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Kasich: Ohio moving ahead on bridge

Jason Williams
jwilliams@enquirer.com

Gov. John Kasich said Monday that Ohio will continue to aggressively move forward in planning the Brent Spence Bridge project – despite it appearing to be on life support in the Kentucky Legislature.

"I can't give you the timeline, but they can't sit there and say, 'We're not going to have it,' " Kasich told Enquirer editors and reporters. "I mean, come on. That's not probable. I know it's going to get done."

But Kentucky holds all the power on the project because it owns the bridge, and the House of Representatives last week voted to ban tolls for the $2.6 billion project and yanked $37 million in state money for the bridge replacement and corridor overhaul. The Senate also is expected to vote down tolls to pay for the project as the clock winds down on the 2014 legislative session over the next three weeks.

That at least would put the project in limbo, and Kasich and his top transportation official said Ohio will have to make a decision at some point whether to continue to spend money. But the state hasn't reached that point.

"I don't want to slow down anything," Kasich said. "Let's get done what we need to get done. What I don't want to do is say, 'OK, we're just going to kind of stop things now to see what happens over there.' That, to me, would not be good public policy."

The state has spent or committed $84 million to the project, which partly includes overhauling Interstate 75 from the Western Hills Viaduct to the Ohio River. The project is a critical piece of a $2 billion overhaul of I-75 through Hamilton County. Work continues on other parts of the 17-mile stretch of the highway from the Ohio River to I-275.

"We won't get the full benefit of those (finished phases) until we remove that constraint at the river," said Jerry Wray, head of the Ohio Department of Transportation.

Wray said Ohio still must acquire land for right-of-way access as part of the Brent Spence project whether it gets done in the next four years – or not until 2035, the deadline based on a traditional federal government funding model.

Ohio also must pass legislation to allow for license-plate reading cameras to be used as part of a cashless tolling system. That legislation is expected to be introduced in the next month.

The 50-year-old, double-decked Brent Spence Bridge is functionally obsolete because of its narrow lanes, lack of emergency shoulders and limited visibility. The bridge, however, is structurally sound, officials say.

Kasich and Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear have worked together to push for fast-tracking construction of the project. The ban on congressional earmarks has shifted the onus onto states to pay for infrastructure projects, and tolls typically provide the guaranteed revenue stream needed to repay debt. But Northern Kentucky state lawmakers have remained united in opposing tolls because most of the bridge's daily commuters start south of the river.

"I believe that Beshear will get this done," Kasich said. "They'll figure it out."⬛