NEW ALBANY — A clearer view of the Ohio River Bridges Project is emerging, and according to the authority charged with funding the project it will not include tolls on the Sherman-Minton Bridge, Clark Memorial Bridge or Spaghetti Junction.
The change in the project — along with a decision to rebuild Spaghetti Junction in its existing location, reduce the number of lanes on the east-end bridge and its approaches from six lanes to four lanes and complete the Big Four Bridge as an alternative to including a pedestrian walkway on the Interstate 65 bridge — were accepted Thursday at a meeting of the Louisville and Southern Indiana Bridges Authority.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer on Tuesday announced the proposed changes that can save the project $500 million.
The recommendations presented would lower the overall cost of the plan to build an east-end bridge, a downtown bridge and the reconstruction of Spaghetti Junction from $4.1 billion to $3.6 billion. The savings would likely be applied to a funding gap of $2.2 billion and would reduce the amount to $1.7 billion that is slated to be raised by tolling commuters.
No tolls
Among the recommendations passed along from the appointing executives Tuesday was that they did not want tolls to be imposed on the Sherman-Minton Bridge, Clark Memorial Bridge or Spaghetti Junction.
“That clear guidance that we have allows us to maybe focus on a single strategy for tolling and pricing eligibility,” said authority Executive Director Steve Schultz.
When co-chairman of the bridges authority, Kerry Stemler, was asked if tolling is now off the table for those structures he said, “by the recommendation of our two governors and mayor ... yes.”
However, with lower revenues because of fewer structures being tolled and an additional request to keep the toll rate for those structures at $1 for frequent commuters, the question was raised about whether or not the authority could cover the now-$1.7 billion funding gap.
“I do,” Stemler said. “Based on information we have now.”
Information that the authority has not received is word from the Federal Highway Administration on the bridges authority’s expression of interest. The expression of interest was a request to the highway administration to determine what structures could be tolled.
Schultz said with Tuesday’s recommendation, the tolling scenario has been simplified.
It is still unknown whether or not the Kennedy Bridge can be tolled, as it is an existing structure. It will become a one-way bridge once the second downtown span is completed.
Also unknown, is a definitive rate for the tolls. Again, a recommendation was offered that the toll figure for frequent commuters be $1 each trip. But for the rest of the vehicles crossing the bridges, a time-of-day study will likely determine the rates, which could vary for specific vehicles and during peak traffic hours.
“Reduced costs leads to a decreased amount, of course, of the overall revenue needed for the project,” Shultz said. “That, in turn, translates into a lower amount of toll-based funding that’s going to be needed. And that in turn, translates to lower tolls.”
Tolls are still expected to be imposed on portions of the project, including the east-end bridge.
East-end changes
To minimize the amount needed in tolls, the authority adopted the elected officials’ recommendation to reduce the size of the east-end bridge. Initially estimated at $1.4 billion for the east-end portion of the project — which includes the Kentucky and Indiana approaches and the bridge — the project is planned to be reduced from six to four lanes.
However, the design would still be for a roadway that would be capable of expanding to six lanes.
“We are still planning for a six-lane facility on the east-end,” said Gary Valentine, project manager for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. “We just initially wanted to evaluate whether it may be more appropriate to initially build four.”
The capability to add extra lanes when needed is being done by removing a planned middle barrier, leaving a depressed median, and keeping shoulders along each side of the highway extended so that one lane could be added.
“The footprint is already there to build the six lanes in the future,” Valentine said. “Six lanes [aren’t] needed immediately.”
He said a 4,000-vehicle-per-hour directional volume would be needed to warrant that capacity and the capacity studies for the project placed the figure closer to 3,000 vehicles.
“A decision was made to do six lanes at that time; they didn’t want another Cochran Tunnel,” Valentine said, referring to the Interstate 64 tunnel below Cherokee Park. “We can build the tunnel to accommodate the six lanes in the future and save money initially.”
When asked how much cost is being cut out as a result of the lane reduction, Valentine would not offer a specific value.
A point of contention for many who have called for cost-cutting measures to be implemented on the east-end is the cost of the proposed 2,000-foot tunnel that will run under U.S. 42 and the historic Drumanard Estate. But Valentine said the value that could be saved by modifying the tunnel and the time it would take to complete all of the necessary steps would be a wash.
The tunnel is estimated to cost about $300 million — a definitive value for the entire Kentucky approach, which includes the tunnel, is listed as $753.3 million — and Valentine brought up a $10-million-per-month cost of a delay.
“Looking at an alternative to the tunnel is an additional environmental impact that would extend the timeline substantially,” he said.
When asked how long, he said up to three years.
“It doesn’t make sense to add additional timeline on the front end to do that,” Valentine said, reiterating that the cost of the tunnel and the delay are equal.
While some cost savings are expected to result from the modifications accepted on the east-end bridge, more than half of the savings will come from another portion of the project.
Spaghetti Junction
“The majority of the savings that we’ll be looking at will be in Spaghetti Junction,” Valentine said.
Originally, the plan included expanding the interchange to 22 lanes and moving it farther south at the cost of $1.74 billion. By leaving the interchange in place, the authority is expecting it will save the bulk of the $500 million on that section of the project.
Valentine also did not offer a specific dollar value for the savings on Spaghetti Junction.
Leaving the junction in place raised similar questions to when plans would have had the interchange encroaching on portions of Louisville’s Butchertown district and along the city’s waterfront. Many of the public comments at early bridges authority meetings were in opposition to the aesthetic of the expanded roadway above Louisville’s Waterfront Park and as a part of its skyline.
“We actually think it will have less impact on waterfront park, but again we’re in the concept stage and we need to evaluate that.” Valentine said.
Officials said there is no need to rework the project’s federal 2003 record-of-decision that officials have repeatedly said cannot be changed without substantial delays.
Keeping Spaghetti Junction at its current location was already a part of the documents when they were originally presented.
“[It] was an alternative that was considered in the environmental impact study,” said John Sacksteder, project manager with Community Transportation Solutions and general engineering consultant for the bridges project. “The basic footprint was examined for this already.”
Valentine explained that the purpose and need must change in order to require a new record-of-decision.
“The purpose and need statement is not changing,” he said.
The project remains a two-bridge solution with a reconstruction of Spaghetti Junction.
He said some supplemental environmental information may be needed as part of the changes that will be implemented.