The City of Cincinnati and Hamilton County have received a federal grant for $5 million toward the replacement of the Western Hills Viaduct. This funding, known as a Local Bridge Replacement and Rehabilitation (LBR) grant, is administered by the County Engineers Association of Ohio. The Hamilton County Engineer applied for the grant in May 2018 and recently received confirmation of the award. This represents the first amount of funding allocated toward construction and is intended to be used for the construction of the approaches to the new viaduct.

The LBR grant program guarantees funding for bridges in counties with the worst bridge conditions.  The Western Hills Viaduct was selected due its poor condition rating and its importance to the community.

The City, working closely with Hamilton County, has been aggressively pursuing outside funding for the replacement of the Western Hills Viaduct.  Attached is a list of grant applications to date.  Two grant requests totaling $11.6 million are pending.  One is a Surface Transportation Program (STP) grant request for $6 million to the Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana Regional Council of Governments (OKI).  The other is for $5.6 million to the U.S. Department of Transportation for a BUILD grant. Award decisions are expected to be announced later this year. 

The City and County’s strong local commitment to the project positions us favorably for success in obtaining additional funding.  Most notably, in late 2017, both City Council through ordinance and the Hamilton County Commissioners through resolution, equally committed a combined local match of $66 million toward the project.  Updates will be provided on future grant applications being submitted.

To date, $18 million in federal funding has been secured and is being used for the design and right-of-way acquisition for the project.  The total estimated cost to replace the Western Hills Viaduct is $335 million.