A delegation from Evansville and Henderson went to Washington, D.C., last week with the goal of keeping the Interstate 69 bridge project fresh on national officials’ minds.
In recent years, those conversations have often been less about the project’s importance and more about a strategy for getting it done, according to mem- bers of the I-69 BridgeLink group who made the trip.
The bridge would be built east of Ellis Park, providing a second point for vehicles to cross the Ohio River and easing U.S. 41 traffic.
Cost estimates have ranged from $850 million to $1.4 billion, depending on what route is used around the city of Henderson.
“There’s no such thing as earmarks anymore at the federal level, so we can’t ask (Senate Majority Leader) Mitch McConnell to use his power to pull $1 billion out of the budget to build a fourlane bridge,” said Brad Schneider, Henderson County judge-executive. “But what we can do is keep them abreast of the project and keep them philosophically supportive, and also encourage them, when they are thinking of the big pie of transportation projects they have control over, to make it as big as possible.”
It’s believed that President Donald Trump will be bringing forth a transportation bill sometime this year.
“A lot of our conversations were on trying to figure out what that might look like,” said Justin Groenert, director of public policy and government with the Southwest Indiana Chamber. “We’re doing everything we can to put ourselves in the best position to get federal help when we need it.”
Members of BridgeLink point to long-standing support of I-69 by Vice President Mike Pence, a former Indiana governor, along with the current leadership of both states. Kentucky has pledged to fund environmental impact studies of the different routes, along with utility studies.
The local group met in Washington with McConnell and other Kentucky and Indiana congressional representatives, as well as U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, a Kentuckian and McConnell’s wife. Chao’s director of operations, Todd Inman, is from Owensboro.
“It is great to have somebody from our state and our region, who knows the lay of the land, in that spot,” Schneider said.
In all of their meetings, BridgeLink officials said they made clear the intent to use tolls to help fund an I-69 bridge. They are optimistic that stance will help the project stand out.
Schneider said advocates for a new Ohio River bridge connecting Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati, for example, have opposed tolls.
“Figuring out how to pay for a billion- dollar bridge without that aspect is pretty darn near impossible these days,” Schneider said.
“So we spent some time up there saying we don’t oppose tolls. I brought that up with Elaine Chao, and the question was, are combined funding projects are a little bit more palatable for the Department of Transportation and state governments? And she said, ‘Sure.’” While federal transportation projects are no longer earmarked, Schneider pointed to a highway endeavor known as Projects of National and Regional Significance, a program that he said has been underfunded in recent years. With greater funding, that could be a place where I-69 bridge project could compete for dollars, he said.
Gasoline taxes also could generate funding for transportation projects but are not politically popular.
“We’re up there saying, whatever you decide to do, this bridge not only helps complete the I-69 project in our neck of the woods, but it helps the connection between Texas and Michigan,” Schneider said. “It’s part of a larger concept that effects millions of Americans. And I think that’s what’s resonating.”
The highway’s start and end points are at Port Huron, Michigan, on the Canadian border, and Brownsville, Texas, on the Mexican border.
I-69 is complete in Michigan, but officials there have remained advocates for finishing the highway elsewhere. There also is steadfast support in Texas, where I-69 is to cover about 1,200 miles of upgraded or new highway.
BridgeLink members attended an event last week with members of the Texas congressional delegation, including Sen. John Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the Senate behind McConnell. Texas has 36 members of the U.S. House.
“They have long been part of the national conversation of getting I-69 done,” Groenert said. “Indiana, Kentucky and Texas are leading the charge.”
With the cost-sharing proposal and the various connections and stated support across different levels of government, local officials are hopeful I-69 bridge funding will come in some form, eventually.
“I think we’re aligned pretty well,” Schneider said. “If we can’t get support from the federal government with this lineup, I don’t know how we ever will.”
Groenert said, “We’re all trying to do as much as we can to get the last major interstate done in the United States.”