Operations begin in Ohio River for Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]The Tri-State's $4.4 billion bridge project began this morning as the first beams and a big crane arrived by barge.

[00:00:08]WCPO 9's Northern Kentucky reporter Logan McDonald's live now from Covington. All right, Logan. This marks a monumental moment in this project.

[00:00:17]>> And a huge moment just for the regions of Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati as a whole as the Brent Spence Bridge project is going to be one of the most significant infrastructure projects we're seeing across the nation.

[00:00:30]>> Operations are officially underway for the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor project.

[00:00:35]>> a lot of people over the years say, "You know what? I'll believe it when I see it." And this is really the first opportunity to see it.

[00:00:42]>> of what will be six barges of construction materials finally arrived.

[00:00:46]>> First thing that just came through the site here is a 300-ton capacity crane sitting on a 72-ft by 180-ft long barge.

[00:00:54]It really marks the start of meaningful in-water work construction of the companion bridge for the Brent Spence project.

[00:01:00]>> Now, construction officially begins in the Ohio River.

[00:01:03]>> It'll happen over the next couple of weeks. You'll notice smaller items, but you know, the the big picture, the new pylons coming out of the water, that's going to take some time.

[00:01:11]>> The ultimate goal, to complete construction of the new Brent Spence companion bridge by 2031 while repairing and renovating the existing Brent Spence Bridge.

[00:01:20]>> The companion bridge will handle all the traffic on I-75 and 71 that's basically trying to get through the Tri-State. The existing bridge will remain a part of the system for decades to come as well.

[00:01:31]It's in great shape, and we're going to use that for the local system.

[00:01:34]>> Now, officials are asking for patience as crews complete the important work ahead.

[00:01:38]>> The minor traffic headache throughout the course of the project, there's a lot of folks hard at work to make sure that what we will build and leave here will be serviceable for a lot of years to come.

[00:01:48]>> We're bringing this barge up to begin work in the Ohio River right where those footers will go for the towers of the companion bridge, and it's an exciting day for all of us.

[00:02:00]>> For more information on the project and the road closures to come, you can find all that in this story on wcpo.com.

[00:02:07]Live in Covington, I'm Morgan McDonald, WCPO 9 News.