EE Bridge 1st -- Why So Hard To Understand?

The Bruce Maples Bridge Plan:

1. Build the East End bridge first.
2. Once it's up and running, wait about six months for the traffic patterns to settle out, then do an exhaustive traffic study across the region. Post all of the results on a public web site, along with whatever analysis is done, to enable a robust public debate about next steps.
3. Base the decision on building the downtown bridge, and on implementing 8664 (two separate issues), on the new traffic study as well as regional transportation options, funding possibilities, and projections for automobile use over the next 50 years.

Why is this so hard to understand? Why would we approach the bridge question any other way?

I am a qualified supporter of 8664. "Qualified," because I want to see a traffic study before I give it my complete support. And frankly, I don't think we will know the best choice until we build the East End bridge.

There are many compelling reasons to build the EE bridge, but here are the two that seem most important to me:

• The only N-S-E-W connection missing in our current beltway configuration is the Lexington-Indianapolis one. This leads to --
• Any truck carrying hazardous materials east-to-north or north-to-east has to go through downtown.

Why do we want to force hazardous materials through the center of the city? Why force people and trucks who just want to go from Lexington to Indy to go through Spaghetti Junction? Build the EE bridge and move that traffic out of the downtown -- THEN do a traffic study and decide whether we still need a new downtown bridge, or if we can actually make 8664 a reality.

Sure seems simple to me.