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Brent Spence Bridge

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Brent Spence Bridge2022-10-14T10:40:54-04:00

Brent Spence Bridge

A Vital Transportation Link

When moving traffic safely and efficiently, bridges rarely if ever evoke public concern. They typically do what they were designed to do each day, going largely unnoticed.

But the Brent Spence Bridge, like many of the nation’s aging bridges, has seen better days.

A vital link across the Ohio River, the BSB carries both I-75 and I-71 traffic through the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky region. It is also a major artery for north-south commerce between Michigan and Florida.

An Aging Major Artery

Opened in November 1963, the bridge was designed to handle 80,000 vehicles – including 3,000 to 4,000 trucks – a day. And for many years it served the region’s needs. However today, 160,000 vehicles including 30,000 trucks pass over the bridge, daily.

The situation is getting worse.  Our global economic demands are causing steep increases in interstate commerce, with more cars and trucks on the road every year.

Growing Safety Concerns

Due to this increased traffic flow, motorists are three to five times more likely to have a wreck along this corridor than on any other part of the interstate systems in Ohio or Kentucky.

The corridor has officially needed a fix since 1998, when a Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) study concluded the bridge was no longer meeting traffic needs.

These concerns have led a new companion bridge to be a top priority of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI).

From Funding Woes to Optimism

Kentucky and Ohio’s governors and transportation departments have worked together for years to develop a plan to build a companion bridge. But the question of funding has always prevented the plan from moving forward.

That said, there is now a growing sense that Ohio and Kentucky are closer than ever to building the companion bridge for the BSB. This confidence is buoyed by the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) in November 2021. New funding is expected to support construction of a new bridge as well as updates to the current bridge and the interstate network throughout the corridor. 

BSB Highlights

  • Importance to Region Two million-plus people live in the OKI region, 60 percent within five miles of the I-75 corridor. Of the one million jobs in this region, 70 percent are within five miles of the I-75 corridor, and the BSB is the linchpin of that corridor. (Source: OKI)
  • Importance to Nation One of the busiest trucking routes in US, carrying more than $1B worth of freight every day. More than $400B worth of freight every year – freight that travels throughout the world. (Source: OKI)
  • Major Connector BSB leads to and from CVG (major hubs for DHL and Amazon). Movement of goods requires trucks to be able to run on time. A clear 75/71 corridor is absolutely critical to the health of regional, national and international economy.
  • Major Bottleneck For the second consecutive year, downtown Cincinnati’s I-71/I-75 intersection, just north of the BSB, is ranked as the second most congested area in the nation for truck bottlenecks, according to a report by the American Transportation Research Institute. (Source: Trucking Research)
  • Shutdown in 2020 A fiery crash in November 2020 caused a six-week shutdown of the bridge, reminding the region and the nation of its importance as a major conduit for moving people, goods and services.

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