Today, Mayor Aftab and State and City Leaders announced that the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has awarded $1.635 billion to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) to construct a new companion bridge to the Brent Spence Bridge.  Funding will also be used to make significant improvements to the eight-mile Brent Spence Bridge Corridor, which runs from the Western Hills Viaduct in Ohio to the Dixie Highway in Kentucky.  It represents a historic 98.5 percent of Ohio and Kentucky’s request for the project.

This transformational grant was awarded through two different funding sources:

1. $250 million from a Multimodal Projects Discretionary Grant (MEGA), which assists large, complex projects that are economically significant.
2. $1.385 billion from the Bridge Investment Program. This money will be distributed under a multi-year grant agreement with ODOT and KYTC, a new funding mechanism created to assist large bridge projects. This was the second federal funding application submitted jointly by the two states.

“This historic amount of support from President Biden and our federal partners means that we’re on pace to reshape our infrastructure and the economic growth of our region for generations to come,” Mayor Aftab said. “They got it done, when for years, others could not.  And thanks to our incredible regional team of state and local partners, we are ready to push this groundbreaking project to the finish line.”

The White House and the U.S. Department of Transportation will provide additional information on Wednesday, January 4th.