I don't want to be an Americay Scott's loan back on the big one seven hundred WLW. Yesterday, O doocs sitting down in front of Cincinnati City Council getting grilled on the three point six billion I said billion of the b Brent Spence Bridge and Brent Spence Bridge Quarter project. We're going to kick this thing off early next year.
That kind of adjusted the timeline somewhat. Mika Owens is here, Council member Mika Owens, who sits on the Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Committee, answering all the tough questions.
Miko, welcome back. How's life How are you?
Life is great? Thank you Bat for having me. And it's always exciting to talk about big infrastructure projects that are going to improve our region. And so odoc coming to By the way, I chair the Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Committee. But it was great to have them yesterday, and I think it was a good conversation. Yes, we did ask some good questions and so I think people will be proud, you know, a decade from now when we look at this marvel of a bridge.
Now, hell, it's a long time coming. I mean when we started complaining about I think how bad the brend Spence Bridge was before you were born, you know what I mean, It's like it's been going on for a long long time and it's mine and overdue. So about sixty percent of the design is complete. So what's up in the air about that other forty percent?
You know? Yeah, So the process in which they are using to design this bridge is called a design built process, and so it allows for iteration along the way. It's really a very thoughtful and methodical way of getting to the best products. And so you know, we'll continue to get to the one hundred percent soon, but this fall
we're planning to have sixty percent of it complete. I will also say that, yes, thank you to you know, the Biden administration, the current administration was making sure that we are continuing to move this project forward. I mean, this is truly an example of what collaboration amongst government
looks like, no matter what the party affiliation is. This couldn't happen without the federal government, both administrations, the current and previous, the state government and so Governor the Wine has been a thoughtful partner in this and of course as a local decision maker and with ODAP.
Yeah, and then bring you up to speed on this as you listen. With the Burn Spence Bridge project, is we mentioned the three point six billion dollar total cost, which includes substantial money from the city to count everyone else's we're gonna get a companion bridge that's west of
the existing Brunt Spence Bridge. Well, let's take the bridge now, the Brunt Spence Bridge that we know and hate, and they will take that from four lanes down to three, so you'll actually have emergency lane and break down lane because we've seen some while people die as a result of not having that in this whole project's going to stretch about eight miles from the Western Hills Viaduct to Dixie Highway in northern Kentucky and take a tremendous amount
of work to get done. It's going to take years and years and years. And that is the bird's eye view of this project here and reshaping what that quarter looks like from seventy five down the Western Hills so through the viaduct, and of course the viaduct is seeing a redo as well too. It's interesting I heard some of the conversation yesterday Mika about how they're going to try to limit the impact on drivers and engage barges and bringing material which is a.
Great idea.
Certainly, certainly, you know, I think the thoughtfulness around are not only the design, but also the supply in which we will have you know this where the still comes from. These are all going to be good, good questions that will have answers to I think in the beginning of twenty twenty six is not very late in this year, but certainly thinking about you know, traffic flow and impact
to drivers. You know, we're hearing the concerns around environmental impact and certainly, you know, if could you be thoughtful about those things. But at the end of the day, moving peace fall is better than being idle. And certainly as this bridge continues to get built and expanded lanes on the huge bridge, you know, it don't help people move quicker. And it'll also be very thoughtful about how people make decisions from the bridge to get to downtown
or to get to seventy one. And so I think it's going to be a real feat of engineering for sure.
Yeah, I mean we're going to see a lot of cranes along the riverfront, that's for sure. And to get this thing as quickly as possible it could be cranes and barges all over the place, but getting the barges and that's a pretty good idea. I wonder what that does with surface transportation on the Ohio River. But it's not the first project someone's done of this scale. I guess in other areas of the country they know how
to do this and navigate this. She's Meka Owen's council member Chair of Climate, Environment and Infrastructure, and yesterday I met with o Dot regarding the Brent Spence Bridge projects, which is set to kick off early next year, so in the cold winter months they'll get busy. Getting busy one of the things one of the things we heard too, Meeka, and because also this is an addition to infrastructure, it's
also climate environment. You heard from people who showed up community input that we're concerned about, I don't know, opposition from environmental groups and transit advocate. They worry about you increased traffic and air pollution and this is going to disproportionately affect black and brown residents in the West End in queens Gaden. We can't do this. To me, that's
not really a reason to stop the project. It seems to me if you're stuck on the brent S Bench Bridge, as people often are in the morning and afternoon commute several days a week, if not every day during the week, don't we have a hell of a lot of pollution from the cars and trucks that are sitting there idly?
That is true, and so which is my moving people significantly factor and more efficiently. It's going to be so important. But you know, we don't want to, you know, just throw away the concerns of people who know the climate work that we're doing in Cincinnati. And so I think at the end of the day, this has been a thoughtful partnership between the federal government, state and here we
are in Cincinnati. And if there were any major concerns about environment polution, I believe ODAC and the OTE would, if they believe in environmental impact statement was necessary, would definitely be working on that. So we'll continue to have thoughtful conversations. But I do want to talk about the job impact of this project.
Please do, because I think that is that was gonna Dovetail was going to ask, is okay, we're concerned about black and brown populations and air pollution, which we have. If you're sitting on the bridge now and not doing anything makes it worse, not better. This is at least the pollution during construction will be temporary for a long
term fix. But one of the concerns and is the economy gets worse and worse, and money becomes scarcer and scarcer, and inflation goes up, and you know, jobs are strong.
It's not good right now.
It's not awful, but it's not good and it's not trending in the right direction when it comes to employment, and like is the fact.
The matter is people need jobs.
And I've been a long time advocate for the conscer struction community. We have jobs out there that will change your life, will change the trajectory of your family. It addresses generational poverty. And all you have to do is show up. They'll pay for you to learn, they'll pay for your tools, they'll get you there, they'll get you home. You can make a great life by working in the construction trades. And there's countless jobs available on this particular
bridge in your backyard. I don't feel like enough is said about workforce development here.
I know, I know what this is the most exciting aspect of this project. First of all, we have to recognize that almost a billion dollars worth of freight comes across the Bridgetent Bridge every single day from Miami to the Canadian border. We also have to recognize CBG is one of the largest cargo airports in North America. It's the seventh largest, and it's the twentieth largest in the world. And that connectivity just based on the moving of goods
is so critical. So this bridge, this project is going to work fire six million work hours, seven hundred of folks that will need to be the boots on the ground using their hands to construct this bridge, sixty more than sixty sub contractor packages. And so yes, the workforce
development implication is so real. And so the investments that we made are are local labor unions with the urban leagues creating that building our futures program, helping people move into apprenticeship and really get great jobs after graduating from that. We're talking about living wage jobs, you know sovie six dollars an hour, and so there has to be a
great movement of migrating people into this workforce infrastructure. Because when we also think about and you may break points around you know, economics and people earning money and having money in their pocket to pay for the food on the people and a roof over their heads. You know, moving young people in these forces of professions is going to be so key for not only Cincinnati but this region.
And when we think about the jobs of the future, someone which might might be more technology driven, when we think about AI, it's working with your hands that will always be valuable. And so I'm really excited about the opportunities that we can create for people and young people with just this project alone.
And there are countless jobs available. That's part of the problem. It's not like it's going away.
And the demand.
Everyone talks about there's no good jobs and why do we have crime? Well, I can't I when I'm going to work in fast food and not make any money and I can go on the street and hustle, and I know.
It's not good, but it's something. We have.
These job We need to push more people into these things, and it's got to be we got to be more vocal about demanding that Hey, listen, we've got a job.
We've got a career for over here. It's hard work.
It's not like it was, you know, one hundred years ago, where you're sitting on top of a I don't know, a beam that's being swung by a crane, eating your lunch like they did during the depression. It's much safer now we have, right, we have oceans. Yeah, you're talking to make them like forty bucks an hour. I mean you're going to be making six figures easy with overtime. That's life changing.
That that.
You know, we talk about generational poverty all the time, meek in Cincinnati, in the community, in black and brown community.
This addresses that.
This currently does. And I will think that, you know, this is one of the things I get most excited about what you think about. Excuse me being back into city Hall and so developing those pipelines and working with partners like CPS, like nonprofit philanthropy, our business community, UH and so many others to make sure our young people have, you know, really opportunity and hope. At the end of
the day, I will tell you this too. You know, green jobs are also a part of that which the Chamber of Commerce, along with the City of Cincinnati, commissioned a green workforce analysis, and in that analysis, there's the opportunity to create up to forty four thousand and jobs many of us are union jobs. When we think about electricians and you know soling h flacks and solar panels and all of those pieces, but that hasn't a potential of an eleven billion dollar economic impact to the region.
So you think about that coupled with the jobs at this infrastructure, this generational infrastructural product is going to bring workforce has to be at the top of the list for all of us over the next really five ten years.
She's Mika Owens and she is a chair as a city council person of the committee that's heading up infrastructure in Cincinnati. Met with O Dot yesterday and what's happening is we're moving forward in the Brent Spence Bridge set to begin construction early part of next year, although I will say probably a lot of the site works being done right now, correct, Yeah.
That's correct, So all of the small pieces that have to significant but you know, the pipes run in the ground, all of those pieces that have to be set right now in order to actually get to the building of what we all know as a bridge. So the work is happening. We're really grateful that after decades of trying to get this bridge accomplished that we're at this moment and it took a lot of works from a lot
of people. Are of there's this community then government, and we're just happy that on both sides of the river, you know, people are working cooarly to ensure that this
is a really great project. And I also want to recognize that, you know, there are some future implications in terms of greater connectivity back to the West End, back to what we've known as Queenstate but originally the West End when we think about the Fifth Street expansion and so those are things that are being built out right now and being a part of the design and conversation right now, so that when we get to a moment of being able to extend, you know, those things can happen.
So we're thinking about the future even right now.
Is this a deal where it sounds like most people go, well, you just hand it over to Oda. Oda takes care all the stuff work with Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. But Oda's going to how much oversight does the City of Cincinnati. Where's the accountability, I guess, and how close tabs Mika Owens do you keep on what the project is overall?
From the Cincinnati perspective.
Yeah, well, obviously this is uh this is right at our heart of our city, and so certainly we want to make sure that we are continuing to be accountable results here. Our Department of Transportation Engineering has been uh with you know, working with ODA every step of the way, and certainly this is not the first time that you know, the city and state come together to work on projects,
and so those relationships are there. I also want to recognize, you know, Doublin of the line, you know, being a very a great partner, recognizing that at the local level there are some decisions that impact us directly, and so being uh right at the table to make sure that we are again getting all of the great benefits that
this bridge will bring to our city. So for example, you know, we've got a conventional district that's coming online, and so when people dig off an accident and go through a downtown Cincinnati, I mean, it is truly going to be a spectacle. And so that's what we want.
We want people to be able to not just go over the overpass for those that are maybe carrying goods, of course, certainly, but we want folks to be able to stop downtown, enjoy want folks to be able to get to seventy one, want folks to be able to get to the West End. That is a huge opportunity
in terms of what we might reimagine together there. So ultimately, yes, we want to be at the table and we want to make the decisions necessary and we're possible to make sure one this bridge is completed in a timely manner and then also you know, making sure that we are meeting the budget of this as well. We go things are out of our control. Yeah, yeah, I get to.
Mika.
But one of the other things the fact that a year ago, almost a year ago, we had the bridge fire, the Big Mac Bridge, remember, had to be shut down for a period of time because of the fire underneath it.
And the end result is it was on getting mitigated traffic disaster on the street surface streets of Cincinnati because there's no preparation for something like that, but there was no reaction, There was no emergency plan in place to deal with something with one of the major bridges is shut down, and traffic in some areas went from a twenty or thirty minute commute to over two hours. Tempers were flying. Fortunately, no bad things really really happened other
than traffic delays. But I look at that and go, okay, well, what's the plan now for surface streets being overwhelmed with traffic for the multi year build, for the decade long build that's the Brents Ben's Bridge.
Yeah, that's that's a great question, and certainly that'll be something that we can continue to follow up on. I do know that there are you know, professional engineers who this is not the first time building a bridge and assessing traffic and uh, you know, traffic patterns and analyzing those things. And so that's also a part of what's
going into the design process. And so by the end of this year, beginning of next year, we'll have more ODA will have more information around these kind of traffic patterns and the way that the playway Belly Bailey Bridge might be impacted. But ultimately, at the end of the day, you know, this is about moving people very smoothly, not idle, not idling sitting on sitting on a bridge waiting to go places. They certainly want to make sure we're moving people, uh,
at the end of the day. And so yeah, I look forward to the updates that we'll continue to have with odot uh In in my committee.
All right, I appreciate. I got to get going. She is Mika Owens, joining the show this morning. Council member Owens chairs the Climate, Environment and Infrastructure Committee and the Brent Spence Bridge Quarter project as a go.
Uh.
They're doing a little bit of sight work right now, but the big stuff you'll notice will start happening early PARKQ Q one, early Q one, like January February of next year. Miek all the best, Thanks for coming on the show. Appreciate you.
Thanks, got appreciate it. Take care.
We'll talk again soon.
I've got to get a news update in because we've got some impressing developing issues going on right now. We'll find out the very latest there. And of course, one of the big developing issues we didn't foresee coming was the fact that we go from Joe A to Joe B, from Joe Burrow to Joe Flacco with a guy named Jake Browning Sandwich somewhere in between. If you're any good,
we still be talking about him. Nonetheless, what can we expect this weekend with the Green Bay Packers and Joe Flacco getting I guess he's in town he's gonna start practicing today today being Wednesday, Thursday. Friday said, you don't have many times to practice, Sarah, at least a snort report next seven hundred ww