Major Step Forward for Ohio River Bridges Project

This week the official Finance Plan for the Ohio River Bridges Project (which went through an extensive review process by both Kentucky and Indiana transportation authorities) was submitted to the Federal Highway Administration for their review. This is a major step forward for the project – once FHWA accepts the Plan (likely within 90 days), it will authorize the use of nearly $200 million in highway funds to be spent on preliminary work. But it’s important to note that work on the Project is already underway (such as property acquisition for both bridge approaches and the letting of the contract for the exploratory tunnel for the Kentucky approach for the East End Bridge).

Some media noted that the cost on the bridges is now at $4.1 billion dollars, spread over nearly 15 years. Most of the increase is in inflation over that time period (estimated at 4% annually). The goal of the bi-state Build the Bridges Coalition (which One Southern Indiana is a founding member of) is to build the bridges as quickly and as inexpensively as possible – minimizing the impact of inflation.

You can get the most up-to-date information on the Ohio Rover Bridges Project at the Coalition’s website: www.buildthebridges.com. Plus you can click here for concise talking points that explain key arguments for the project and notes the challenges. Bottom line – we’re closer to getting new bridges than we’ve ever been before, but we must be flexible and open as to how we pay for the project.