Brent Spence Bridge to be repaired with help from the federal government

The federal government is providing money for long-needed repairs to the Brent-Spence Bridge. It is a double deck cantilever truss bridge that carries Interstates 71 and 75 across the Ohio River from Covington, Kentucky to Cincinnati, Ohio. The upper deck is for Kentucky-bound traffic and the lower deck is for Ohio-bound traffic.

The bridge, opened in 1963, is a frequent traveler and has been a source of traffic jams on a daily basis for many years. It was originally built to carry 80,000 to 100,000 vehicles per day, but in recent years the bridge has seen 160,000 to 180,000 vehicles pass daily and has become a conduit for major freight carriers. The increase in workload has caused concern to Republican Ohio Gov. Mike Devine and Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

DeWine said both states and their senators have actively lobbied for federal dollars to make necessary repairs.

“The construction of this bridge will cost about 3.6 billion dollars, and this is the main problem. It’s a huge amount of money, and Kentucky and Ohio just didn’t have the money to build it without tolls,” DeWine said.

DeWine said no states want to charge tolls, and this new money means they won’t have to. The federal government will provide $1.635 billion in grants to complete the project, while Ohio and Kentucky will receive $1 billion each, DeWine said. Work should begin at the end of 2023.

Two people are sitting in the cab of a large truck in the middle of a parking lot.  The truck appears to be moving forward.  There are three more trucks in the background.

Ohio Department of Transportation

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Ohio Department of Transportation

Ohio Department of Transportation crews are dispatched from Ashtabula to Buffalo to help with hurricane damage.

In other Ohio traffic news, the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) is sending more than two dozen of its employees to Buffalo, New York, to help them navigate a weekend blizzard after the city called for help.

“A crew of 28 ODOT employees, about a dozen dump trucks and a few more vehicles headed east and headed to Western New York, where they will remain until next Tuesday. I was told that they would mainly shovel snow, put it in dump trucks and take it out of the surrounding streets and areas where it has accumulated quite a lot,” said Matt Breuning from ODOT.

Bruning says brigades have been pulled in from across the state to avoid a shortage of ODOT personnel in Ohio.

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