'This is real.' Cincinnati's new Ohio River bridge takes a big step
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COVINGTON, Ky. – The $3.6 billion Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project will be built by a contracting team with experience working all over the Midwest, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday.
The Walsh Kokosing design-build team is two companies that have also teamed up to work on Cincinnati's $398 million Western Hills Viaduct replacement.
The Brent Spence Bridge is one of the most vital in the country carrying $2 billion in freight a day from Florida to Canada. But it has been functionally obsolete for decades because it's narrow lanes carry more traffic than it's designed for and has no emergency lane.
About 160,000 cars cross the bridge every day, which is twice the amount it should handle.
"This project, where we have two of our major interstates coming together across the river, will uncork a bottleneck that's hampered the movement of people and freight for too long," Ohio Gov. DeWine said.
Kokosing is headquartered in Westerville, Ohio and has offices throughout the Midwest. It's the same company that made emergency repairs to the Brent Spence Bridge after a semi-truck burst into flames after a crash. The bridge was closed for over a month and was reopened a day early and under budget.
Walsh Construction, based in Chicago, has offices mostly in the Midwest and has previously worked with the Ohio Department of Transportation.
The team will be responsible for recruiting other companies to work on the project, including those owned by women, veterans, and people of color.
The contracting team will work on six of the eight-mile Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project – five miles of I-71/75 in Kentucky and one mile of I-75 in Ohio. The two miles furthest north in Ohio will be completed under separate contracts.
The project includes building a companion bridge next to the Brent Spence Bridge, which will also see improvements that include decreasing its number of lanes and building shoulder lanes.
"This is about giving everybody an opportunity to benefit on this once-in-a-generation, maybe once-a-century, project," said Jack Marchbanks, director of the Ohio Department of Transportation.
As far as the bridge design, Kentucky Gov. Beshear said the final design can't be be determined until environmental permits are complete.
He said he knows people have waited decades for this bridge and want it sooner rather than later. But the project is scheduled to break ground later this year and may not be completed until 2030.
"I hope that people see this is real. I think for so long it's been a whisper, sometimes a promise, but never a reality," he said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Governors announce contracting team for Brent Spence Bridge project
