A major artery through downtown Cincinnati will be closed for a time next year. Portions of Fort Washington Way will be shut down as part of the Brent Spence Companion Bridge project, and the whole stretch of highway could be closed for a time.
Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) Project Manager Tommy Arnold says before the new bridge can be built, old connections from Fort Washington Way to the Brent Spence Bridge have to be severed and replaced. Then, new ramps have to be built between the new bridge and existing highways.
Arnold says there are more than 30 bridges and overpasses in a single mile near where I-71, I-75 and US 50 meet, so they've had to do a lot of planning.
“We have to sequence the work. We have to rebuild every single connection from the bridge to Fort Washington Way,” he says. “We have plans in place to make sure we keep traffic flowing in the region.”
In spring 2027, northbound I-71 will be rerouted across I-275 and I-471 to reach Downtown.
“We’re going to be putting in temporary improvements where we know traffic is likely to go,” Arnold says. “Including adding lanes on 471 and 71 on the Ohio side [and] evaluating and updating signal timing on any local roads where traffic may go to.”
Crews have already closed and demolished some on and off ramps by Downtown.
In November 2020, a fire from a crash closed the Brent Spence Bridge for 41 days. On November 1, 2024, a fire started in a Cincinnati park destroyed part of the approach to the Daniel Carter Beard Bridge. Those repairs took 100 days.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Project Manager Stacee Hans says these detours will be very different from those.
“Those closed the interstate, both 71/75 as well as 471 completely,” she says. “That will not be the situation with this Fort Washington Way closure because we are committed to keeping 75 open. Unlike the bridge fire when we had a big hole in the bridge, we will still be able to maintain traffic along the 75 corridor.”
The exact timetable for the work, including start dates and length of work, is still unclear. The Brent Spence Companion Bridge is expected to be complete by 2031.
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