U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx announced a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan for $162 million from the Department's Federal Highway Administration to finance the East End Crossing section of the Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project.
The Grow America Act – the long-term transportation bill the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) sent to Congress – provides funding growth and certainty so that state and local governments can continue to improve infrastructure. It invests $317 billion over six years for federal highway programs, which represents nearly $12 billion more per year than under current law. The Grow America Act would also expand financing options under the TIFIA program.
At the total cost of $1.27 billion, the East End Crossing includes the East End Bridge and its connecting roadways. The bridge spans the Ohio River eight miles to the north connecting the east end of Louisville, near Prospect, to southern Indiana, near Utica. The project is successfully being delivered as a public private partnership (PPP), and benefited from a U.S. DOT private activity bond allocation in 2013.
"The project will connect communities and businesses on both sides of the river and provide convenient access for area residents," Deputy Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau said. "It also helps relieve congestion by allowing Louisville-area travelers to bypass downtown traffic."
The East End Crossing is part of the larger Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges bi-state project designed to provide two new bridges across the Ohio River to meet the region's travel needs.
The Indiana Finance Agency (IFA) will receive the TIFIA loan for the East End Crossing and will enter into agreement with the Indiana Department of Transportation, which gives the state the rights to use the road in exchange for payments to the IFA. These payments will be applied by the IFA to the TIFIA Loan.
