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Gov. Pence marks start of Indiana-Kentucky bridge: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence said, “Now we’re rolling our sleeves up and ... we’re going to get this East End Bridge done.” He was with state, local and federal leaders in Utica, Ind., on May 29, 2013. UTICA, IND. — Indiana Gov. Mike Pence pledged Wednesday that a new Ohio River bridge east of Louisville, Ky., will be built under budget and on time, as decades of talk is turning into action with construction starting on the span that will connect Indiana and Kentucky. Standing on a bluff overlooking a wide stretch of river where the East End Bridge will go up, Kentucky and Indiana officials applauded the cross-river cooperation that overcame financial obstacles for a project that has been discussed since the late 1960s. Pence said the bridge, carrying a construction price tag of $763 million, will promote job growth and opportunities that play to the region’s strengths. “It was a dream that two states could come together, could put aside regional competitiveness and political differences and accomplish something that would benefit all of the people of our region,” Pence said. “Today that dream is finally beginning to become a reality.” After months of site preparation and pre-construction work, crews will begin actual construction work next week, officials said. On the Kentucky side, traffic pattern changes and excavation will ramp up in coming weeks in the area. Workers have already cleared a path to make way for what will become a tunnel and an approach to the bridge on the Kentucky side. Construction work on the Indiana side will become noticeable later this summer. The crossing is expected to open for traffic in the fall of 2016. “We’re going to continue to drive this project forward to make sure that we finish [...]