Splitting work on Ohio River Bridges Project could lead to legal action

The divide between Kentucky and Indiana may cause a split in region’s political scene.

Kentucky Senate President David Williams said he is against a move that will chop work on the Ohio River Bridges Project. Indiana and Kentucky will handle their own portions of the span, at a cost of $1.3 billion each.

“What they’ve done is they’ve created two projects out of it,” said Williams. “And I think that they quite possibly opened themselves up to litigation concerning whether this is one project or two projects.”

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels does not have any concern about the approach, and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokesman Chuck Wolfe said he has not heard any reservations about the legality of the move.

There was an attempt to keep the bridge project whole, but Indiana and Kentucky could not agree on a method to build the structures. The plan consists of two new crossings and an interchange.

To finance its portion, Kentucky is leaning towards using $236 million in bond proceeds that have already been approved and also will bank on $50 million a year in federal highway funds. Kentucky’s highway plan is expected to be unveiled next week. Indiana has not laid out its funding strategy for the project.