Brent Spence Bridge Fix

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

$2.6 Billion for this Bridge? In Today's dollars the Golden Gate would have only cost half of that.

 

Most Bridges costing multi Billions are over a couple of miles long.

 

I would have to assume that that incorporates all of the road work associated with the new bridge. As it stands, the Brent Spence handles the combined traffic of I-75 and I-71, with the expressways converging/splitting just north of the bridge in Cincinnati. The plan is for the new bridge to handle the traffic from I-75, and the existing bridge will remain to handle I-71, and the two expressways will converge/split just south of the bridge in Covington. There will be a LOT of new elevated roadway required for the new expressway route leading to and from the new bridge. There will also be a lot of cost associated with purchasing of privately owned properties and/or moving buildings to make way for the new bridge and roadways.

[OlDog75]

Mr. OlDog75 will not be happy.:no:

 

Nope, not at all. But pretty much expected it from his Governor. I'm sending an email now asking him to float my wife and I a loan so we can get to work.

 

Just burns me up thinking about all the "foreign aid" the USA forks out all over the world and we can't take some of that monies to help our own citizens. I heard on a radio program that the bridge tax will be on that structure for 40 years.

[Jumper_Dad]

Do you honestly think the US will be safe and prosper in the future if we again adopt the isolated, "island fortress" mentality? If you think China is a threat to the US economically and militarily, you just might want to examine how much foreign financial aid they are giving out. Right, wrong or otherwise, foreign financial aid equates to influence in places that people much more knowledgeable than you and I in foreign affairs think we need influence.

Not to hijack thread but I looked and neither China or Russia were on any top 20 list of foriegn aid givers that I could find. What ever they are giving out is dwarfed by the US and the UK.

[Jumper_Dad]

Could easily find the money here that is already in the budget...Coburn Releases Annual Wastebook Highlighting Most Egregious Spending of 2013 - Press Releases - Tom Coburn, M.D., United States Senator from Oklahoma

[Jim Schue]

I would have to assume that that incorporates all of the road work associated with the new bridge. As it stands, the Brent Spence handles the combined traffic of I-75 and I-71, with the expressways converging/splitting just north of the bridge in Cincinnati. The plan is for the new bridge to handle the traffic from I-75, and the existing bridge will remain to handle I-71, and the two expressways will converge/split just south of the bridge in Covington. There will be a LOT of new elevated roadway required for the new expressway route leading to and from the new bridge. There will also be a lot of cost associated with purchasing of privately owned properties and/or moving buildings to make way for the new bridge and roadways.

 

Yeah, they're working in very tight quarters, given the lay of the land there. That can really drive up expenses in a hurry. A lot of the same reasons why building roads in the mountains is so cost-prohibitive.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Ohio will have it approved on their end. Now Kentucky apparently has to pass one as well to begin with the tolls.

 

Kasich To Sign Brent Spence Toll Bill Wednesday At Paul Brown - Cincinnati News, FOX19-WXIX TV

 

"CINCINNATI, OH (FOX19) - Ohio Governor John Kasich is expected to sign a bill Wednesday to approve electronic tolls on the Brent Spence Bridge.

 

Kasich will be joined by Ohio Department of Transportation Director Jerry Wray as well as state and local leaders at Paul Brown Stadium. The event is set for an afternoon signing at Paul Brown Stadium.

 

The bridge was listed as "functionally obsolete" by the National Bridge Inventory in 1998, due in large part to limited visibility and safety concerns. ODOT states that approximately 172,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily, though its original design was meant to only accommodate 80,000 per day."

[Jumper_Dad]

I've driven across that bridge several times but really don't pay much attention to it.

 

Is the biggest issue that it is unsafe (going to fall into the river), not safe to drive (bad visibility) or over just way crowded?

[nkypete]

I've driven across that bridge several times but really don't pay much attention to it.

 

Is the biggest issue that it is unsafe (going to fall into the river), not safe to drive (bad visibility) or over just way crowded?

 

Old

[Habib]

I've driven across that bridge several times but really don't pay much attention to it.

 

Is the biggest issue that it is unsafe (going to fall into the river), not safe to drive (bad visibility) or over just way crowded?

 

All of the above.

 

I remember when that bridge collapsed in Minnesota almost a decade ago and there was a brouhaha made about bridges across the country. The Brent Spence was highlighted as being an issue then. If memory serves, it handles something like ten times the volume it was designed to handle and it has way out lived its designed lifespan. Not to mention, the lanes are narrow, there's no shoulder, and the on/off ramps require considerable merging, which makes it a traffic nightmare on top of its design issues.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

Old

 

....I'd personally say the overcrowding is the bigger issue. It was designed to handle three lanes of traffic with shoulders on both sides of traffic flow. However, when the expressways expanded they had to ditch both of the shoulders and put in 4 narrow lanes instead, with no shoulders at all. That means maintenance on the bridge is less frequent, and whenever they absolutely have to perform maintenance, it backs up traffic HORRIBLY for anywhere from 5-10 miles, so they hurry up and minimize the maintenance projects in order to prevent traffic.

 

There's also the fact that it is serving two separate interstates (I-71 and I-75), which I don't believe was the intent when it was initially designed. With the merge/split for the two interstates occurring immediately on the north side of the bridge in Cincinnati, as well as entrance and exit ramps all over the place from Covington and Cincinnati, it creates a lane changing nightmare on the bridge itself.

[Jumper_Dad]

I always wonder about when they say a bridge it too old.

 

About 14 years ago three local bridges over Lake Cumberland had to be replaced due to age. They said the bridges had exceeded their expected life and were in danger of failure if not replaced. Well two were taken down and completely replaced while one was converted to northbound traffic only and a new southbound bridge was built next to it. I never understood how it was unsafe for two way traffic but not for one way traffic. Then there is also a very large train bridge that was as old as the other bridges, but no mention of it not being safe or needing to be replaced.

 

Bottom line road construction is the one of the biggest drains on state funds and a lot of it is unneeded. I love all of the new roads that have been built in this area over the last 15 years, but not has much as the two construction companies that seem to get alternate getting all of the contracts to build them.

[HammerTime]

I'm OK with the tolls as long as they go away once it's paid off.

[nkypete]

My reference to "old" is that maintenance is needed more often, but as was said, actually happens less often.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

I'm OK with the tolls as long as they go away once it's paid off.

 

That would certainly be ideal. At this point I see tolls as a necessary evil. One can only hope that Kentucky would think to write that into their proposed bill someday...

 

For what it's worth, there are lots of tolled roads where locally registered license plates receive a lower toll than other vehicles do. I think that would be a reasonable condition to put on the bridge toll bill as well.

[plantmanky]

I'm OK with the tolls as long as they go away once it's paid off.

 

That wont happen, in the Ohio bill that passed, it directly says they dont have to use the toll money for the cost of the bridge and can use the funds elsewhere.

 

I hope KY sticks to their guns and says no tolls.