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Earlier this week, Kentucky’s biggest newspaper, owned by a large corporation based in Washington D.C., criticized my efforts to secure funding for a new highway in southern and eastern Kentucky – Interstate 66. Louisville is already linked by four major interstate highways, and their citizens have enjoyed safe travel, unparalleled growth and increased mobility for decades. But, once again, when the same prosperity and opportunity is proposed for our people, or when initiatives are pursued to enhance our region’s capabilities, the liberal media elite turn their noses down on us, and condemn and vilify our efforts.
The Interstate 66 project is a vision to connect the farmlands of western Kentucky to the coalfields in the east. Congress established I-66 as one of the nation’s most significant corridors in 1995, rightly determining that a new interstate highway would be the most efficient and effective way of integrating our region with the rest of the state. It would be a means to finally break down long-established barriers – social, economic, educational or otherwise -- while bringing safety to the treacherous mountain roads of our region. Once Congress made that determination, I went to work, and am proud to say that I’ve secured over $90 million for development of I-66 over the last decade. I have no illusions that this is a short-term or inexpensive proposition. But unless we start with a vision for our future, and our children’s future, we’ll never get started.
The Louisville Courier-Journal editorial board, however, doesn’t see it that way. They have determined that the future of our region isn’t worth fighting for. The Courier-Journal has essentially declared war on our region, spending months recruiting so-called “experts” to their cause, many of them comfortably retired and living elsewhere, to disparage my efforts to bring good roads and prosperity to the region. Many of the newspaper’s hired guns know nothing about southern and eastern Kentucky; have no claim to its potential and no stake in its future; don’t understand the character and optimism of our people; and would much rather sit on the sidelines and throw stones.
If the Courier-Journal would have spent as much time seeking the truth as they did making outlandish claims and tarnishing my record, they would have found a whole litany of public officials who are as enthusiastic about I-66 and Appalachia Kentucky’s future as I am. Counties and cities spanning the entire state have weighed in, and to date, 37 fiscal courts and 34 city councils have passed resolutions in support of I-66. At the federal level, seven bi-partisan Members of Congress from two states publicly back the new interstate. These leaders have caught a vision for our region, and instead of throwing stones, have picked up their shovels.
Every highway has a beginning, and all of them take determination and strength of courage to complete. These are not projects for the feint of heart, or for those who expect instant success. The $300 million Cumberland Gap Tunnel project is a case in point. One need only take a look at towns like Middlesboro and Barbourville to see what modern road improvements, increased access and improved safety have done to revive downtowns and attract new businesses to this area. This project has transformed these communities, and was not completed overnight. From start to finish, my advocacy for the project and the efforts to secure all the funds needed to complete it, took nearly two decades.
The Interstate System has been called the greatest public works project in history. When President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Interstate System into law in 1956, the United States from that moment on, had a plan to move commerce and people more efficiently than at any time in the history of our nation. President Eisenhower considered it one of the most important achievements of his two terms in office saying, “ its impact on the American economy—the jobs it would produce in manufacturing and construction, the rural areas it would open up—was beyond calculation.” The Interstate network is intended to connect America. Fifty years and 50,000 miles later, that work still continues today.
Long term investments yield economic returns for everyone served by them. The Courier-Journal would be wise to look at history more closely. The rate of return on highway spending far exceeds most other investments – public and private - and is proven to increase economic productivity and attract jobs. The Federal Highway Administration shows a 32% annual return on highway investments measured over decades. I only want Southern and Eastern Kentucky to see its fair share on that kind of return.
The bottom line for the liberal, big-city elite is simple: money. They condemn my success in providing needed resources for our region, firmly believing that federal dollars should only be invested where they live. The notion that I-66 somehow sucks all the life out of every other transportation project across the state is ludicrous. During my two-year chairmanship of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, Kentucky realized nearly $1 billion in federal highway and transit funding. Of that, only a fraction of those funds - $27 million -- was designated for Interstate 66. At the same time, I directed nearly $20 million for vital projects at the Louisville Airport, $10.5 million toward the Louisville/Ohio River bridges project and $1.5 million for Louisville access enhancements and pedestrian walkways along their waterfront. Further, $42 million was appropriated for bus and bus facility upgrades throughout the Commonwealth, and generous allocations were obtained for riverfront development in both Owensboro and Bowling Green. The list could go on and on. To say that I have neglected the needs of the state for one highway in Appalachia is outrageous. If that is their opinion, then perhaps they can do without my support for their needs next time around.
Southern and eastern Kentucky is being re-born, and I’m proud of the work I’ve done in promoting the needs and interests of my district. I would be neglecting a large part of my duties if I didn’t point out the unique problems we face as a region - - a region long forgotten by state government, the bureaucracy in Washington, and the liberal media elite in Louisville and Lexington.
I have vowed to make sure our region is never again neglected, and I intend to keep that promise.
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