If Mitch McConnell is so powerful, where’s the new Brent Spence bridge?

For those who have never driven across the Ohio River on I75’s Brent Spence Bridge, it is best described as a white knuckle, double-decker, four-lanes-of-terror experience. No shoulders or breakdown lanes, aggressive truck traffic, and northbound vehicles constantly shifting lanes for the I71 split on the Cincinnati side. Rusty-looking beams overhead — the signs are so crusty with oxidation that they are barely readable.

My sister in Cincinnati says she always rolls down her windows on the bridge, so that she can escape if her car is knocked into the murky river below.

The Brent Spence Bridge has been described by Truckers News as “functionally obsolete,” carrying over twice the number of vehicles it was designed to carry when it was built in 1963. It carries traffic not just from I-75 and I-71, but also southbound I-74 from Indianapolis. Three interstates on one bridge! Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao has called this bottleneck “one of the busiest freight corridors in the nation.”

A fiery truck accident on Nov. 11 has closed the Brent Spence until Dec. 23. All 160,000 vehicles which use this bridge daily have been forced to find other routes through and around Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. For Lexington residents, imagine that the Clays Ferry Bridge was suddenly closed and all of the I75 traffic had to find alternate routes through our fair city – for six weeks. Would that be a problem?

Replacement of the Brent Spence is critical and will be costly – but vast dollars have historically been spent in Kentucky on big, wasteful transportation projects which move stupendous amounts of earth from point A to B, without significantly improving either traffic flow or safety. For example: the KY 15 bypass into Jackson, the 4-laning of the Mountain Parkway, and I75 in Rockcastle County. We need to stop with the dumb earthmoving projects and replace the Brent Spence.

The economic impact of the current Brent Spence closure must be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, and replacement of the bridge is unquestionably our most important regional transportation issue.

If only we had some powerful representatives in Washington DC who could show some real leadership and get a new bridge built. Let’s see: John Boehner of Cincinnati was House Speaker from 2011 to 2015. Kentucky’s Hal Rogers was the powerful Appropriations Chair from 2011 to 2016. And Mitch McConnell has been Senate Majority Leader since 2015, and was Minority Leader from 2006 to 2015.

A recent article by Mitch McConnell in the Herald-Leader posited that “Kentucky punches above its weight,” due to McConnell’s power and influence. So, Mitch: Where’s the new bridge?

Well, it’s time for Kentuckians to realize that Sen. McConnell is out of touch with his constituents. His Washington DC office won’t even answer phone calls (you just get a recording, and then it hangs up).

If Sen. McConnell did actually meet and listen to us little peons, he might hear that we are very concerned that Kentucky has the highest rate of cancer in America. What has he ever done about that? Actually, Mitch was a leading supporter and defender of Big Tobacco in Washington for decades.

Mitch might learn that we want clean air and safe drinking water in eastern Kentucky. He might also hear that we are greatly concerned about the President’s mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic: Mitch has been the number one obstacle to a second round of pandemic relief funds, and he wants to take away health care from poor Kentuckians in the middle of the pandemic.

“Punching above its weight,” my foot. Thanks for nothing, Mitch.

Dave Cooper is a community activist in Lexington.