Skip to main content

USDOT finances Ohio River Bridges East End Crossing

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan of US$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. At the total cost of US$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 Louis
April 17, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has announced a Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) loan of US$162 million from the Department's 831 Federal Highway Administration to finance the East End Crossing section of the Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project.

At the total cost of US$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 324 US Department of Transportation private activity bond allocation in 2013. As part of the Administration's Build America Investment Initiative, USDOT is working to expand opportunities for partnership between the public and private sectors, including through the establishment of a new Build America Transportation Investment Center as a one-stop shop to support potential PPP projects.

"This project will relieve congestion and stimulate the economy of the entire Louisville-Southern Indiana region both today and for years to come," Secretary Foxx said. "Projects like this reinforce the need for the Administration's Grow America Act, a US$478 billion bill that provides funding over six years, so states and communities will have stable funding long enough to make big infrastructure projects a reality."

"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 travellers 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 East End Bridge is financed by Indiana and the Downtown Crossing is financed by Kentucky. The Downtown Crossing received a US$452 million TIFIA loan in 2013, bringing TIFIA's financing for the entire project to the amount of US$604 million toward the total project cost of more than US$2 billion.

Related Content

  • November 9, 2012
    US ushers in reforms with new transportation bill
    On behalf of ITS America, Paul Feenstra maps out implications and opportunities for the ITS industry. A critical milestone was reached last month when the US Congress passed, and President Obama signed, legislation reauthorising the nation’s surface transportation programmes, breaking a nearly three-year log-jam which had stymied critical transportation reforms and delayed much-needed infrastructure projects. The law, numbered P.L. 112-141 but known as MAP-21 (Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century),
  • April 17, 2015
    Federal Railroad Administration invests in rail safety
    The US Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has awarded eight grants totalling more than US$21.2 million to invest in highway-rail grade crossing safety, positive train control (PTC) implementation and passenger rail. The eight grants were awarded in states across the country and feature a wide array of projects, including: Grade crossing safety and passenger rail planning grants to California department of Transportation and Illinois Department of Transportation; Transportation Technology Center PTC
  • July 30, 2013
    Virginia presses ahead with tunnels upgrade despite tolls challenge
    David Crawford reviews current developments and legal/financial issues facing tunnel management in Virginia. This autumn the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in the US will defend its plan to introduce tolling on the Elizabeth River tunnels linking the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth in the State’s Hampton Roads area. The tolling, which is due to start from February 2014, will be examined by the State’s Supreme Court later this year. The anticipated toll income, along with loans and bonds, is
  • July 21, 2014
    President to unveil infrastructure funding initiative
    President Obama is to unveil a new federal initiative to help cities and states find private financing for transportation infrastructure. The announcement comes as the White House looks to increase pressure on Congress, which this week is debating a short-term fix to the rapidly depleting highway trust fund that underwrites road and mass transit construction. Under the plan to be unveiled by Obama, the Department of Transportation will open a new investment centre designed to serve as a ‘one-stop sho