Even as a major resurfacing project on the Brent Spence Bridge continued Friday, a planning group was talking about the best way to replace the entire bridge in the coming years.
The nearly 35-year-old bridge, which carries 139,000 vehicles a day on Interstates 75 and 71, won't need replacing for at least 10 or 12 years, said John Carr, deputy state highway engineer for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
But Transportation Cabinet officials asked a committee of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI) to study traffic flow and capacity on the bridge as part of the group's examination of the I-71 corridor, Mr. Carr said.
"We know that as traffic grows in the I-71, I-75 corridor, eventually we'll have to do something," he said.
"This kind of gives us some guidance for the future."
OKI's I-71 Corridor Oversight Committee looked at a number of different future options for the bridge and narrowed the alternatives to four:
Rehabilitate the existing four-lane bridge. That would cost $7 million.
Replace the bridge on a new site, just west of the existing bridge, with a double-deck, five-lane bridge. That would cost $119 million. Replace the bridge on a new site, just west of the existing bridge, with a single-level five-lane bridge. That would result in a bridge a total of 10 lanes across and would cost $134 million.
Build an additional bridge and extensively renovate the existing bridge, splitting the I-71 and I-75 traffic into two different bridges. That would cost $108 million.
The committee's consultants will do more detailed studies of those four alternatives to help the committee decide which makes most sense.
Committee members immediately dismissed the option of replacing the bridge on its existing site because that would create traffic chaos by completely shutting down the bridge for more than two years. They decided to include the single-level, five-lane alternative after hearing from Cincinnati engineers that single-level bridges are much easier to maintain than double-decks.
Committee members said the goal of the new bridge -- however it is ultimately configured -- should be to reduce or eliminate traffic backups and the weaving back and forth between lanes that drivers do to continue on I-71 or I-75.
Officials plan to use the committee's recommendation for future planning.
Mr. Carr stressed that the Brent Spence Bridge still has plenty of life in it, and the cabinet is intent on maintaining it well.
But as traffic increases, the bridge functions less and less efficiently, he said.
And that's why officials already are discussing its future.
