CINCINNATI (AP) — Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed legislation
Wednesday to allow tolls on a new bridge over the Ohio River that will
replace the current overpass, which has been deemed "functionally
obsolete."
The Republican signed the bill at Cincinnati’s Paul Brown Stadium with the 51-year-old Brent Spence
Bridge as his backdrop.
The
bridge, which spans the Ohio River and connects Cincinnati to northern
Kentucky along Interstate 75, carries about 172,000 vehicles a day. The
reconstructed bridge would more than double that capacity and address
safety and traffic concerns that have caused the National Bridge
Inventory to label the Brent Spence as "functionally obsolete."
Despite
Kasich’s signing of the bill, tolling is still far down the road. The
new bridge isn’t expected to be finished until 2019, and Kentucky also
would have to approve legislation to allow for tolling, something
lawmakers there vehemently oppose. Construction of the new bridge is set
to start by 2016.
Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat, supports it.
Kentucky’s
reluctance came up repeatedly during Kasich’s bill signing, with the
governor saying that some Ohio officials thought the state should wait
until its neighbor to the south was on board.
"That’s totally
unacceptable," Kasich said. "I said this is a top priority for
Cincinnati, for the region, for the state and for the country, and if we
don’t lead, then we’re going to send a signal that, ‘Oh, we’re nervous
about what the reality is of building that new bridge,’ so we did move
forward."
Kasich called on the northern Kentucky business
community to urge their lawmakers that the toll is necessary to help
fund the $2.5 billion project.