridge's route, combined with environmental reviews conducted in recent years as part of highway improvements in Northern Kentucky's I-71/75 corridor, could streamline some of the forthcoming studies, officials said.

Preliminary studies indicate that the new bridge project could cause a loss of homes in Covington's Lewisburg Historic District and near the Western Hills Viaduct in Cincinnati.

Depending on the final design, it also could affect Goebel Park and Longworth Hall and Queensgate Playground, west of downtown Cincinnati.

Public hearings on the bridge proposals will be held May 6 at the Gardens of Park Hills, 1622 Dixie Highway, and May 7 at the Lincoln Recreation Center, 1027 Linn St., West End. Both meetings will be from 4-8 p.m.

Most of the bridge money is expected to come from Washington, which local congressmen and others said is appropriate given that the bridge is a vital link in the Interstate 75/71 corridor from Michigan to Florida. The bridge carries about 160,000 cars and trucks daily - twice the capacity it was built to handle.

The project's budget will cover not only the new bridge, but also reconfiguration of highways and ramps approaching it.

[Revive 755]

Opposition gathering to tolls to support new bridges at Louisville:
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20100323/NEWS01/3230345/Anti-toll+groups+starting+to+form