Ever since the Biden administration announced more than $1.6 billion in federal funding to revamp the Brent Spence Bridge corridor last year, Ohio and Kentucky transportation officials have been anxious to kick the project into high gear.
But a local group called Bridge Forward has been pushing an alternate plan they say would free up about 30 acres of land in downtown Cincinnati currently occupied by highways. Bridge Forward is asking Cincinnati City Council to consider advocating for changes to state transportation officials' design. And the group has picked up some high-profile support, including former Cincinnati mayor John Cranley.
LISTEN: The latest on the Brent Spence Bridge project
Cranley joined Bridge Forward in a presentation to Council's Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Committee Tuesday and gave remarks urging council members to pursue more local input into the design of the corridor.
"I believe we can do better," he told council members. "[Former] mayor [Mark] Mallory believes you can do better. And you can. We elected people like you who we know care deeply about issues like urbanism to take a stand."
The Bridge Forward plan claims to free up space — about six city blocks worth — by lowering I-75 in a fashion similar to Fort Washington Way and building a street grid overtop, among other measures. Those design features would allow the city to reclaim land lost during the construction of I-75 during the 1960s, including the demolition of much of the predominantly Black West End at the time.
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But in a responseto the alternate design last year, the Ohio Department of Transportation called that element of Bridge Forward's proposal "impractical." State transportation officials say they've reworked their own plans to lessen the footprint of the coming infrastructure, shaving some 10 acres off the project.
Cranley said the most promising part of Bridge Forward's proposal involves eliminating a proposed ramp at Fifth Street.
"In all scenarios, the land that is the current footprint of I-75 north and south of Third Street will no longer be a highway," Cranley said. "So the only question is, will we get that land back for development? The only reason we're not right now is because of the high-speed ramp from the bridge to Fifth Street at Central Avenue. Our solution is simple: build a collector-distributor road like Second and Third Street along the footprint of the new bridge, which is where the new 75 is going to be anyway ... That is not a radical change in design, but it is an awesome new opportunity for Downtown and the urban basin."
Cranley is registered as a lobbyist for Greg Fischer, a supporter of Bridge Forward and chairman of Greater Cincinnati housing developer Fischer Homes. Fischer also spoke in support of the alternate plan during the council committee.
Officials with the Ohio Department of Transportation have also said it's too late in the process for such a large redesign. But Bridge Forward's Brian Boland says there's precedent for alterations to big highway projects through a process called progressive design build.
"The Martin Luther King exchange at I-71 is a good example of a design-build project," he told the council committee. "As originally designed, there were some inconsistencies that the community was not in favor of. Through the progressive design-build process, the community was able to give input and get the Taft exit maintained, when originally the Taft exit was going to go away."
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Boland and other supporters pointed to Fort Washington Way as another example of a project that incorporated public feedback as it progressed. That's also still possible with the Brent Spence Bridge corridor, they argued.
Council members said they heard the group's message. Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Chair Meeka Owens pointed out the history of I-75, construction of which was a factor in the displacement of as many as 25,000 Black residents in the early 1960s, as a reason to proceed carefully.
Owens is among city elected officials introducing a resolution asking the city administration to press ODOT to reconsider its options and perhaps fold elements of alternate proposals into its plans. She also introduced a motion asking the administration to apply with ODOT to become a participating agency in the project. That designation could yield more decision-making power.
Owens noted that the current design for the corridor revamp — which has been in the works for years — came under different political regimes.
"The last design of this bridge was a different federal administration, a different council, different priorities — namely our environmental goals and equity," she said. "So it's only right for council to continue to do our due diligence."