Nearly thirty million dollars from the federal Department of Transportation is coming to central Kentucky.
The city of Lexington received eight million dollars to help replace the 86-year-old RJ Corman Overpass on U.S. Route 27. The construction will help improve walkability for pedestrians heading downtown, creating accessible sidewalks and bike lanes while improving freight movement.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg headlined a ceremony Thursday afternoon highlighting the Lexington project alongside Kentucky Secretary of Transportation Jim Gray and Lexington mayor Linda Gorton.
“It's got climate benefits. It's got safety benefits,” Buttigieg said. “You know, we're dealing with a crisis of crashes causing deaths and injuries on our roadways. And the area that's gone in the wrong direction the quickest has been pedestrian and cyclist fatalities.”
This comes with federal funding for Jackson in Breathitt County. The town will see $21 million dollars widen Kentucky Route 15, which runs directly through the city, and bolster dams to prevent future flooding. Jackson was one of the communities affected by last year's deadly flooding.
“A lot of things that used to be extremely rare have become commonplace. I saw it in South Bend when I was mayor. And what was supposed to be a 500-year flood happened twice in two years,” Buttigieg said, referencing flooding in the Indiana town in 2016 and 2018.
Buttigieg said he expects more federal grant money in the near future to help fund climate resilient infrastructure through the PROTECT grant program, which funds transportation resilience to natural disasters.
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