The bridge will link Henderson in Kentucky and Evansville in Indiana.

The winning team, which is made up of Ragle and Stantec Consulting Services, will be responsible for the Kentucky approach to the bridge. Technical proposals were submitted in November and price proposals were opened last week. Ragle/Stantec was awarded the nearly US$158 million construction contract after being identified as the apparent best-value design-build team.

The I-69 Ohio River Crossing is divided into two sections for construction.

Section 1 focuses on improvements in Henderson and extends from KY 425 to US 60. Construction is expected to begin in early 2022 and continue through 2025. It will extend I-69 by about 10km and includes several interchanges.

Section 2 is a bi-state project between Kentucky and Indiana that will complete the connection, including the new river crossing. Design is expected to begin in 2025 with construction starting in 2027 and continuing to 2031. Both states continue to look for opportunities to accelerate that timeline.

Kentucky governor Andy Beshear said: “Many people in Western Kentucky have championed an interstate river crossing for decades. Having a team in place to construct the Kentucky approach for the I-69 Ohio River Crossing is a major step forward. I look forward to construction in the spring and seeing the first pieces of this transformational project that will benefit so many take shape.”