By James Pilcher
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The Brent Spence Bridge replacement project, which could cost $750 million or more, would get only $7 million over the next six years under the most recent version of a highway-funding bill being considered by Congress.

But for local officials, who have been seeking at least half of the money to help start environmental and design studies, just being mentioned in the six-year bill is a major step. They say there is still time to get more money.

"We're only in the second inning of a very long ball game, and we just scored our first run," said Mark Policinski, executive director of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, the region's main transportation planning agency. "Just the fact that we are now down in writing as a high-priority project is so key - it sets a standard."

Officials have been pushing for almost two years to replace the 40-year-old bridge, saying that it is overcrowded and unsafe.

On Thursday, the House Transportation Committee passed a version of the bill that authorizes $275 billion to be spent on highway and transit projects over the next six years. Debate on the House floor could begin as soon as next week, meaning that the bill could be ready by the end of next month - when the extension of the current law expires.

The new bill is markedly scaled down from a previous version that called for $375 billion, but probably would have required an increase in federal gasoline excise taxes. It is also much closer to the White House's suggested $256 billion figure.

But it does include a section of approximately 3,000 "high-priority" projects, a list that includes the Brent Spence.

The Senate passed a $318 billion version of the bill in February that does not include any specific mention of any projects, including the Brent Spence.

Members of the local congressional delegation, most notably U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, a Republican from Southgate, have said that any funding for the Brent Spence would come in conference - when the two houses iron out differences in their respective bills.

E-mail jpilcher@enquirer.com