toll bridge across the Ohio River. Kentucky and Indiana are developing a funding plan that will include a mix of tolls, state, and federal funds. Construction is scheduled to begin in 2027 with opening scheduled for 2031, but may be accelerated if funding is secured sooner. Section 3: From the Indiana/Kentucky state line to the existing I-69 east of Evansville, Indiana. A new high-speed interchange will be constructed to connect the ORX approach to the existing I-69. The existing I-69 west of this interchange to US-41 will become an extension of Veterans Memorial Parkway. Indiana has committed $200 million to begin construction in 2023 and completion scheduled for 2026. Status Progress stalls due to funding issues Environmental studies were initiated in 2001, and a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) was issued in March 2004. Environmental studies were suspended when no funding source was identified to build the bridge, which is estimated to cost $1.4 billion. Kentucky is responsible for financing two-thirds (approx. $933.3 million) of the construction cost, and Indiana will finance the remaining third (approx. $466.6 million). Indiana has funding available for its portion of the project through the state's Major Moves program, but Kentucky has yet to identify a dedicated funding source for its portion of the cost. The I-69 bridge had been competing for funding against other Ohio River bridge projects that Kentucky is attempting to complete, most notably the recently completed Ohio River Bridges Project between Louisville and southern Indiana, and the proposed Brent Spence Bridge replacement project between Covington and Cincinnati, Ohio. As a matter of historical antecedence the Ohio River boundary of lands that now constitute Kentucky is founded not upon the thalweg but is set by the precedence of royal proclamations and treaties to be the river's low-water point on north or west bank of the Ohio River, an alignment that precedes the Northwest Ordnance. Because of this, the fiscal burden of construction of infrastructure projects as between Kentucky and her Ohio River boundary-sister states (i.e., in the construction of bridges), falls primarily upon Kentucky alone. However, unlike the Twin Bridges, this bridge will be at least 10% within the boundaries of Indiana. The Kentucky Legislature passed House Bill 3 in 2008 that authorizes the state to establish joint bridge authorities with Indiana to finance and build crossings of the Ohio River, specifically with these three megaprojects in mind. While a joint authority