Brent Spence Bridge project planners to unveil seven ‘innovations’

Ohio and Kentucky transportation officials will unveil seven “innovations” in plans for the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor project Friday at 1 p.m.

Among the changes: a new street network connecting Downtown and Queensgate, which Cincinnati city leaders had sought, according to a statement announcing the news conference. Also coming: reduced impacts to Covington’s Goebel Park.

Four of the design elements are north of the bridge in Ohio, with three south in Kentucky, according to David Rose, division chief of communications for the Ohio Department of Transportation.

The changes were suggested during what planners called an “innovation period” for the $3.6 billion bridge project. That was a two-month window late last year during which the project’s bi-state project management team and its prime contractor received public input.

Planners were to evaluate that input for construction and cost and produce final designs by mid-2024, Matt Bruning, another spokesman for the Ohio Department of Transportation, told the Enquirer.

Bridge Forward leader Brian Boland planned to attend Friday’s event. That grassroots group in Cincinnati wants Cincinnati to build a street grid from the western edge of downtown to Queensgate as part of work on the Brent Spence Bridge.

“We think the design is moving in the direction we asked for,” Boland said Friday.

The Federal Highway Administration earlier this month approved the Ohio and Kentucky environmental assessment for the bridge project. That critical step cleared the way for construction to begin “in the coming months,” officials said at the time.

However, a groundbreaking date has yet to be announced.

The Brent Spence Bridge Corridor project will include a reconfiguration of the existing bridge, construction of a new bridge to its immediate west, and eight miles of improvements to Interstate 71/75.

This story will be updated.

This article originally appeared on the Cincinnati Enquirer: What’s changing in the Brent Spence Bridge project?