BY PAUL BARTON
Enquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- The Tristate scored with several key projects and major increases in general highway funding in the $203 billion transportation bill Congress approved Friday.
The victories included $8 million for the intermodal transportation center planned for the Cincinnati riverfront. The money was obtained by Sen. Mike DeWine.
The project is seen as key to facilitating transportation to future sports stadiums and other sites along the riverfront.
Another $9.5 million sought by Rep. Jim Bunning, R-Southtgate, was included to connect Ohio River bridges to the Fort Washington Way project.
The bill authorizes future funding for the Interstate 71 light-rail project and close to 50 other mass transit projects nationwide, though dollar amounts are not included. That will be left to future appropriation decisions.
The I-71 project would connect the Cincinnati - Northern Kentucky International Airport with Cincinnati's fast-growing northeast suburbs.
Jim Duane, executive director of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, said it is a major accomplishment to get the light-rail project listed in the transportation bill, which covers federal highway and mass transit funding through 2003.
"It makes me feel good. That's what we've tried to achieve all along. It allows us to achieve funding in the future," Mr. Duane said.
The project eventually is expected to cost more than $1 billion. One of the places where the light rail would likely stop is at the intermodal transportation center, would receive light rail, buses and cars.
The bill awards the Tristate with major increases in highway funding over the next six years, including:
- Ohio: $896.63 million a year, an increase of 36.9 percent over current funding.
- Kentucky: $454.50 million a year, an increase of 60.3 percent.
- Indiana: $617.38 million a year, an increase of 52 percent.
