Northern Kentucky officials are pushing state lawmakers to consider tolls and other options to pay for the $2.6 billion Brent Spence Bridge renovation project.
Brent Cooper is the interim director of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. He told a joint state government committee on transportation that all options, including tolls and public-private partnerships, should be considered to pay for the project.
“The states that are building roads and bridges are attracting jobs, they’re growing their economies. It’s not lost on many of us that we just, the announcement that we’re losing some of our Toyota employees down to Texas where, by the way, there are tolls everywhere. I think we need to recognize that building roads and bridges is something necessary for our economy,” said Cooper.
An effort to pass public-private partnership legislation was successful this year, but was vetoed by Gov. Steve Beshear over an amendment that would have prohibited tolls from paying for the Brent Spence bridge.
