By Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Congress is writing what will be the most expensive public works bill in U.S. history, and Greater Cincinnati's congressional delegation is trying to steer some of that money to help downtown drivers, Eastgate commuters and even bus riders in Madisonville.

The legislation, which doesn't have a name yet, will dictate where an estimated $375 billion in federal money will be spent on highways, bridges and transit for the next six years.

"It's one of the more important things, at least from Washington, that will affect our community," said Rep. Steve Chabot, a Cincinnati Republican.

REQUESTED PROJECTS

• Brent Spence Bridge, $502 million for design and replacement. • Edward N. Waldvogel Memorial viaduct (Sixth Street), $31 million for replacement. • Red Bank Road widening, $25 million. (Includes improvements to nearby roads along stretch of Red Bank Road and Expressway from I-71 to Fair Lane.) • Eastgate Area Improvements, $22 million. Making the I-275/Ohio 32 interchange safer. • $15 million to improve three interchanges on I-75: at Mitchell Ave., I-74, and Martin Luther King/Hopple. • Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden's parking/bus garage, $15 million.. • Hamilton Ave/U.S. 127 interchange at I-275, $2.7 million. • I-75 at Ohio 122 in Warren County, $30.9 million to improve the interchange. • Metro bus neighborhood hubs: $2.5 million. Envisions transit hubs, where two or more bus routes could come together, in Anderson/Beechmont, Madisonville, Oakley, Xavier/Evanston and University of Cincinnati/Uptown area.

About $19 billion of the money will be for local projects lawmakers select. Earlier this month, House members from across the country submitted lists of "high priority projects," as they're being called - more than 5,300 in all, according to Steve Hansen, spokesman for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Tristate House members trimmed local wish lists, which probably will be cut even more by the time the bill emerges from Congress later this year.

The delegation has requested nearly $650 million for Tristate projects, though the bulk of it - $502 million - is to replace the Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River.

That is the delegation's top priority, since the 39-year-old bridge carries two interstates, I-71 and I-75, over the Ohio-Kentucky boundary. Some studies have said the bridge has less than 15 years of structural integrity left.

Also on the list:

• $31 million to replace the Edward N. Waldvogel Memorial Viaduct, which links Sixth Street to the West Side. "It's one of the lowest-rated bridges in the region," said Allen Freeman, spokesman for the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments. The $31 million was the full city request; Mayor Charlie Luken said he was "very happy" with that request, the city's top priority.

• $15 million for three interchanges along I-75, including the I-74/I-75 interchange, which is awkwardly laid out with left side ramps and steep grades. The city originally had sought $100 million.

• Nearly $50 million for projects in the eastern corridor, including improvements to Red Bank Road near I-71, the Eastgate interchange on I-275, and bus hubs in neighborhoods like Madisonville and Oakley. Widening Red Bank Road could bring jobs and housing and reinvestment to that area, said Richard Record, a principal with Balke American consultants on the project. The eastern corridor projects are part of a larger 20-year, $800 million plan for the area that would include highway, rail, bus, and bike trails.

• $15 million for a park and ride center near the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Garden. That will aid economic development in the area, said Freeman, especially since parking is hard to find there.

Those projects were submitted jointly by Reps. Rob Portman and Chabot, the two Republicans who represent Cincinnati and Hamilton County

Chabot also requested $2.7 million to widen Hamilton Avenue to five lanes near its interchange with I-275.

In northern Warren County, Rep. Mike Turner, a Dayton Republican who represents the area, is seeking $30.9 million to improve the I-75 interchange at Ohio 122. That would allow for the increased traffic expected from Middletown Regional Hospital's proposed health and technology campus.

How much will survive in the final bill no one knows. Chabot said he was careful not to deluge the committee with requests or big numbers but to be selective and realistic in what he sought.

The city of Cincinnati had hoped the delegation would request money for improvements to Ridge Road and I-71. But Chris Eilerman, the city's liaison to the delegation on transportation, said he understood money was tight in Washington, just as it is in Cincinnati and Columbus.

"Some of that stuff got scaled back," he said. "I'm very happy with what the delegation has submitted."

Portman said he whittled down his list from close to $1 billion in requests throughout his district, which goes east to Pike and Scioto counties.

"I think it's a mistake to ask for the moon because you end up getting nothing. I pushed our people locally to look at local and state funding. Try to reduce the federal share as much as possible," he said.

Rep. Ken Lucas, a Democrat who represents Northern Kentucky, kept his request list secret. "It's member-to-member correspondence he doesn't plan to release to the press," said his spokesman, Joe Clabes.

Rep. Baron Hill, a Democrat who represents southwestern Indiana, made a handful of requests but none in Dearborn or Ohio counties.

Rep. John Boehner, a West Chester Republican, did not submit any list because he opposes such earmarking on principle. State and local officials should figure out what road projects get priority, he said. He took the same position on the 1998 bill, which he voted against, declaring: "Like a rigged slot machine, it's programmed for pork."

Though that may cost his growing county highway dollars, Butler County commissioner Michael A. Fox said he admired Boehner for eschewing pork.

"You've got a Congress filled with basically moral neuters and philosophical whores, so it's nice that you see somebody with principle in the whorehouse," he said.

In any event, he said he would ask Ohio's senators, Republicans Mike DeWine and George Voinovich, to add any Butler County projects later on.

Ohio's main goal is to change the formula for highway money, so Ohio gets more of its gasoline tax back. For every dollar of gas tax paid in Ohio, the state now gets back somewhere between 88 and 91 cents.

Senators don't submit their requests until the bill goes to a joint House-Senate conference, which will come later this year or next year. The Senate version is expected to be closer to $310 billion, according to Jared Young, spokesman for the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

E-mail cweiser@gns.gannett.com