Jason Williams

jwilliams@enquirer.com

President Donald Trump apparently has taken at least a small step toward fulfilling a big campaign promise he made to Greater Cincinnati.

The Trump administration has the Brent Spence Bridge project ranked No. 2 on its list of nationwide transportation priorities, according to a document obtained by the Kansas City Star and Tacoma News Tribune. The newspapers, owned by Sacramento-based McClatchy, reported on the list Tuesday.

A White House spokesman told The Enquirer the list was not an official policy document.

The Brent Spence Bridge is ranked only behind a $12 billion passenger-rail project in New York and New Jersey called the Gateway Program, according to the list.

The aging Interstate 71/75 bridge has shown up on several "must-be-done" project lists put together by agencies, publications and lobbying groups from across the U.S. But the project has toiled for years amid a lack of funding and political wheel-spinning. Is this list any different?

The document does not reveal how the federal government plans to pay for the projects. So it remains in question whether the feds will kick in enough money to avoid having to toll the Brent Spence Bridge – the same uncertainty the project faced during the Obama administration.

Nonetheless, Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber President and CEO Jill Meyer said leaders are "encouraged" by how the Trump administration views the Brent Spence Bridge project.

Boone County Judge-executive Gary Moore echoed that, and added: "Now we are waiting to see what President Trump’s funding source might be. If the commitment is new funds over and above (the Obama administration’s) money formula, it could put the project over the top."

Just four days before Election Day, Trump vowed to get the Brent Spence Bridge project done while speaking at a rally in Wilmington, Ohio. The Republican was vague about how he planned to pay for the project, but he suggested withholding money from the United Nations. It's been a popular sentiment among Northern Kentucky tea party leaders for the feds to cut money going to other countries in order to pay for the Brent Spence project, a way they believe tolling a new bridge could be avoided.

Since 2012, regional business, political and transportation leaders have been collaboratively lobbying Washington, Columbus and Frankfort to build a new bridge and overhaul portions of the highway leading up to the Ohio River crossing.

The 53-year-old double-decked bridge – part of the nation's busiest truck route, I-75 – is deteriorating; carries more double the daily traffic it was originally intended to; and is functionally obsolete due to narrow lanes and lower-level poor visibility. But federal money has been stagnant for the project mostly because of lagging gas-tax receipts.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich's administration worked closely with Greater Cincinnati business leaders to aggressively push for the bridge. The Kasich administration has led the planning of the project, and the Ohio Legislature has passed all necessary bills to pave the way for tolling from the Cincinnati side of the river. But the local push has lost steam in the past two years, with Gov. Matt Bevin and the Kentucky Legislature rejecting any Brent Spence funding plan that would include tolling.

"The Brent Spence Bridge is in position for consideration thanks to the advocacy of Gov. Kasich and the Ohio General Assembly," said Matt Davis, president of the local lobbying firm DSD Advisors. "This is great news from Washington."

Trump and Kasich have been at odds since battling in the Republican primary. Meanwhile, it appears Bevin has taken the lead on getting the Brent Spence project on Trump's radar.

"Gov. Bevin is very close to the Trump-Pence administration, and in my opinion, that would have a lot to do with the project being ranked very high," Moore said.

Trump and Bevin met privately in Cincinnati on Dec. 1 just before the then-president-elect held a victory rally at U.S. Bank Arena. They reportedly discussed the Brent Spence Bridge. For Bevin, the project could be a way to repay Northern Kentucky for helping to get him elected in 2014. Bevin received strong tea party support here, partly because he opposed tolling on the campaign.

Greater Cincinnati has some other key political connections to the Trump White House, something the region didn't have with the Obama administration. Dearborn County, Indiana, Commissioner Kevin Lynch has a close relationship with Vice President Mike Pence, who has been to Lynch's Southeast Indiana home for private fundraisers.

Moore has long been close to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a relationship that could really payoff as the Kentucky Republican's wife, Elaine Chao, is in line to be Trump's transportation secretary.

As board members of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, Lynch and Moore are scheduled to be in Washington in mid-February along with the transportation planning agency's CEO Mark Policinski and two other board members. They plan to meet with lawmakers to discuss funding the Brent Spence and other regional projects. Policinski said the group is not scheduled to meet with Trump, Pence or Chao.

"We will continue to stress the importance of the Brent Spence Bridge project and stand ready to work with all parties involved to help find a solution to this critical infrastructure project," the Chamber's Meyer said.

Enquirer Washington reporter Deirdre Shesgreen contributed.