Legislative Update: Road plan includes several Nelson County projects
By DAVID FLOYD
50th District State Representative
Tuesday, May 15, 2012 — Our newly enacted road plan includes the following projects for all of the 50th District, but in this column I’ll focus on Nelson County. All of these are scheduled with “real” money, which means that each is considered a high priority and is funded.First, I’m very pleased that we will continue to rebuild Louisville Road. This time we’ll finish the northern section beginning at Whitesides Drive close to Whitney Stables and ending at the Salt River Bridge just south of Mt. Washington.
The funds are for the right-of-way, utility relocation, and construction phases of the relocation of 31E/150, with a total amount of funds available at $36.7 million. You’ll remember that I announced that the middle section would take about five years from start to finish, and that’s what happened. I’d say the northern section will take the same amount of time.
Meanwhile, US 150 from just east of the BG Parkway gets a great deal of traffic, maybe more than Louisville Rd. Our longer term plan is to rebuild this road, but for now we have secured funds to lay a widening strip on each side of the road all the way to just past KY 152, replacing the dirt edges. This will also include the installation of rumble strips, and the project is set at just under $750,000.
The 245 bypass between US 62 and US 150 needs widening to accommodate heavy traffic, and so we secured funds for design, right-of-way, utilities, and construction in the amount $16.7 million.
Resurfacing of the BG Parkway continues, and the new project will finish the stretch between Springfield Road and the other side of the Bloomfield exit. It’s a little over five miles, and will cost $6.6 million.
We have several bridges that need to be replaced, and we’ve set aside over $8 million for these. The bridges are:
- Beech Fork Bridge near Fredericktown on the Nelson/Washington line;
- East Fork Simpson Creek Bridge on US 62;
- Hinkle Creek Bridge on US 62;
- Chaplin River Bridge on KY 458; and
- Froman Creek Bridge on Mobley Mill Rd (CR 1327).
None of these road/bridge projects can be considered “pork.” The total amount secured is $68.9 million, so we did real well in this road plan, better than many expected.
There are other projects listed in the road plan for Nelson County, but I’ve only mentioned those for which funding is assured. The Bull Run project on Nat Rogers Road is funded separately from the state road plan, so I didn’t include that either.
The best part of this job is hearing from you, so please continue to call me if you need help, or just want to talk. You can also leave a message for me in Frankfort by calling 1-800-372-7181.
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