Recommended Design Refinements Revealed for Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project

Innovations aim to reconnect communities and improve safety.

CINCINNATI – Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear and Ohio Governor Mike DeWIne today announced recommended design refinements to the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project.

A new “street grid” reconnecting downtown Cincinnati to Queensgate and reduced impacts to Goebel Park in Covington are among seven major innovations to enhance the transformative $3.6 billion dollar project.

The recommended innovations are based on engineering evaluations and public feedback and meet or exceed the contract objectives of improving quality, reducing costs, shortening schedule, improving safety and/or supporting local communities.

On the Ohio side, the project team came up with the following refinements:

• Free up an additional acre for development or green space by moving southbound I-75 to the western edge of the corridor. This move allows the roadway to be constructed while minimizing disruptions to traffic on existing southbound I-75. The extra acre for development is in addition to the 9.5 acres that were freed up in 2022.
• To reconnect the downtown Cincinnati street grid with Queensgate, a new intersection will be added at West Ninth and Gest Streets, among other improvements.
• The project team plans to combine the I-75 southbound ramps to 2nd and 3rd streets which will reduce both costs and the project footprint.
• The project team will also reconfigure the U.S. 50 lanes, which will improve safety and traffic flow for the east-west connection.

In Kentucky, three significant design improvements are planned:

• The first innovation lowers the profile of the interstate by as much as 30 feet between Ninth Street and the new companion bridge, addressing a visibility concern raised by Covington residents during the environmental phase of the project. The height reduction is achieved by shifting the southbound ramp to the local roadway network a few hundred feet to the south, aligning the exit ram on the east side of the interstate and closing the local Fifth Street roadway between Crescent Avenue and Philadelphia Street.
• Entrance locations to the interstate system are being adjusted to line up more like they are today near Pike Street.
• And the interstate alignment through the “cut in the hill” just south of Covington will be shifted to the east to eliminate the need for significant excavation of the rock embankment and construction of a retaining wall.

The next step will be continuing to refine the project through detailed design and updating and confirming traffic and environmental studies.

For more information, visit BrentSpenceBridgeCorridor.com.

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