A federal appeals court is upholding the dismissal of a lawsuit related to the Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges project.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled unanimously that the organization that brought the lawsuit failed to prove that Kentucky and Indiana violated federal law. The group Coalition for Advancement of Regional Transportation—or CART—filed suit against the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, the Indiana Department of Transportation, and the Federal Highway Administration.
The group claimed the $2.6 billion dollar bridges project would cause environmental damage by clearing trees and harming wildlife and water quality along the two spans' proposed routes. The suit also said the project violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act by negatively impacting minority communities where construction would occur.
CART’s lawsuit had been previously dismissed by U.S District Judge John G. Heyburn. The group appealed, setting up the showdown at the federal appeals court level.
The Ohio River bridges project includes the creation of a new bridge for I-65 north, the renovation of the Kennedy Memorial bridge that carries I-65 south, and a new bridge that will connect the Gene Snyder Freeway with the Lee Hamilton Highway in southern Indiana.
