CHICAGO - Missouri and Illinoisyesterday signed a pact to build a new $640 million bridge across the Mississippi River, ending a more than 10-year debate that turned contentious two years ago in a dispute over how to fund the project.
Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt and Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich
About $49 million of the $313 million that would come from Illinois is dependent, however, on passage of a proposed capital bill. Blagojevich's $25 billion plan relies on $3.8 billion of borrowing and funds from a partial privatization of the state Lottery that lawmakers have voiced opposition against. Though bipartisan support is strong for a capital budget, lawmakers and the governor have struggled to find common ground on any issue, including how to fund a capital plan.
The bi-state agreement calls for construction of a free, four-lane cable-stayed bridge span with the total cost including $306 million for the actual bridge span and approaches, $264 million in roadway connections in Illinois and $70 million in Missouri. Construction is to begin as soon as 2010 and is expected to take up to six years to complete.
The bridge would be built one mile north of the existing Martin Luther King bridge in downtown St. Louis. It would connect the city to East St. Louis on the Illinois side. Missouri is to take the lead on the final design and construction process with Illinois approval needed.
Both governors promoted the project for the economic boost it will produce and the reduction in congestion and improved traffic safety that would result.
"Both states benefit from a strong and growing economy in the St. Louis area and this agreement will help make Missouri's economy even stronger," Blunt said. "A new Mississippi River bridge will help to sustain economic growth and development in the region, enhance the safety of our citizens, increase productivity for workers and families while protecting our environment by reducing congestion."
"This new bridge will reduce congestion and make it easier for Illinoisans to get back and forth across the river, whether it's for work, going to a Cardinals game or any other reason. And, perhaps most importantly, we are not building a toll bridge," Blagojevich said.
Officials from both states had worked for more than a decade on a new bridge plan with approval coming from the Federal Highway Administration in 2001 for two, four-lane bridge spans. The federal government two years ago approved $239 million in funding for the project.
As the cost continued to escalate, however, the two states sought to scale down the project, but they remained opposed on funding issues. Missouri pushed to use tolls to help finance it and proposed entering into a public-private partnership that would hand over longterm operations of the bridge to a private operator in exchange for funding the project.
Illinois offered up a compromise plan last year for a coupler bridge to the Martin Luther King bridge, but Missouri rejected it. Talks began in earnest last April on the current agreement.
