By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Northern Kentucky business and political leaders are making a last-minute change in strategy as they prepare a full-court press on Congress for money to replace the Brent Spence Bridge.

These officials say they won't ask for all of the roughly $500 million for bridge replacement upfront, while conceding that such a tactic could delay construction.

That's a concern because the bridge might have 15 or fewer years of structural life left.

"That is a possibility, but (the new approach) could go smoothly," said Sam Beverage, chief engineer for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's local district.

The main connection between downtown Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky is over capacity. It handles as many as 140,000 vehicles daily and was designed for 80,000 when it opened in 1963.

A 2000 study predicted that the bridge could begin deteriorating by 2015. Beverage said a new study, begun last month to determine the best options for replacing or repairing the bridge, will also take a more detailed look at how long the Brent Spence actually has left.

An effort during the mid-1990s to build a new bridge between Cincinnati and Covington failed when there was a lack of regional consensus, so the money instead went to Maysville for a bridge that opened last year.

The coalition of business and government officials had planned to ask for the full amount from the outset when it begins its push to the area's congressional delegation and the Transportation Department next week in Washington D.C.

But with a goal of getting at least some money allocated, the new request will be for $25 million or so in the next fiscal budget and $70 million in the transportation authorization law, which is up for renewal this year.

The short-term money would pay for environmental studies and design work, with the long-term funds paying for final design work, utility relocation and property acquisitions.

Then, in five years, the plan would be to come back for the rest of the money for construction in the next version of the reauthorization law.

Yet even this approach leaves the delegation asking for money when it doesn't know what the final project will look like. Beverage said the two-year study of the bridge has only just begun.

"It sounds to me like a very deliberative, step-by-step approach, and one that won't mislead Congress, which is the last thing you want to do," said Lee H. Hamilton, the longtime former Indiana congressman.

Hamilton is now director of the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, which studies how Congress operates.

The new approach does help tackle another obstacle; neither Kentucky, which owns and maintains the bridge, nor Ohio can promise a local match for federal funding.

"The key is to get it authorized, even if no price tag is assigned to it," Beverage said.

While they won't have a final designed project to present, local officials say they have a compelling pitch nonetheless.

They will point out that the bridge is already "functionally obsolete," meaning that it does not meet federal capacity and safety standards.

They also will point out the commercial importance of the bridge - Interstate-75 is one of the busiest truck routes in the United States - while stressing that the region, or at least Northern Kentucky, is beginning to support the project.

Both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly have passed resolutions supporting the project, for example, as have four local jurisdictions, with more than 20 more considering such resolutions.

"We do have a product to pitch, and that product is the concept of replacing the bridge," Northern Kentucky Chamber executive director Gary Toebben said.

Hamilton said those pushing for replacement should eventually look to other states that have links to I-75 such as Michigan and Georgia, and branch out to established lobbies such as the trucking, auto and highway building industries for help.

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com