Build Now
The input has been received
Public involvement has played a significant role in the decision to build the project and in shaping the locations and designs of the downtown bridge, east end bridge and the Spaghetti Junction rebuild.
More than 450 public meetings have been held about the Ohio River Bridges Project since 1998. This includes more than 130 meetings to gain input on design elements and community desires since the project’s approval.
The public has been engaged through all forms of highly publicized and well-attended meetings, large and small, in communities throughout Southern Indiana and Louisville, a newsletter, e-mail notifications, and millions of hits on the project’s official and interactive web site, www.kyinbridges.com.
The Bridges Project compiled a list of the public meetings which are also documented in the project’s Environmental Impact Statement, the federal study that led to the decision to build the project. The study cites 3,987 comments with signatures in response to the draft study.
The studies are done
Following decades of debate, the Federal Highway Administration authorized a Record of Decision on Sept. 6, 2003, approving the decision to build the Ohio River Bridges Project. The decision was based on a detailed five-year study - an Environmental Impact Statement - that cost more than $22 million to complete.
A variety of options and bridge locations were considered and analyzed based on impacts relating to public safety, traffic flow, access and the environment including communities and historic properties and districts.
The Record of Decision concludes the decision “provides the best transportation solution that minimizes harm to the environment to the maximum extent practicable.” One-bridge options – either downtown or in the east end – “do not provide a sufficient solution to the region’s long-term cross river mobility needs, and their selection would not be reasonable or prudent.”
Before the Environmental Impact Statement, another, more limited study – the Ohio River Major Investment Study – also recommended two new bridges and the rebuild of Spaghetti Junction.
The designs have been created
Since the Record of Decision, significant design work has been completed on the bridges and connecting highways for the project and work continues. Land has been purchased on both sides of the river, and land acquisition is still occurring. The designs for the new bridges have been selected. To read about Bridge design selections and to see images of the results, click here.