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Making the Brent Spence project more affordable

Michael Keating

Ohio and Kentucky officials are working to complete a value for money study on the Brent Spence project.  

It will report the most cost effective way to build the bridge and new approaches to it.  That study should be done next month.  

Ohio Department of Transportation representative Stefan Spinosa updated a Cincinnati Council committee Tuesday.  

He was asked about the lack of Kentucky legislative action on a bill that would allow a public/private partnership for the project.  

Spinosa said his role is to present facts.

“Here’s the information to the legislators and the bodies, here’s what the solution is and then they have to act or chose not to act,” Spinosa said.  “If they chose not to act, there’s still a need.

Spinosa said using traditional financing methods it could take until 2040 to complete the Ohio side of the Brent Spence project.

The Ohio and Kentucky governors have signed a memorandum of understanding to cooperate on the bridge project.  Both John Kasich and Steve Beshear have said the only way to fund the plan is with tolls.  

Some Northern Kentucky residents and elected officials are opposed to tolling.  They're concerned it will divert interstate traffic to other bridges connecting Ohio and Kentucky and hurt the local economy.

Jay Hanselman brings more than 10 years experience as a news anchor and reporter to 91.7 WVXU. He came to WVXU from WNKU, where he hosted the local broadcast of All Things Considered. Hanselman has been recognized for his reporting by the Kentucky AP Broadcasters Association, the Ohio Society of Professional Journalists, and the Ohio AP Broadcasters.