Gahan predictably AWOL from Sherman Minton repair meeting as Republicans seek to avoid a total bridge closure.

One.

Only the passive and benumbed yes man, councilman Bob "Bail!" Caesar.

That's the total number of Democratic public officials choosing to attend an important meeting with INDOT officials, with super-duper Supreme Leader Payhan not among them; that's no surprise, because he would not have been allowed to commandeer the meeting to his own small-pond political aims.

Let's be blunt. INDOT's plans for the Sherman Minton repair timetable are the single major issue for New Albany for the next five years -- full stop, or whatever the kids say these days. I wish it weren't so, because I wish we were not almost 100% automobile-centric, but we are, and there it is.

Team Gahan has been almost completely silent about this fact, primarily because it represents the sort of challenge rarely glimpsed by the Wizard of Bling during his 16-year career in municipal politics. Pull back the curtain and behold the beached jellyfish.

As we see local Republican leaders step forward to lead, it's a good time to recall that Gahan's default knee-jerk as mayor these past eight years has been the pursuit of a virtual hermetic sealing-off of our city from GOP-controlled areas of higher governance -- in Indiana's case, this meaning all of them.

Isolationism might be a sound ideological strategy for partisan politics, but it makes no sense whatever as it pertains to efficiency. How much in deferred indebtedness has it cost us to go it alone?

Now watch as the all-powerful DemoDisneyDixiecratic Sultan of Swag sulks in the background as the adults in the room seek to lessen an overall community impact for which there is no good solutions, but maybe a few less awful alternatives.

In Gahan's mind, there is one central expression of petulance, because he almost surely reasons he'll be able to turn future bridge events to his partisan political advantage during an anticipated third term.

Voters can preclude this by denying Slick Jeffie a third term. 

Local representatives urge INDOT not to close Sherman Minton, by Aprile Rickert (That Tom May Show)

Bridge closure could stifle Southern Indiana for a generation, leaders say

NEW ALBANY — Southern Indiana representatives are working to make sure area residents, students and businesses are not forgotten in the decision of whether or not to fully close the Sherman Minton Bridge for repairs.

More than a dozen local and state leaders met Thursday in New Albany to voice their concerns to Joe McGuinness, commissioner for the Indiana Department of Transportation (INDOT). Among those at the table were representatives from New Albany and Floyd County government, state and federal government, along with local universities and business organizations.

"The purpose of the meeting was to kind of put a human face on all these organizations that have been sending letters, petitions saying 'please don't close us up,'" New Albany City Councilman Al Knable said after the meeting, which was closed to media.

The discussion, just one of many in recent weeks, comes as the decision looms for what will be done with the Sherman Minton Bridge during an estimated $90 million to $105 million in repairs INDOT says are needed.

Options for the Sherman Minton Renewal Project include full closure of the bridge for 15 to 23 months during repairs, or keeping it partially open or alternating open lanes between morning and evening. The latter options could extend the project out as far as three years or more. It's expected to begin in early 2021.

INDOT representatives are expected to whittle down the six options in the coming months, but those who met with commissioner McGuinness Thursday say the area can't afford a full closure for the amount of time that's been discussed ...

... Others in attendance at the meeting were New Albany councilmen Scott Blair and Bob Caesar; Anne Keller of One Southern Indiana; Rob Dunn of Develop New Albany; Dana Wavle, vice chancellor for Administrative Affairs at IU Southeast; Andrew Takami, director of Purdue Polytechnic; Josh Kornberg, director of development at Ivy Tech Community College; Floyd County Commissioner Billy Stewart; Jerry Finn, executive director of Horseshoe Foundation of Floyd County; Brad Segal, general manager of Horseshoe Casino and Sarah Davasher-Wisdom of Greater Louisville, Inc.

PINTS & UNION PORTFOLIO: A slicing of ribbon-like objects, together.

Yurt dwellers in southwest Mongolia know I'm not a ribbon-cutting type of guy, but they also understand, just as I always have, that there is no "I" in the word "team."

If ever a crew deserved a Develop New Albany ribbon cutting, it is the guys and gals assembled by Joe Phillips at Pints&union. My own beery role at the pub, while important, is limited. These are the folks who make it tick, and Joe and family are the ones taking the risk.

From the perspective of downtown New Albany's independent businesses, the next three or four years will be critically important, over and above the usual day to day struggles of small operators. Making lemonade out of the forthcoming Sherman Minton Bridge repair disruption stands to be far easier when we're working together rather than separately.

Irrespective of the election outcome next month, our thoughts must be aimed toward Ben Franklin's timeless wisdom, apocryphal or not: "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately."

S&M -- or, the pain and pleasure we contemplate as INDOT and KTC meet to discuss the (S)herman (M)inton's 2021 renewal.

Great minds think alike.

We all know the bridge repairs are necessary, and at least it's nice to have more than a day's notice for a public meeting.

Here are the details of the more than $90 million Sherman Minton Bridge renewal project, by Caitlin Bowling (Insider Louisville)

... Officials with the Indiana Department of Transportation and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet said they haven’t decided whether to close the bridge during the construction, which would save time and money but force many drivers to find alternative routes, or opt for a partial bridge closure, which would ease traffic pains but increase the cost and length of construction.

The two government entities are seeking feedback from residents before making a recommendation in fall 2019. The input gathering is part of a federally required environmental study, which includes an analysis of the social, economic and environmental impacts of the project, as well as mitigation efforts.

Two open houses will be held in October, allowing residents to comment on the project and ask questions. The first is from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 2, at Scribner Middle School, 910 Old Vincennes Road in New Albany. The second is from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 4, at Chestnut Street Family YMCA, 930 W. Chestnut St. in Louisville.

Construction is slated to begin in early 2021 and take two to three years to complete. The work is expected to add up to 30 years onto the life of the 56-year-old bridge ...

City election in 2019, bridge repairs in 2021. One should be a forum to prepare for the other.

Photo credit (and interesting article about
the Sherman Minton's inspection (2015).

There's a municipal election coming in 2019, and the projected date for a months-long bridge closure in 2021.

If the toll-free bridge closure is inevitable, we might as well kick back and ask this important question, joyfully or otherwise: shouldn't there be a level of local preparation, and shouldn't this be a prime campaign topic during next year's local races?

I think it should be one of the major questions. It might be a jumping-off point for a far-reaching public discussion about transportation alternatives, and ... well, that's not going to happen, is it?

You can read all about the repair costs courtesy of Marcus Green at WDRB

Costs climb on Sherman Minton Bridge rehab

The increase, from $80 million to $92 million, reflects added work on the Indiana side of the Ohio River.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The price tag for a massive overhaul of the Sherman Minton Bridge has climbed since the project was announced nearly a year ago, a result of more work slated for the Interstate 64 corridor ...

Here's the meat.

In interviews last fall, Indiana officials said they anticipated a planned construction start in 2021. But (Harry) Maginity indicated this week that a timeline for the project won’t be known until after the state moves into the bidding process – although it’s not known when that will happen.

Indiana plans a “best value” approach that will award the Sherman Minton contract based not only on price, but also on a construction plan that tries to limit road closures. The states used a similar strategy when replacing the Milton-Madison Bridge, awarding the contract to a company that proposed a 10-day shutdown; other bidders sought months-long closures.

Transportation officials suggested last year that the Sherman Minton could be shut down for more than seven months during the work.

“The idea of best value is to get the best deal for the motoring public,” Maginity said. “It’s a major inconvenience, obviously. But we’re going to try to minimize that the best we can.”

The financial and tariff barriers embodied by Ohio River toll bridges, and more dull silence from the oligarch fluffers.

If you're surprised by these statistics, let's have coffee. I have bridge futures to sell you.

Ohio River crossings fall after start of bridge tolls, study shows

Traffic has soared by 75 percent on the region’s oldest bridge, the Clark Memorial, since drivers started paying to cross the river.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – New bridges. Billions of dollars spent. Years of construction.

So far: Less traffic across the Ohio River.

Fewer vehicles are crossing between Kentucky and Indiana since tolls were added to bridges between Louisville and Clark County, Ind., according to a preliminary report obtained by WDRB News.

The two state governments have not publicly released the study, a requirement of the Ohio River Bridges Project. But the draft version provides a first look at how drivers are responding to paying $2.05 to $12.30 to cross the river.

The traffic counts indicate that drivers apparently seeking to avoid tolls are flocking to the region’s oldest span – the 1920s-era Clark Memorial Bridge – in greater numbers than previously envisioned.

Unfortunately, the bridge in question is ours. A little more than two years from now, it's going to be closed for a lengthy period.

I-64 Sherman Minton Bridge

The Sherman Minton, which connects Louisville and New Albany, Ind., carried 90,000 vehicles in 2018, a 23 percent climb from 2013. It is the only toll-free interstate bridge in the Louisville area.

Indiana is planning an $80 million upgrade on the Minton in 2021, making structural repairs and doing other work meant to make the 56-year-old bridge safer. The span is expected to close for months.

In June, the Minton was reduced to one lane after a hole in the road surface opened and forced emergency repairs. The Indiana Department of Transportation has yet to fulfill a WDRB News public records request, submitted June 18, for the bridge’s recent inspection records.

In fact, I've nothing bad to say about Deaf Gahan in this regard. Granted, Gahan hasn't said the first word publicly about contingencies and coping mechanisms for 2021, but it probably won't matter because he won't be mayor any longer.

#FireGahan2019

But it's important that someone begin thinking about this, and the Sherman Minton's 2021 repair closure absolutely has to be a campaign issue for mayoral and city council candidates in 2019 -- and since it's going to be equally important for every resident of Floyd County, cooperation between arms of government must be part of the coping equation.

Meanwhile, the oligarchs seem to be choking on the fruit of their megalomania.

The metro area’s chambers of commerce – Greater Louisville Inc. and One Southern Indiana – backed the project and were members of The Bridges Coalition, a collection of business, labor and government groups that lobbied for the work.

Greater Louisville Inc. hasn't reviewed the study or discussed the current traffic patterns with transportation experts, Sarah Davasher-Wisdom, the chamber's chief operating officer, said in a statement.

"That said, we do believe that the construction of the two new bridges and the rebuild of the downtown interchange has provided new opportunities for economic growth and commerce on both sides of the river," she said.

Speaking of pure evasion, 1Si stares at the ceiling. Are any arts or humanities majors available to interpret Dant Chesser's intentional omissions?

Wendy Dant Chesser, president and CEO of One Southern Indiana, noted in an email that the report doesn’t provide any insight into economic growth and declined to comment in detail.

Ah, but the guy from Ogle gets it.

Kent Lanum, President and CEO of the Jeffersonville, Ind.-based Ogle Foundation, also said the study doesn’t explain what is contributing to the reduced traffic, but it raises concerns nonetheless.

“What was once a cultural and historical barrier for our region to kind of get across between Southern Indiana and Kentucky is now more of a financial and tariff barrier,” he said. “And people are acting with their pocketbooks.”

The 2019 mayoral race is handed a critical debating point: "$80M Sherman Minton Bridge project to extend life up to 50 years."

I missed all the fun with last week's Sherman Minton repair revelations, but it seems the beaming powers-that-be are making reassurances about the absence of future tolling.

They're not to be trusted any longer than Dan Coffey's attention span.

Based on our previous local experience with the ORBP's unelected implementation junta, my advice is not to accept a single word any of them say, now or ever, sans verification.

I'd also advise every last elected official in New Albany and Floyd County to follow the timeless wisdom of holding these appointed decision-makers far closer to their bosoms than loved ones, or even mistresses.

The ORBP was a brutal top-down example of regional and state oligarchies in action. If River Ridge stands to benefit from the Sherman Minton Bridge reassembled over a period of five years, with double the existing rate of tolls when finished, then don't kid yourselves, because that's exactly the way it will come down.

Wendy Dant Chesser will beam, humanities majors will be purged, and the toadies will gather to toast "progress" -- although in fairness, many local residents still will be screaming about taking the knee, well into Trumpolini's second term.

Having said this, and conceding that issues pertaining to the bridge place it near the top of the "must hear" list for our mayoral/re-enthronement contest in 2019, the single biggest issue in the campaign remains the catastrophic implications of presumed Democrat Jeff Gahan's public housing putsch.

But you already knew that, right?

EXCLUSIVE: $80M Sherman Minton Bridge project to extend life up to 50 years, by Elizabeth Beilman (News, Tribune and Evangelism)

Project will result in months-long shutdown

NEW ALBANY — Indiana officials are planning an estimated $80 million rehabilitation and painting project for the Sherman Minton Bridge corridor that will extend its life up to 50 years.

The cost-sharing project with the state of Kentucky is fully funded, so tolling drivers as a method to pay for it isn't being considered, Indiana Department of Transportation officials say.

But they do anticipate the entire Sherman Minton will shut down, likely for a period of several months, during a portion of construction.

That work won't begin until early 2021, with construction bids awarded in the fall of 2020. Officials have "no idea" how long the work will take, as the project hasn't yet been designed ...