Bridges Authority Meets

Kentucky and Indiana leaders say they expect quick progress on plans to build two new bridges over the Ohio River in Louisville now that a panel appointed to oversee the project has begun its work.The bi-state authority met Tuesday. It was the panel's first meeting, though it was scheduled to begin work in December. Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels says he expects the body to figure out a way to pay for the bridges soon and have construction underway in the next few years."Please be prepared to move quickly,"he says. We say in Indiana we like to move at the speed of business and not the speed of government and I hope you will adopt that mentality, because we were late to this party anyway."Daniels favors using tolls to pay for the multi-billion dollar project, he says it's the fairest option."…Fairest in the sense that users pay for it, fairest to our state since many of the tolls paid would be paid by citizens of neither state, rather by people who would otherwise ride free," he says.The authority will consider other options as well. The body will be led by former Kentucky Transportation Secretary Joe Prather.