Written by Jeff Forlenza
The Brent Spence Bridge, a heavily trafficked double-decker span connecting I-71 and I-75 across the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky, has long been a symbol of American infrastructure strain. Built in 1963 to carry 80,000 vehicles per day, it now routinely sees over 160,000. Approximately 33,000 trucks cross the Brent Spence Bridge every day, a stark contrast to the roughly 3,000 trucks per day the bridge was originally designed to handle. The corridor supports over $2 billion worth of goods daily, with freight crossing the bridge annually valued at around $417 billion; equivalent to ~3% of U.S. GDP.
Politicians, engineers, and transportation planners have long agreed that something must be done—but building an entirely new bridge adjacent to the current one may not be the right path forward. Here’s why a new Brent Spence Bridge is not only impractical, but why a more cost-effective, forward-thinking solution is to divert interstate truck traffic around the city using the existing I-275 loop—with targeted ramp upgrades and an enforcement system modeled after modern tolling technologies.
- A New Bridge Doesn’t Solve the Root Problem—Urban Bottlenecking
Constructing a new bridge beside the Brent Spence will provide more lanes, yes—but those lanes still funnel directly into the same dense urban corridors of downtown Cincinnati and Covington. This simply moves the bottleneck downstream. The urban core cannot absorb significantly more truck or commuter traffic without additional cost, disruption, and long-term planning that would require massive property acquisition and reconstruction of interchanges on both sides of the river.
In contrast, the I-275 outer loop already exists. It’s an 83-mile circumferential route that bypasses the core and connects all major interstate feeders (I-71, I-74, I-75) with less urban entanglement and significantly fewer chokepoints. While currently underutilized for heavy interstate freight, I-275 was originally envisioned for precisely this type of regional bypass.
- How much more time for trucks?
Believe it or not, routing trucks via I-275 would add minimal time to their trip and just several more miles. Utilizing I-75 South alone from the Sharonville Exchange to the Erlanger Exchange is 24.5 miles and about 30 minutes under perfect conditions. We all know traffic bottlenecks at Lockland, Downtown, and the cut-in-the-hill, both morning and afternoon, resulting in a nightmarish 45-70 minute commute. The same route via I-275W results in a 44.1 mile, 45 minute trip and via I-275E in a 42.4 mile, 40 minute trip. So overall, about 20 miles and 10 minutes on truckers who would likely rather drive than stop-and-go for an hour.
- Financial Feasibility: The Bill for a New Bridge Is Astronomical
Estimates for a new Brent Spence companion bridge exceed $3.6 billion, even before inevitable delays, inflation, or design changes. This level of public expenditure for a single choke point doesn’t match national infrastructure ROI standards when there is already a viable alternative in place.
By contrast, upgrading I-275 ramps, improving merge lanes, and installing digital tolling systems at key points would likely cost in the range of $250 million A smart tolling system modeled after E-ZPass or Georgia’s Peach Pass could allow for seamless enforcement of commercial traffic diversion while also generating revenue to maintain and improve the loop.
- Safety and Resilience: Spreading Risk Across the Network
Brent Spence has already demonstrated its vulnerability—most notably during the 2020 truck crash and fire that shut the bridge down for weeks, disrupting commerce nationwide. Concentrating national truck freight on a single downtown bridge is an outdated strategy. Diversifying freight flow across the region increases resilience to accidents, construction delays, or natural disasters.
- Environmental and Urban Quality-of-Life Impacts
Routing thousands of 18-wheelers through the heart of downtown Cincinnati daily worsens air quality, noise, and road wear—especially in historically underserved urban neighborhoods that border the interstates. Rerouting this freight traffic around the city via I-275 reduces these externalities and creates opportunities to redevelop or reclaim riverfront and urban space for higher-value civic uses.
- Enforceability and Technology Are No Longer Obstacles
In the past, rerouting trucks may have been unenforceable without massive staffing or physical toll booths. Today, advanced license plate recognition (ALPR), GPS tracking, and weigh-in-motion sensors allow for seamless tolling and compliance enforcement. Tolling stations at key entry and exit points of I-275, paired with cameras and digital billing, can verify truck compliance and impose penalties or fees for unauthorized Brent Spence usage.
These systems are already in use across the U.S.—from New York’s congestion pricing model to Texas’s dynamic toll lanes. Cincinnati could lead the Midwest in freight mobility modernization.
Conclusion: Reframe the Challenge, Rethink the Solution
The political appetite for a new Brent Spence Bridge is understandable. It’s visible, it’s dramatic, and it’s an easy sell. But it’s also a 20th-century solution to a 21st-century problem. Instead of throwing billions at a new concrete structure through Cincinnati’s core, we should adopt a regional freight strategy that uses existing infrastructure more intelligently.
By upgrading key interchanges and implementing a smart tolling system on I-275, we can divert heavy freight traffic around the city—preserving urban quality of life, reducing congestion, and protecting long-term economic resilience. The Brent Spence Bridge may still need structural support or renovation, but a new build shouldn’t be our only option. Better logistics, not just bigger bridges, is the path forward.