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(Photo: file)

The ban on tolls  on the Brent Spence Bridge is now signed into law.

Gov. Matt Bevin on Friday signed the bill to allow for private money to pay for public projects, known as P3, with one notable exception.

The law  prohibits any tolls on any highway connecting Ohio and Kentucky without authorization from the Kentucky General Assembly. That’s a wonky way of saying no tolls on the Brent Spence Bridge.

Bevin’s signature on the legislation is a departure from his Democratic predecessor, Steve Beshear. Beshear vetoed the P3 legislation in 2014 because of the toll ban for the Brent Spence.

“It is imprudent to eliminate any potential means of financing construction of such a vital piece of infrastructure that serves not only the Commonwealth and the state of Ohio but also the eastern United States,” Beshear wrote in his veto.

Bevin, while he has said he doesn’t oppose tolls in general, he won’t support tolls as long as the political opposition to tolls in Northern Kentucky is so strong.