A spending bill passed by Congress last week has funding for three major highway projects in Kentucky.
The bill, which funds most of the government through the end of September, includes $90 million for road improvements.
That includes $37 million for the Somerset Northern Bypass in Pulaski County.
Natore Dijigbenou, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, said the money covers work that must take place before construction can begin.
“We've got about half of the right-of-way secured so far for that project, and so we have more of that work to do later this year, as well as beginning to move utilities,” she said.
The bill also includes $36.5 million toward the construction of the Mountain Parkway extension from Salyersville to Prestonsburg. Dijigbenou said that project is in the home stretch.
“For the first time ever,” she said, “we can say that every segment of that parkway expansion project is either completed or under construction, which is a really big win.”
Another $20 million will go toward widening 59 miles of the Hal Rogers Parkway from London to Hazard. The road now has two lanes.
All three projects fall into the 5th Congressional District, represented for more than four decades by Rep. Hal Rogers, R-Somerset.
The completion of the Somerset Northern Bypass is an especially important project to Rogers. Rogers secured another $45 million for the project in 2024.
A 3.66-mile segment of the road, from the Louie Nunn Cumberland Parkway to U.S. 27, is complete. The latest funding helps advance the highway east toward Kentucky 80.
The bypass was envisioned as part of an eventual Interstate 66, which would span from Virginia to California. Other states have not committed funds to the project.
Rogers requested the funding for the Somerset and Mountain Parkway projects. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, made the request for the Hal Rogers Parkway.
Both sought what used to be called earmarks – funds requested by members for projects in their states and districts. In the House of Representatives, they are now called Community Project Funding. In the Senate, they are known as Congressionally Directed Spending.
