CINCINNATI — After decades of promises and years of negotiations, Brent Spence Bridge corridor improvements have finally been granted funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law President Joe Biden signed in 2021.
According to a press release from Governors Andy Beshear and Mike DeWine, the U.S. Department of Transportation has officially awarded $1.635 billion in funding to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC).
"Ohio and Kentucky have been discussing the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project for almost two decades, and now, we can finally move beyond the talk and get to work,” said DeWine in a press release. “This project will not only ease the traffic nightmare that drivers have suffered through for years, but it will also help ensure that the movement of the supply chain doesn’t stall on this nationally significant corridor."
In February, when Governors Andy Beshear and Mike DeWine signed a memorandum of understanding to seek federal funding from the Infrastructure Law, they announced the total Brent Spence Bridge project would have three components: A new companion bridge that will divert traffic from the Brent Spence Bridge, improvements to the existing bridge and reworking I-71/75 on both sides of the Ohio River. The companion bridge will be toll-free, both governors said.
"For decades, inadequate capacity on the aging Brent Spence Bridge has created headaches for drivers traveling between Kentucky and Ohio," said Mitch McConnell, Kentucky senator, in a press release. "Today we're taking a major step forward toward fixing the problem."
Beshear and DeWine have estimated the cost of the entire project at $3.6 billion total, with the anticipation that around $1.66 billion requested from the Infrastructure Law would go toward the new bridge's funding.
"This historic amount of support from President Biden and our federal partners means that we're on pace to reshape our infrastructure and the economic growth of our region for generations to come,” Aftab Pureval, Cincinnati mayor, said in a press release. “They got it done, when for years, others could not. And thanks to our incredible regional team of state and local partners, we are ready to push this groundbreaking project to the finish line.”
Earlier in December, Governor Andy Beshear said he's been waiting "on pins and needles" for the call that federal funding is approved for the project, which aims to build a brand new bridge across the Ohio River, next to the existing Brent Spence Bridge.
"Kentucky has already put up $250 million, we've budgeted for it, it is sitting right there ready to go," he said in a Dec. 12 interview. "And if we get a phone call that says that we won those grant making processes, it's on."
The Brent Spence Bridge, built in 1963, carries roughly 3% of the nation's GDP each year. It is considered "functionally obsolete."
The bridge has officially needed a replacement since at least 1998, when the Federal Highway Administration determined it was no longer accommodating traffic needs.
"After working on this for more than a decade, we are finally going to build a new Brent Spence Bridge,” said Senator Sherrod Brown. “The infrastructure law is already making Ohio bridges safer – starting right here in Cincinnati – and I’m going to keep working to make sure Ohio gets its fair share – or more – of infrastructure funding."
The new project wouldkeep local traffic on the existing bridge and the companion bridge would become an express path for highway traffic through the downtown Cincinnati and Covington corridor.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story reported an outdated total project cost. It has been updated.
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