Steel Company President Speaks In Favor Of Bridges

A local steel company president says Louisville needs two new bridges over the Ohio River now.Chuck Moore runs Eagle Steel Products in Jeffersonville. He says his employees and shipments are frequently delayed by traffic on the existing bridges."In a good day, we could do probably 50 loads of steel going to one of the major manufacturers in Louisville," he says. "We could probably do another 5 to 10 loads in that same period if there were bridges that we'd be able to get across."Moore invited reporters to his factory Wednesday to counter a rally held downtown against using tolls to finance bridge construction."I don't want to pay the toll either. Nobody wants an extra tax or a toll, but it's inevitable. We have to build the bridges. If the only way to do it is the tolls, then we must do it. It's insignificant," he says. "The press is covering these guys with their signs that say, 'No Tolls,' but the important thing is we've got to build the bridges. We have to. The tolls are insignificant when you think of the safety, the commerce and the piece of mind we'll all have who have to travel those bridges everyday."The anti-toll rally in Louisville was in opposition to a plan to impose tolls on existing interstate bridges to help finance two new bridges. That's one of the proposals under consideration by the bi-state authority tasked with overseeing new bridge construction. There have been rallies against the two-bridge plan as well.