Home » Officials break ground on Ohio River Bridges Project

Officials break ground on Ohio River Bridges Project

The future East End Crossing is shown from the Kentucky shoreline in this artist’s rendering provided by the Ohio River Bridges Project.

JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. (Aug. 30, 2012) – After decades of discussion and planning, the Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project is officially under way.

At a ceremony today, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez and a host of federal, state and local officials broke ground on the first construction phase of the major project – a 3,000-ft. extension of Old Salem Road.

RELATED: Bridges project brings more than contractor cash, jobs

When the East End Crossing opens to traffic in 2017, Old Salem Road will be the first exit on the Indiana side of the river, providing improved access to the River Ridge Commerce Center and the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville, where today’s ceremony was conducted.

“Decades of waiting for greater convenience and quality of life in the metro area will soon be over, but that’s only part of what’s ahead: Southern Indiana has tremendous economic prospects and these new bridges are the key to making them real,” Daniels said.

[pullquote_left]“Decades of waiting for greater convenience and quality of life in the metro area will soon be over, but that’s only part of what’s ahead: Southern Indiana has tremendous economic prospects and these new bridges are the key to making them real.” Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels[/pullquote_left]

The milestone was reached because the two states “worked together — across state lines and party lines and bottom lines – to do the right thing for the citizens of Kentucky and Indiana,” Beshear said.  “As a result, we will keep the traffic flowing and our region growing with new jobs, new businesses and new opportunities.”

“The bridges we are building are not just physical — they’re also emotional and personal because they connect both sides of the river and, ultimately, they reduce the distance between us,” Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer said. “They’re also about jobs – the construction jobs created today and the job growth the bridges will spur tomorrow and for decades to come.”

Gohmann Asphalt and Construction Inc. of Clarksville, Ind., was awarded a $3.2 million design/build contract earlier this month and has already begun performing final road and bridge design. Construction begins this fall with the Old Salem Road extension scheduled to opened in June of 2013.

Officials arrived at today’s groundbreaking ceremony in late 1960s Ford Mustangs that were crossing existing Louisville-area bridges when the proposed East End Bridge was first included in the region’s long-range transportation plan.

The Bridges Project involves construction of new bridges across the Ohio River between downtown Louisville and Jeffersonville, Ind., and between Prospect, Ky., and Utica, Ind.  In addition, the project will dramatically improve the Kennedy Interchange, where Interstates 64, 65 and 71 meet in downtown Louisville, and the existing Kennedy Bridge that carries I-65 traffic.

The Bridges Project will improve cross-river mobility and increase safety in one of the nation’s most congested and important highway corridors. In the process, it will create thousands of jobs, both in short-term construction and in long-term economic development.

Each state is responsible for procuring and overseeing construction of a portion of the $2.6 billion project.  Indiana is responsible for the East End Crossing and Kentucky is responsible for the Downtown Crossing.

By year’s end, both Indiana and Kentucky are expected to select contracting teams that will build each state’s portion of the Ohio River Bridges Project. Construction on both bridges is slated to begin in 2013. The East End Crossing is expected to open in 2017 and the Downtown Crossing in 2018.