JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. -- In his role as executive director of the Clark-Floyd Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau, Jim Epperson is used to touting Southern Indiana's economic development strengths — and potential.
Epperson's job has sold itself lately, as the downtown portion of the Ohio River Bridges Project connecting Louisville to Jeffersonville — just whispers only a decade ago — takes shape piece by piece, bringing with it a level of change unseen in Southern Indiana.
The $2.2 billion project, which also includes an east end portion linking Prospect, Kentucky, to Utica, has already spurred economic growth in communities benefiting from the promise of soon-to-be built interstates and new passages emptying into booming commercial developments, the News and Tribune reported (http://bit.ly/1nSJHjh).
Even as a tolling mechanism is hashed out to help finance the project, sparking concerns among business owners in the region, optimism has outweighed the negatives.
At ground zero? Jeffersonville.
"It is hard to comprehend," Epperson said. "The bridges project and the timing coinciding with development at River Ridge (Commerce Center) . probably the single most transformative series of events in Southern Indiana in my lifetime."
An economic impact study conducted by a Boston-based research firm released in March burned red-hot with some staggering statistics.
Researchers predict that between 2012 and 2042 — a span of 30 years — that the project will generate an average of more than 15,000 jobs each year. Over that same time period, the study predicted a cumulative total of almost $30 billion in personal income and more than $86 billion in economic output, both figures not accounting for dollar inflation.
These numbers apply to Clark and Floyd counties in Indiana as well as Jefferson, Bullitt and Oldham counties in Kentucky.
To put these figures in more relatable terms: that's like six new Amazon plants comparable to the one at River Ridge that employs 2,500 workers popping up every year in the five-county bridges region; it's like adding the salaries of 9,800 high-tech workers at Rivera Consulting Group making $100,000 to the area over a total of 30 years; and it's like absorbing the annual GDP of Ecuador once over 30 years.
"With this project being the largest bridge project in progress in the Midwest, it surpasses any other single project Indiana has undertaken in recent history," Kendra York, public finance director for the Indiana Finance Authority, which funded the study, wrote in an email.
Proclamations of the sheer scale of the bridges project have been echoed across the state and across the city, too.
Jeffersonville Economic Redevelopment Director Rob Waiz, former mayor, city council member and born-and-raised Jeff man, said he has watched his hometown grow tremendously over the years because of the project.
"I would have to say we're probably at least at the top three busiest sectors of the state," Waiz said. "... We've been growing, and we're going to continue to do so."
The city of Jeffersonville has been turning soil and signing deals in anticipation of growth from the project for years, most significantly in the historic downtown district and at River Ridge.
Construction and revitalization projects have the city on the precipice of an explosion of businesses, tourism and population growth.
The Jeffersonville Gateway Development, an area with restaurants and a hotel that will be seen from Interstate 65, will be one of the first sights of the city.
Some businesses have already popped up or have plans to locate in Jeffersonville in anticipation of the bridges project, such as Rivera Consulting Group Inc. Waiz said the city has been getting a lot of phone calls from business people asking about the project.
Waiz said the most significant growth will be seen at River Ridge because of the east-end bridge connecting eastern Jeffersonville to Louisville near Prospect, Kentucky, which will open up a significant corridor for transporting goods in and out of the commercial campus.
"Just your logistics, it's just going to make it so much easier to get that approximately 6,500 acres — and I believe only about 8 percent of it is already developed — so there's a lot more further growth to go on," he said.
River Ridge, with the help of other financially supportive entities, is pouring $22.5 million into a heavy haul road between their campus and the Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville, which will make carrying products from place to place even easier.
"We're doing it right by making sure we're keeping money up there. It keeps getting put into River Ridge so that you can keep building your infrastructure and make sure you're staying ahead of the game or else that's whenever you lose out on people coming to this site looking at it," Waiz said. "If you have to say, 'Oh, well maybe in a year or two we'll be able to run sewer lines or maybe have a road in front of it,' they're going to look elsewhere."
A recent spike in Jeffersonville businesses lately is just a harbinger for bigger growth to come from the two new bridges.
"The first discussion is definitely the business," Epperson said, noting that River Ridge will be the epicenter of commercial growth. "That's always been kind of the big prize. This is really where the biggest benefit is going to come from."
York said that the county as a whole is expected to see a boom in businesses of all kinds.
"A survey of the Clark County business sector found that most businesses involved in local industries expressed a belief that expansions in manufacturing, construction, financial services, specialty services and retail, personal services and transportation would occur as a result of the project," she said.
Waiz said he expects manufacturing to grow the most, specifically the steel manufacturing industry. Steel companies already operating include Steel Dynamics, Voss Clark Industries and Eagle Steel Products Inc. River Ridge, for example, is certifying a chunk of land for a mega site, which sets the stage for fast-moving automotive, steel and chemical industry projects, according to its annual report.
While the buzz about potential economic growth tied to the Ohio River Bridges Project is tangible, another issue has gotten equally as much attention: tolls.
For cars, initial tolling rates are between $1 and $4 per trip, depending on whether the driver has a transponder, is a frequent commuter or if the car is registered with the tolling body. The tolls will help pay for the project.
The economic impact study predicts that businesses in the downtown district of Jeffersonville could suffer because of tolls, but it said issues would dissipate over time mostly because it expects people to get used to the tolling or use the Clark-Memorial bridge instead.
Some Jeffersonville residents think the study downplayed the negative effects of tolling.
Jim Benton, owner of Benton's Fine Jewelry along Court Avenue who gets 60 percent of his customer base from Louisville, said he expects the tolls to hurt his business.
"They're not going to pay $8 to cross the bridge to pay me $7 to put a battery in their watch," Benton said of Louisville customers.
He believes the majority of Southern Indiana residents will get a transponder to ensure they get a reduced rate on tolls, but he does not believe that as many Louisvillians will do the same.
"That's an $8 round trip for someone who doesn't have a transponder," Benton said. "I hate to sound so pessimistic, but I'm very concerned."
Did the study downplay the adverse effects of the tolls? York pointed out that the tolls were just one piece considered in the study.
"This study was not a tolling study, but an economic-impact study relevant to jobs the project could create, land use it will affect, public revenues it could impact, and personal income it could deliver," she said. "While tolling was one factor it considered, it was one of many factors and part of a larger collective picture."
However, Epperson said he doesn't think the researchers got a clear enough idea of how people on both sides of the river would react to tolling.
"My concerns were that they didn't have broad enough interviews with businesses," he said, of the nine survey respondents that predicted negative impacts from tolling on their businesses. "They also seem to draw some conclusions and make some assumptions about consumer behavior related to tolling."
He said drawing conclusions based on other cities' bridges may not be wholly accurate because of the set of unique factors surrounding Southern Indiana's project.
"Therefore, I'm left to my gut feeling which is yes, I thought the negative impact is underestimated," he said.
Nevertheless, Epperson acknowledges there are still good things to come.
"Certainly the headline is good," he said. "The project as a whole should be applauded, and I expect the project as a whole to have a positive economic impact."
Some of the uptick in businesses and revitalization addresses what Waiz calls a quality of life issue, or making Jeffersonville a more hospitable and happier place to live and visit.
Where a job opportunity would draw people in, retail businesses, such as Big Four Burgers + Beer, Flat 12 Bierwerks and Olive Leaf — businesses that have opened or will open in anticipation of the bridges project — would persuade them to stay.
"Businesses want to make sure that once they locate here, their employees are going to be happy," he said. "If their employees aren't happy, they're going to go somewhere else."
Waiz predicts that the historic downtown district will see an influx of people looking to settle down and put down roots.
More business also means more tourists.
"When you have businesses, you have demand for business travel," Epperson said. "When that demand increases, you're going to have restaurants and hotels to take care of more travelers."
In the future, Epperson said one of the most noticeable ways Jeffersonville will transform because of the bridges project is it will no longer be a bedroom community — or a place where most people eat and sleep but don't work.
"The more depth you have and the more health you have in all sectors of your economy, the more you have a community again," he said. "And I think that's the kind of change we're talking about."
This is an AP Member Exchange shared by the News and Tribune.
