The Ohio River Bridges Project seeks to address a major traffic congestion problem in Louisville, Kentucky, but increasing the number of traffic lanes crossing the Ohio River, a goal that has been in the works for over 30 years. The federal department of transportation has agreed to bundle three projects into one funding event, which includes the two bridges, and rebuilding a major highway interchange, for a total projected cost of $2.5-billion dollars.

The downtown bridge span will carry the northbound lanes of I-65. The southbound lanes will continue to use the existing Kennedy Bridge, which will be remodeled for one way traffic. The bridge will use a rare configuration of 3 sets of towers, with the outer towers being shorter than the center towers. The towers will be in the H-configuration, with the roadway suspended between pairs of vertical towers, and the cables running along the outside of the roadway.

Final bridge styles were picked in late 2006, with bridge design planned for 2007 and 2008. Pre-work will be extensive, such as purchasing land, clearing structures, and relocating utilities. That should put the bridge construction starting in the 2009 timeframe, with the total project taking as long as 11 years.