WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Brent Spence Bridge that connects Ohio to Kentucky does more than just let people cross state lines.
“A billion dollars worth of freight moves across that bridge every day. It is the linchpin of the I-75 trade corridor that doesn’t just connect Ohio to Kentucky, it connects Michigan to Miami,” said Mark Policinski, the CEO of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments.
But the bridge is in serious need of help . . . to the tune of $2.6 billion.
Any transportation project in the Cincinnati region that uses federal dollars needs Policinski’s approval, and he said the bridge needs funding from Washington — a place where infrastructure negotiations have been flirted with but largely avoided for years.
“I don’t know anyone in transportation at the national, regional, local level who is not absolutely looking at Congress and how they’ve handled infrastructure and just not shaking their heads. It is an absolute abomination,” Policinski said in a Zoom interview on Friday.
The goal for the Brent Spence Bridge is to pump money into repairing it, but also to build a companion bridge right next to it to handle the increased traffic.
But the project is only possible if the federal government steps in to help.
President Joe Biden has promised action on infrastructure, though it’s already become political.
Democrats like Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Toledo, argue a package worth several trillion dollars is a no brainer.
“We have more needs than we can pay for right now, but infrastructure improvement will create jobs, it will create opportunity for people, and frankly, it will refurbish our country,” Kaptur said in a recent interview.
But Republicans, like Cincinnati Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Cincinnati, are already accusing Democrats of not working with them.
“Thus far in this Congress under Nancy Pelosi, we’ve seen anything but bipartisanship,” Chabot told Spectrum News. “So I am very concerned that an infrastructure package won’t be bipartisan and there will be a lot of stuff that Republicans just can’t support, a lot of waste going into that. But I hope we work together.”
Ohio lawmakers say bridges, roads, ports, and rural broadband are just some types of infrastructure that need help across the state. But Democrats and Republicans seem far apart right now, and Policinski said the clock is ticking.
“We need to invest large amounts of money in game-changing projects,” Policinski said.
