Uptown access

Construction could start as soon as next summer on a plan to build an interchange with Interstate 71 and Martin Luther King Drive in Cincinnati.  

The Ohio Department of Transportation is fast-tracking the project and could select a consultant and contractor by the end of the year.  

But Cincinnati officials are still working to find a $20 million match for the construction.

City Transportation and Engineering Director Michael Moore explained that Tuesday during a Major Transportation and Infrastructure Projects Subcommittee meeting.

Cincinnati officials will be meeting with Ohio transportation representatives Wednesday about accelerating the construction of an interchange on I-71 at Martin Luther King Drive.  

That project wasn't scheduled to start until 2018.  But now officials are aiming for work to begin in 2014.  

Making that change could mean the new interchange won't cost as much.