OPEN HOUSES PROVIDE FORUMS FOR PUBLIC INPUT ON BRIDGE TYPES
November 2006 - The Ohio River Bridges Project initiated a public involvement process in 2005 to find out what kinds of bridges people wanted to see linking downtown Louisville, Ky., and Jeffersonville, Ind., and eastern Jefferson and Clark counties. Eighteen months and dozens of bridge-type concepts later, the public is helping choose from among the final three alternatives for both the Downtown and East End Bridges.
The Executive Bridge Type Selection Committee, the group charged with choosing the final bridge types, gave the public another opportunity to comment on the three final alternatives selected for the Downtown and East End Bridges. Four open houses were held Nov. 13-17 in Louisville, Jeffersonville, Ind., and Utica, Ind., to solicit feedback.
More than 600 votes were cast at the open houses, with nearly 5,000 votes having been submitted via the project Web site. Ballot boxes were also placed at Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Indiana Department of Transportation offices. Alternative 1, a single-tower cable-stayed design, received the highest vote count among the three Downtown Bridge alternatives. Alternative 1, a diamond-tower cable-stayed option, tallied the most votes for the East End Bridge.
Open house attendees viewed three-dimensional bridge-type models and a video presentation about the final alternatives, and project personnel were on hand to answer questions.
The Executive Bridge Type Selection Committee is expected to make its final decisions by the end of the year. The final bridge types will be announced in January 2007.
The selection committee elected to further solicit public opinion at its initial meeting, held Nov. 1 in Louisville. The elected officials and local business leaders who comprise the committee noted that day that the public had done great service in helping narrow the bridge type alternatives to three, and agreed that the committee would benefit from gathering further public opinion on the subject.