While SW Ohio residents gnash their teeth, pound their fists, stomp their feet and wail about dumbass politicians squandering their money on a streetcar, everybody seems pretty satisfied with a replacement bridge over the Ohio River as long as they don't have to pay for it.
One thing seriously pissing people off is Duke Energy wanting to pass utility relocation costs for the streetcar project off onto users outide of Cincinnati. But that's a mere $15M compared to the $87,000,000 needed for utility moving for the bridge everyone is vowing to avoid. And their rate hike? It should net around $100,000,00. hm….. 87 + 15 = 102…..
While estimates for the streetcar were to the tune of $12M/mile, the bridge is coming out around $375,000,000/mile ($71,000/foot). Somehow that doesn't seem steep. But bids for the streetcar came in as much as twice the estimated cost. But is this government stupidity? Maybe. The various governmental agencies that came up with these projects worked with pro engineering firms to come up with these estimates. In fact - the same engineering pros. So, if they were that far off once, why not twice? Might the replacement bridge nobody wants to pay for actually wind up costing $6,000,000,000 ($142,000/foot)?
Before we spend all this money on a duplicate bridge (ancient technology, BTW), we should try a temporary pontoon bridge, with tolls, across the river. If people use it, well maybe a bridge is needed.