The transportation to-do list is long around here. There’s the “functionally obsolete” Brent Spence Bridge, the crumbling Western Hills Viaduct and the struggling bus system, which is running out of money and badly in need of a boost.

Add to the list for 2019: The Eastern Bypass – a proposed outer loop around the current outer loop that could potentially help ease congestion and spur new development farther away from the city's core.

There’s a mandate tucked into the transportation budget this year that requires the state to study the proposed bypass. The Ohio Department of Transportation has until the end of the year to submit a report to the legislature that includes:

commentary on Kentucky’s bypass study, which was completed in 2017;

details on how much Ohio assisted with Kentucky’s study;

details on whatever steps ODOT is taking or needs to take to coordinate with Kentucky “to plan and construct the Eastern Bypass.”

Depending on whom you ask, this is either a great idea or just one more example of wasting money on a pet project.

An ODOT spokesman said the department will “complete the study, as required by law. It’s still way too early to say what the study will look like or how much it may cost.”

For comparison, Kentucky’s study cost about $2.1 million.

What is it?

The Eastern Bypass is a proposed four-lane highway that would go roughly 70 miles, connecting at Interstate 75 in Springboro and eventually reconnecting to I-75 at Crittenden in Grant County.

Henry Fischer, chairman of Fischer Homes, floated the idea in an Enquirer op-ed back in January 2015. It was initially proposed as an alternative to building a new Brent Spence Bridge, but Kentucky’s study showed that won’t work.

Kentucky’s report said that while the bypass is worthy of further consideration, it would not divert enough traffic to eliminate the need for a new Brent Spence.

Who put it in the budget?

Rep. Tom Brinkman, R-Mount Lookout, pushed to get the study included in this year’s transportation budget. He said it’s all about getting Ohio and Kentucky to work together. The bypass would be a multi-state project, so it doesn’t make sense to plan in isolation.

“We have to force the transportation departments to talk together,” Brinkman said. “That’s what my bill is trying to do. Let’s discuss it.”

Brinkman is still in favor of building a new Brent Spence Bridge, but he thinks the bypass should come first and that the new Brent Spence should be smaller.

He counts the fact that the study made it through the budget process and was signed into law as a sign of support from his colleagues.

“That’s a lot of support right there,” he said. “I’m pretty excited about it.”

How much would the bypass cost?

Kentucky’s study showed the bypass would cost about $5.3 billion, with much of that due to inflation during the decade-plus it would take to build the new highway. That estimate assumes construction would start in 2029 and that the bypass would be open in 2032.

Some bypass supporters, however, say that estimate is too high. The Cincy Eastern Bypass website says the highway could cost $1.1 billion, but that estimate does not take into account inflation.

Who’s against it?

Warren County Commissioner Dave Young has called the bypass project a “red herring” in the past, and Adie Tomer, a fellow with the Washington, D.C.-based Brookings Institution, said that highway expansions in general are not bearing the fruit their advocates promise, especially when it comes to job creation and economic development.

Any job growth is typically short-term, Tomer said, but the highway would remain a huge, long-term financial burden.

"You don't need wider roads or new roads for a state that's not growing," Tomer said. "That's not what Cincinnati's regional economy needs right now."

Derek Bauman, a board member for the transit advocacy group All Aboard Ohio, said it doesn’t make sense to talk about building a new highway when the state already has such a backlog of maintenance.

A lack of money for road and bridge maintenance was a big push behind Ohio's recent gas tax increase, with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine saying it was a matter of life and death.

“To me, it’s pretty clear," Bauman said. "All it is is just a giveaway to sprawl developers. It’s just bad on its face, and it doesn’t even deserve study.”

Who’s for it?

Fischer, who first proposed the bypass, did not respond to a request for comment, and neither did the Clermont County Board of Commissioners, where the idea has gained at least some traction in the past.

Mark Policinski, Chief Executive Officer of the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments, said he welcomes “any study of a major economic development project.”

The Brent Spence Bridge is the immediate need, Policinski said, but an outer loop such as the bypass could be worthy of long-term consideration.

Matth Toebben, founder of Toebben Companies, however, thinks the bypass needs to be priority No. 1. Toebben said the new highway would create hundreds of thousands of jobs and lead to billions of dollars in new development.

But if we wait, he said, it'll be too late.

"It's so important to realize that if you don't build the bypass now, the right-of-way will be bought up, and there will be no land available on either side of the Ohio River," he said. "It would be a shame to pass up the opportunity to build the bypass first and then the bridge, if necessary."

Didn’t we already do this study?

Yes, but that was in Kentucky.

Brinkman said this is Ohio’s counterpart to that study and a way of forcing the states to work together.