United States Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy commended local and state groups and officials from both Kentucky and Indiana for their “show of force” to get the I-69 bridge built at a Monday afternoon press conference in Henderson.
Speaking from the embankment leading up to overpass crossing U.S. 60 on a newly paved but yet unopen section of I-69, Duffy told the gathered group of federal, state and local politicians, as well as local officials and community leaders, that he felt “heartened” that two states have come together to bring the project this far.
But now, Duffy said the focus is to make sure that the project continues and the bridge is built. And the role of the federal government, he said, is to invest in these “big projects.”
He added that the I-69 bridge, which will be Section 2 of the I-69 Ohio River Crossing project, is “not just important for your two states…it’s important for America.”
Duffy’s appearance at the project site signaled a vote of support for the project, which currently has two of its three phases underway, said local and state of Kentucky leaders at Monday’s press conference.
On the Kentucky side, Section 1 began in summer 2022 and is expected to be completed this fall. On the Indiana side, Section 3 began in 2024 and is expected to be completed in 2026. That leaves Section 2, the bridge, which currently has a projected start date in 2027.
Sen. Jimmy Higdon, a Lebanon Republican who is the chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, said Monday that Duffy’s appearance and his positive talk about getting the job done bodes well for getting federal funding to complete Section 2.
“I would say that says a lot,” Higdon said.
Higdon said, though, that –“Bottom line”—the project is going to get completed. If federal funds can’t get secured, Phase 2 would be bonded and the bridge tolled, he said. Federal grant funding could keep those from having to be used, though, he said.
Higdon and Henderson state Sen. Robby Mills, the Senate Majority Caucus chair, said the General Assembly has set aside hundreds of millions of dollars—some from the general fund and some from Darby bonds—to prepare to get Section 2 funded and constructed.
Additionally, Kentucky 1st District Rep. James Comer, one of several Indiana and Kentucky legislators to speak, said the I-69 project is the “most important project in the 1st Congressional district of Kentucky” and the most important in the Kentucky General Assembly.
Othe speakers were Indiana Sen. Todd Young, Indiana Reps. Jefferson Shreve and Mark Messmer, and Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr.
Indiana Gov. Mike Braun spoke of the importance of the project’s completion, saying the Louisville-Indianapolis-Evansville is a sweet spot in national logistics because more goods can be transported to more people in two days from here than from anywhere else in the country.
“This thing is getting across the finish line,” Braun said.
Heavy on the minds of local officials is an early plan of record which includes a measure that would close the southbound Twin Bridge once I-69 bridge is open. Because of the traffic that motorists regularly face driving to and from Evansville, elected officials, including Henderson Mayor Brad Staton and Henderson County Judge-Executive Brad Schneider, have said that they want the southbound bridge to remain open.
Duffy told the Hendersonian that issue is “more of a local conversation” and one that is best to have after funding for the bridge is in place.
Mills, also a proponent to keep the southbound bridge open, agreed with Duffy, saying that decision is “far down the road” and “they can’t do that until the bridge is built.” But, Mills added, once the I-69 bridge is built, his number one project will be keeping the southbound Twin Bridge open.
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Secretary Jim Gray said he’s still looking at it “with an open mind.”
Meanwhile, Staton said in his conversations he’s getting positive feedback about keeping the southbound bridge open.
“I feel pretty good about it, to be perfectly honest,” he said.
***
Duffy is the highest-ranking national politician to visit Henderson in a long time. In Tuesday morning’s Henderson County Fiscal Court meeting, Judge-Executive Brad Schneider remarked that aside from Alben Barkley, who was vice president during Harry S Truman’s presidency, Duffy is the only sitting member of a president’s cabinet to visit Henderson.
Local historian and writer Frank Boyett dug a little into his records and found that Barkley visited Henderson in 1951.
Boyett also wrote in one of his past columns that two people campaigning for vice president–and both named Roosevelt–made stops in Henderson. Teddy came in October 1900, and Franklin D. arrived 20 years later in October 1920.
As far as presidents go, Jimmy Carter takes the cake as the president who spent the most time here, coming in July 1980 for a parade down Main Street and then a fundraising barbecue at the Robards home of Dale Sights.
Truman was another president who made a stop in Henderson, his coming at Union Station in late Sept. 1948 at the end of a long campaign trip that took him to the West Coast and back, according to a past Boyett column in The Gleaner.
