They Heard A Thud!

Interstate 75 at Hopple Street is shut down for an investigation. An overpass collapsed killing a construction worker and seriously injuring a truck driver. The talk of infrastructure will be part of the president's speech tonight. 

A construction worker was killed and a truck driver was injured. The bridge that was being demolished over Interstate 75 in Cincinnati, Ohio collapsed. The Ohio Department of Transportation and Cincinnati police are investigating the incident.

About 350.000 people travel Interstate 75 through the Cincinnati area. The area is commonly congested through the northbound. The most common areas for delays on Interstate 75 is the area that surrounds Ohio State Route 126 (Ronald Reagan Highway), the Mitchell Avenue exit, the 12th Street Exit in Covington, Kentucky (the Cut in the Hill), and the Interstate 275 section in Erlanger, Kentucky near the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport.

The Cincinnati area is extremely congested. They are working on fixing this.

The Mill Creek Expressway is the official segment of the highway from the Ohio section of the Interstate 275 beltway to Ohio River.

The incident happened in an area that I am commonly familiar with. It's the Hopple Street/Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive exit. That exit is being constructed to improve the flow through the western tier and the University of Cincinnati.

The Ohio Department of Transportation is working on fixing Interstate 74 and Interstate 75 through the midtown. The elimination of left hand exits is underway. The highway is removing bridges and replacing ramps. They are extending the eight lane highway to ten lanes from the Ohio State Route 562 (Norwood Lateral) to Interstate 71.

This issue will be brought up in the president's State of The Union address. This is one of the very things that President Barack Obama's mentioned. He said that Congress has failed in passing an infrastructure bill. He's lost control of Congress to the Republicans. He signaled that he's going on the offensive. He's tired of trying to compromise with the Republicans. The insurgency is too extreme.

He will use his lame duck years battling the Republicans and force them towards concessions.

The president was in Cincinnati a few years back talking about the need to fix bridges. He mentioned the Brent Spence Bridge as one of the nation's most dangerous bridges. He said that bridge pulls nearly a million travelers and the day will come when the structurally ineffective Brent Spence Bridge could collapse.

Interstate 71 and 75 crosses that bridge. Ohio and Kentucky are trying to replace the bridge but it could cost billions of dollars. So the thought of establishing a toll is coming up in the conversation.

We here at Journal de la Reyna send our condolences to the family of the victim.