Louisville-Southern Indiana Bridge Project

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Ohio River Bridges Project is a three-year effort to develop a
comprehensive, detailed environmental assessment of various transportation
options to connect Louisville and Southern Indiana. The project will
examine alternatives such as the construction of one or more new bridges,
the redesign of connecting interstate highways on both sides of the river
and "non-highway" alternatives, such as mass transit, bike paths and
telecommuting.

The project focuses on a stretch of the Ohio River, roughly from
Clarksville, Ind. and 9th Street in downtown Louisville, Ky., to just east
of Utica, Ind. and Prospect, Ky.

The project is the largest bi-state transportation project ever undertaken
by Indiana and Kentucky. The Indiana Department of Transportation and
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will recommend a solution to the Federal
Highway Administration, which is expected to make a final decision in
mid-2001. If a decision is made to build new bridges, the next steps would
be right-of-way acquisition, design and construction.

Community Transportation Solutions Inc.(CTS) was selected by the state
transportation agencies to conduct the $22.2 million Environmental Impact
Statement, the first phase of the project, and to develop preliminary
designs. The work by CTS focuses on four factors that will help guide the
decision-making process: environmental impact, engineering feasibility,
traffic analysis and public input.


Environmental impact: Environmental scientists are combing the area to
study the impacts each option would have on resources such as wetlands,
endangered species, historic properties, archeological resources, air and
water quality, noise, landscape, land use, neighborhoods and socio-economic
conditions.

Engineering feasibility: Engineers are developing designs, including
interstate realignments and preliminary bridge designs, that meet state and
federal standards for safety and efficiency.

Traffic analysis: Using data on existing traffic loads and projections of
regional population and economic growth, CTS is forecasting traffic demand
in the Louisville-Southern Indiana area for the next 25 years. This
computer model will help gauge the impact of various options on future
travel conditions.

Public input: Public involvement is a keystone of this process. We're
gathering feedback from interested citizens, community leaders and
residents of potentially affected through scores of regularly scheduled
meetings. Public meetings are held at key points throughout the process to
share information and gather comments on the work. These comments become
part of the official record and are considered in the decision-making
process.

UPDATE 3-15-01

Three meetings were held to examine the visual impacts of possible designs for new Ohio River bridges and related highways in Louisville and Southern Indiana.