Bi-State Bridge Delegation

Gov. Steve Beshear and Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson Monday announced appointments to a five-member delegation that will begin the initial work on a partnership to accelerate construction of the $4.1 billion Ohio River Bridges Project.

The Kentucky negotiating team will meet with a similar group in southern Indiana to develop the framework for creating a bi-state authority to oversee financing and construction of the project.

"Before we can build bridges of concrete and steel, we must build bridges of cooperation and creativity with our neighbors in Indiana," Abramson said in a statement.

The bi-state authority proposal would then be presented to each state Legislature during their respective sessions next spring. After that, authority members will be appointed to determine how to pay for two new bridges across the Ohio River and the reconfiguration of a downtown Louisville interchange called "spaghetti junction" where interstates 64, 65 and 71 converge.

Members of the Kentucky negotiating team are Mike Hancock, interim secretary of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet; Lori Hudson Flanery, deputy secretary of the Kentucky Finance and Administration Cabinet; David Nicklies, president of Nicklies Development Corp.; Joe Reagan, president of Greater Louisville Inc.; and Ben Richmond, president of the Louisville Urban League.

Beshear said the project is essential to northern Kentucky's economic future.

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