Peggy Vlerebome, Madison Courier Staff Writer
The Madison-Milton bridge replacement has been moved ahead of the two proposed Ohio River Bridges Project to Louisville, Ky., for funding from the lease of the Indiana Toll Road.
Indiana and Kentucky have applied for a $95 million federal grant to pay for most of the cost. The bridge planners have said that if the grant is received early next year, a new structure built on the existing piers could be completed in 2012.
But if the grant is not approved, the Madison-Milton bridge is on the Indiana Department of Transportation's Major Moves project list, which was updated this month.
The Madison-Milton bridge has a projected completion date for the first time in the update. That date is 2014. A chart of the status of projects shows development of the bridge plans in 2010 and 2011 and construction for the three following years.
The completion date for the downtown Louisville bridge is listed as "TBD," or to be determined. Before the Major Moves update was issued this month, the downtown Louisville bridge project had a completion date of 2020.
The bridge on the east side of Louisville previously had a completion date of 2018, but that has been moved to 2021.
Both of the Louisville bridges are shown to be in the development stage through 2015, which is as far out as the Major Moves project list goes. The construction phase does not begin until the development stage is finished.
River Fields, a conservation group based in Louisville, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation filed a lawsuit Sept. 4 in which they seek cancellation of the approval of the two bridges six years ago.
Marvin Jenkins, public information officer at INDOT's Seymour district office, confirmed that the chart listings show that the Madison-Milton bridge has been moved ahead of the Louisville bridges.
The INDOT official in Indianapolis who is in charge of the Ohio River bridges projects could not be reached.
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