Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11) - With the question of Ohio River bridges looming larger than ever in Louisville, former Third District Congresswoman Anne Northup (R) is slamming current Congressman John Yarmuth (D), saying that he frittered away Northup's years of groundwork on the construction of an east end bridge.
"I have to think that everyday people are stopped in gridlock, they are going to be saying somebody has got to do something about this," Northup said.
Northup said she flew to Louisville from Washington D.C. to address questions about the history of the Ohio River Bridges Project as an anxious community deals with traffic delays and an economic hit after last week's sudden emergency closure of the I-64 Sherman Minton Bridge.
"The fact is, there is no leadership on this project," Northup said, "because without a champion everyday knitting the pieces of this together, it falls apart.
"John could have provided the leadership. There was $775 million that the state legislature had put into the six year plan," Northup said, explaining that the project was - at one time - funded well enough to at least start construction.
Once Yarmuth took office in 2007, funding and consensus for the Ohio River Bridges Project evaporated because of his relative lack of support for the project, Northup said.
"All dried up," Northup said, "All dried up."
She said state lawmakers wasted little time reallocating money earmarked for Louisville to other projects.
Yarmuth "looked the other way," Northup added, "turning a blind eye to that. The legislature was glad to reprogram that money all across the state."
"Leadership means working on the money," Northup said, "and you don't snap your fingers to get that done."
Reached by telephone at his Washington D.C. office, Yarmuth said Northup's numbers are "complete fiction" and "revisionist history."
"Right now, the thing that is holding the bridge up, the only thing that is holding the bridge project up is the development of a feasible finance plan that has to be done by the combined state of Indiana and commonwealth of Kentucky," Yarmuth said, "They've been working on that for a considerable amount of time. I've tried to facilitate that at every possible juncture and there's nothing else other than that holding the plan up."
Yarmuth supports the creation of a national infrastructure bank that would leverage public funding to get private investments for the Ohio River Bridges Project, a proposal which is included in President Obama’s jobs plan.
Yarmuth is pushing for Republicans to back the plan, and has challenged U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) of Louisville to support the plan, especially considering the traffic nightmare being experienced by the Senate Minority Leader's constituents.
Yarmuth said he has made it clear since his initial election in 2006 that he supports the two-bridge Ohio River Bridges Project plan, including the construction first of an east end bridge.
Northup remembers it differently, saying Yarmuth supported the construction of a downtown bridge first, a position she suggested is a tactic to stall any bridge construction because the lack of an east end bridge to relieve pressure on the interstate system during downtown bridge construction.
Northup said the Ohio River Bridges Project should still include two bridges, yet with one big change.
"I'd probably see if I could champion a two bridge solution again," Northup said, "And it would be the Sherman Minton and the east end bridge."
A Yarmuth spokesman said the three-term congressman is pursuing a legislative solution to make the bridge eligible for emergency funding.
Yarmuth has been in "non-stop meetings and discussions about the bridge closure," said Communications Director Trey Pollard, "including conversations with the White House, Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood, FHWA Administrator Victor Mendez," and the top Democrat and Republican on the House Appropriations Committee.
Northup also criticized blue-blood Louisville families, namely the Brown's and the Bingham's, she says have exercised their considerable influence to quash the project.
"No one has the courage to stand up to them," Northup said.
Northup said she admires the philanthropic and civic contributions of both storied families, "but it doesn't mean they should get their way on this project."
Northup said her decision to openly criticize Yarmuth does not signal an intention to vie for her former congressional seat, yet acknowledged that she had received calls of encouragement after appearing on WHAS Radio's Mandy Connell Show on Thursday morning. Northup is now a commissioner on the Consumer Product Safety Commission, yet maintains a home in Louisville.
Meanwhile, Kentucky Highway Department engineers inspected the Clark Memorial Bridge on Thursday as the 82 year old span absorbs a share of the 80,000 vehicles that normally cross the Sherman Minton Bridge.
"Looking to make sure any known areas where we've had some deterioration that it's not progressing any further," explained Andrea Clifford, spokeswoman for the department, "They're also just going through and checking the different welds and member beams as they go along."
An inspection just five months ago raised no concerns about the bridge, but Clifford said considering the extra burden, the state is taking an extra glance.
In a conference call to area federal lawmakers, the Federal Highway administrator revealed that:
If the Sherman Minton Bridge requires minor repairs, it could take two to three months and cost about $10 million.
Major repairs could take up to two years and cost about $60 million.
A replacement bridge would cost several hundred million dollars and take even longer.
It appears that drivers will be dealing with the emergency detours for quite a long time.
"We feel like everything that we've done is working well and we're not planning to make any changes unless something major should happen," Clifford said.
The highway department, however, does plan to patch potholes on the ramps within Spaghetti Junction overnight Thursday night.
"We're going to knock out any loose concrete that's there and we're going to do an asphalt overlay," Clifford explained, "We think that will help with the traffic flow now because a lot of people, they're slowing down when they come through there, trying to swerve and avoid some of the potholes and things."
Because any major upkeep projects would require lane closures on the downtown bridges, the highway department says some of those projects are now in limbo, including the planned painting of the Clark Memorial Bridge.
