The Louisville and Southern Indiana Bridges Authority has adopted four strategic objectives to move it closer to developing a finance plan for a $4.1 billion project that would build two new bridges across the Ohio River between Kentucky and Indiana, and reconfigure a major intersection in Louisville known as Spaghetti Junction.
The authority’s objectives are to become a long-term project sponsor, execute a plan that demonstrates prudent stewardship of public resources, be financially viable, and provide measurable value to users.
“We’ve been given a mandate by both governors to make these bridges becomes a reality,” authority member Joe Reagan said in a statement. “Years of planning and public input have gone into this project and we owe the community a plan that fulfills the purpose and need identified in the record of decision, which is to build two bridges and fix Spaghetti Junction.”
The authority recently applied for a $135 million TIGER grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The grant, from the DOT’s Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program, would be used to support a loan for up to one-third of the project’s cost under the department’s Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act program.
