The Urbanophile nails it: "Louisville Bridges Project Is the Biggest Transportation Boondoggle of the 21st Century."

Go there and read all about it. The Urbanophile is remorseless.

I differ with only one point.

By rights I should be writing this for a major national publication instead of putting it on my personal web site. But I love Louisville and Southern Indiana (my hometown) and don’t want to create negative press for them. I just want it known for the record that this did not have to happen.

Without negative press -- without floggings, scourging and negative feedback in every known public configuration, right here in Louisville and all across America -- these imbeciles will do something just as stupid, yet again.

Louisville Bridges Project Is the Biggest Transportation Boondoggle of the 21st Century, by Aaron M. Renn (Urbanophile)

I have been a steadfast critic of the project to build two new bridges across the Ohio River in Louisville for over a decade. In fact, my first critical post on the bridges proposal was put up in 2007 less than six months after starting my original Urbanophile blog.

The end result was even worse than I anticipated. The project has proven to be a money waster of the highest order, and in fact by far the biggest American transportation boondoggle I can identify in the 21st century so far.

Part of the agreement between Indiana and Kentucky to build the bridges was that they would do official before and after surveys of traffic to determine the impact of the new bridges on traffic flow. The study was published in August of this year.

The result? The two states spent $1.3 billion dollars to build a parallel I-65 span in downtown Louisville that doubled the capacity of that crossing. After spending that money, traffic fell by 50%.

Let me repeat that: Indiana and Kentucky spent $1.3 billion to double the capacity of a road while traffic levels were cut in half ...

ORBP: "Massive expense, big tolls, fewer cars than ever. Even if way down the road these bridges fill up, this project is a financial boondoggle of epic proportions."

From 2011.

I'll lead with Aaron Renn's answer to a question asked in the comments section.

The toll revenue from the system is being split 50/50 between Indiana and Kentucky. Previous analysis indicated that 80% of the tolls will be paid by Indiana residents, so that’s who is paying for the project, ultimately.

One Southern Indiana is delighted. Evidently not a single humanities major was consulted.

Conversely ...

Louisville Spent $2.4 Billion on New Bridges While Traffic Fell Sharply (Urbanophile)

The initial figures are in and the new Louisville bridges are on track to be as big a failure as predicted.

Renn: "Louisville Bridges Project Proceeds From Tragedy to Farce."

Just read it and weep -- not in sorrow, but at the sheer volume of the stupidity inherent in the Oligarch's River Bridges Project.

Bridges Project Proceeds From Tragedy to Farce

I’ve written a lot about the $2.6 billion boondoggle project to build two new bridges across the Ohio River in Louisville (see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). A new East End river crossing is without a doubt necessary and adds regional value, but the rest of the project is basically bad news.

But no matter how crazy this project is, it always manages to find ways to show that it’s even more wacky than I thought. The latest installment comes from the so-called “investment grade toll study” that was conducted in order to set toll rates and issue bonds.

Telling New Albany's story, not another city's story.

The Urbanophile's musings on the general theme of municipal self-knowledge echo DT's suggestion so long ago that New Albany's marketing campaign should adopt a mantra embracing our traditional shortcomings as well as our newfound strengths: "Wonderfully and delightfully us." As Aaron Renn explains:

Who’s Your City?

A couple months back when visiting the home front, my dad and I popped into the excellent New Albanian brewhouse for dinner and microbrews.

Sorry -- I couldn't resist beginning with this line, as it will enrage the one-dimensional journalists among us. To the point:

... I’ve long noted that while companies go to great lengths to differentiate themselves in the marketplace, most cities seem to do just the opposite. They want to convince you that in various ways they are exactly like this, that, or the other really cool city. It’s totally inauthentic and completely ineffective.

To really brand your city you need to go back to that ancient wise inscription – Know Thyself. It’s not easy. It requires a lot of introspection, and digging deep into things that aren’t always easy to uncover. But I’m convinced every city, like every person, has a powerful story to tell.

It's really too bad. The introspection and digging in New Albany just might flow naturally from a thoughtful, past-and-future approach to New Albany's forthcoming Bicentennial celebration, but because of the predictably white bread way we're seemingly intent on observing the birthday, there'll be plenty of the usual obfuscatory CeeSaw fluff with very little useful content.

If only ...

ORBP: "Indiana’s worst transportation finance decision since the 1830s epic canal fiasco that bankrupted the state."

Silence remains somewhat other than golden, but let's not drag folks like Diane Benedetti, Kerry Stemler and Ed Clere into a discussion of how Hoosiers are being "thrown under the bus" by St. Daniels.

Wouldn't want them to have to think, or anything uppity like that.

Hey, you on the Bridges Authority ... could you pass the Kool-Aid, please?

Media Finally Wakes Up to Louisville Tunnel Boondoggle, But Misses the Bigger Picture, by Aaron Renn (Urbanophile)

The Indianapolis Star finally did a report this weekend covering the ridiculousness of Indiana taxpayers and motorists paying for a $255 million “tunnel under the trees” in Kentucky as part of the Ohio River bridges project.

Their article is a good one, and reveals that Kentucky officials deliberately listed the property as historic to drive up the cost of the bridge project as a poison pill attempt. Though the headline should better have been phrased as a question: “Why Exactly Is Indiana Paying $255 to Tunnel Under Kentucky’s Trees?” The only answer seems to be because Mitch Daniels wants to ...

... It’s stunning to me that, to burnish his legacy by getting a bridge project done that had eluded both states for 40 years, Mitch Daniels is willing to throw Hoosier taxpayers and motorists under the bus like this. This is a deal that will live in infamy as Indiana’s worst transportation finance decision since the 1830s epic canal fiasco that bankrupted the state. I cannot think of another governor in modern times who so clearly acted contrary to his own constituents’ financial interests in a transportation project.

Bridge tolls poll shows that "Hoosiers seem wise to this game." Except our elected officials, that is.

Needless to say, the promised study of economic impact on Hoosier small businesses has not been done, and Renn's devastating analysis speaks for itself. Be sure to follow the link and read the whole article.

Hoosiers to Pay 80% of Local Tolls for Ohio River Bridges Project, by Aaron M. Renn (The Urbanophile)

Indiana and Kentucky transportation officials have tried mightily to avoid talking about the breakdown of cross-river traffic in Louisville, a crucial piece of data to have in determining who will actually pay for $2.6 billion in two new bridges if it is done largely through tolling. But a new scientific, independent poll released today exposes that Hoosiers will pay four times as many tolls as Kentuckians because that’s how many more trips back and forth across the river they make compared to Kentuckians. In Clark and Floyd Counties, residents actually make five times as many trips as Kentuckians. This means that of all the local bridge tolls being collected, Hoosiers are going to pay 80% of them. This explodes the idea that Indiana and Kentucky are splitting the cost 50/50, which is already ridiculous as it stands ...

 ... I’m on record as being a Mitch Daniels fan, but he’s clearly screwed up badly on this one. He seems desperate to put another feather in the cap of his legacy by getting yet another highway project that had been stalled for years actually built on his watch. But the cost to Hoosiers here is just too high. He’s throwing his own southern Indiana constituents under the bus with this one by cramming a horrible business deal and tolls they don’t want down their throats. It’s time to change course big time before a terrible mistake gets made.

At The Urbanophile: "Indiana’s Bridge Deal Boondoggle, Part 4 – A Better Plan."

Aaron M. Renn's series concludes with the fourth installment, and suggestions for a better Ohio River Bridges Project plan.

Indiana’s Bridge Deal Boondoggle, Part 4 – A Better Plan, by Aaron M. Renn, at The Urbanophile.

In the first three parts of this series, I discussed how Indiana so badly botched its negotiation with Kentucky on the Louisville bridges project that its share of the project went up by $200 million at the same time the total project declined in cost by $1.5 billion, how this will result in $432 million being drained out of regular highway funds to cover a resulting tolling gap, how tolling likely results in Indiana paying even more, and the significant risks Indiana has taken on by agreeing to build a tunnel in Kentucky. Amazing as it sounds, Indiana’s biggest road project is now a $795 million, 1.4 mile highway in the state of Kentucky.

But just because I believe this deal is bad doesn’t mean I think the project itself is all bad. Indeed, I’m a strong supporter of the East End bridge, which is a generational investment for that part of the state. I also think the $1.5 billion in savings identified so far are great and a good start at getting costs under control on this project. But there’s still more we can do. So with that in mind, I’ll outline the changes I’d make to move the project forward:

#1 – Kill the Drumanard Tunnel
#2 – Adopt 8664
#3 – Revisit the Cost and Toll Revenue Allocations

At The Urbanophile: "Indiana’s Bridge Deal Boondoggle, Part 2: Hoosiers to Pay Even More With Tolling."

Here's the link to the second part of The Urbanophile series, with a key excerpt. Wonder if Ed Clere and Ron Grooms are reading?

Indiana’s Bridge Deal Boondoggle, Part 2: Hoosiers to Pay Even More With Tolling

... Given that, one would think that a few questions would be of paramount importance to answer. First, what is the breakdown of projected cross-river traffic on the bridges in terms of Hoosiers vs. Kentuckians vs. those from neither state?

I have spent a lot of time searching the internet for the answer of that question, including looking at the documents on the web site of the Kentucky-Indiana Bridges Authority (a bi-state commission looking at financing) and asking various people I know in the Louisville area. I was unable to find any answer to this question.

I find it very surprising that this isn’t front and center. Because if tolling is supposed to fund the bridge, then who is paying those tolls is really the primary determinant of which state is paying the for the bridge.

Perhaps there’s a reason for that. As I Southern Indiana resident, I can tell you anecdotally that far more Hoosiers drive back and forth across the bridges than Kentuckians ...

At The Urbanophile: "Indiana's Bridge Deal Boondoggle, Part 1: A Financial Fiasco."

Me thinks this series by Aaron M. Renn in The Urbanophile will be required reading these next few days.

Indiana's Bridge Deal Boondoggle, Part 1: A Financial Fiasco

- Indiana gives away $1.7 billion to Kentucky -

- Indiana’s costs up by $200 million while total project costs decline by $1.5 billion -

- $432 million diverted from other projects to close funding gap recreated by Indiana’s botched negotiators -

- Tolling likely to mean Indiana pays well over half the project –

- Indiana potentially exposed to major risk by agreeing to build a tunnel in Kentucky through Louisville’s most affluent suburb that the state has no expertise to construct -

Urbanophile: "How big a boondoggle does a highway project have to be...?"

This bit of commentary comes from Southern Indiana native and well-recognized urban development consultant Aaron Renn, aka the Urbanophile, written soon after the latest bridges "deal" was announced. Offered as part of one of his Urbanoscope updates in January, it's worth a look for a quick, objective opinion from an experienced professional. Thanks to Save Louisville for pointing it out. Also worthy of review is Renn's previous, more in-depth support for 8664.

Ohio River Bridges Project Is Still a Boondoggle, by Aaron Renn, The Urbanophile.

Indiana and Kentucky have supposedly agreed on a plan to chop $500 million off the cost of the Ohio River Bridges Project in Louisville. Now the project will cost “only” $3.6 billion, or almost $3000 for every single man, woman, and child in the entire metro area – and a heckuva lot more than that once financing costs and user delay cost during two decades of construction are taken into account.

This project seems to be a quest for an answer to the question: How big a boondoggle does a highway project have to be before even the most fiscally conservative of politicians will go for a rethink? It’s amazing that leaders on both sides of the rivers continue to push for this plan that will be little more than a cash drain on the region. And a destructive one, obliterating a number of historic buildings in downtown Louisville and erecting an even more gigantic barrier across the riverfront.

There is a better way: 8664. This project will save a couple billion – and reconnect downtown Louisville with the river to boot. Much better, much much cheaper. What’s not to love? Go forward with the adjustment to move the pedestrian path the Big Four, then take the rest of the steps to make 8664 a reality.

By the way, the Star said this was a “Kentucky delegation” and didn’t mention any Southern Indiana representation. I noted one of the cost saving measures was downscoping the east end bridge. Did Kentucky pull a fast one on Mitch? The east end bridge goes through Louisville’s equivalent of Zionsville and the big money types there – who are hugely influential – have never and will never give up on cancelling that bridge outright or, failing that, reducing it as much as possible. This looks to me like Kentucky maneuvering for position moreso than cost savings. Watch out, Indiana.

8664: The Urbanophile makes the case.

The Urbanophile is regular reading around the bluegill homestead and for good reason. Even when I don't agree, it's inevitably well researched, well reasoned, and well written. On 8664, the same is true and we agree.

With the help of a site visit, new photography, and borrowed images, the Laconia native puts together a rather comprehensive look at the pending disaster that is the Ohio River Bridges Project and how 8664 is a better and cheaper solution with only a relatively few obstructionists standing in the way of Hoosier interests.

It's time that our local representatives, both publicly elected and privately self-declared, do the same.

Louisville:The Case for 8664, by Aaron M. Renn (The Urbanophile).

Better and cheaper. What's not to love?

Of course, not everybody likes better and cheaper. Highway construction and engineering companies sure don't. And they carry a lot of political weight. But Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels was already wealthy before taking office, doesn't need anyone's money, and isn't angling to do anything but serve out his last term as governor and continue pushing for change. He's brought a keen fiscal eye to the Hoosier State, and 8664 would save Hoosiers a bundle by not having to pay for 50% of a downtown bridge plus 100% of the approach work on the Indiana side. With projects like I-69 running over budget, this could be a great place to save money. Plus, the Major Moves funds allocated to the bridges project are not sufficient to pay Indiana's $1.2 billion share of the project, period. And 8664 preserves the East End bridge that Indiana cares about and which is a no-brainer.