The Elkhorn Lake dam in Letcher County in late September after rains brought on by Hurricane Helene. It was ranked as the state's top priority for repairs in a recent report to the Kentucky legislature. (Photo courtesy of Jenkins Mayor Todd DePriest)

FRANKFORT �� Whenever a heavy rain falls, Jenkins Mayor Todd DePriest can��t help but think back to a deadly disaster as he drives around his small, mountain town checking on its aging dam and bridges.?

The dam that created Elkhorn Lake, known locally as Jenkins Lake, was built 112 years ago to provide hydropower to nearby coal mines. It still provides Jenkins with water and is a popular fishing spot. The dam��s concrete slope is rocky and worn down exposing rusty steel rebar in places.?

When state inspectors looked it over in May 2023, they found water seeping through in spots and rated the dam in ��unsatisfactory�� condition, the worst rating, meaning it is considered unsafe and has issues that need an immediate fix.?

The mayor and other community members have been acutely aware of the dam��s deteriorating condition for years. DePriest��s concerns about the dam trace back to the Buffalo Creek mine disaster of 1972 when three coal slurry dams failed in West Virginia; the rush of more than 130 million gallons of black water destroyed hundreds of homes, killing 125 people and leaving thousands homeless.

��That’s always on my mind. Anytime we have a big rain or some big event,�� DePriest said. ��How do we make sure we’re not in that situation one day?��

Located in Southeastern Kentucky in Letcher County, the Elkhorn Lake dam is also considered a high hazard dam by state dam inspectors, meaning its failure could kill people or seriously damage homes, businesses and infrastructure downstream. In Jenkins, that would include the city��s water treatment plant, homes, a church and the post office.?

The Elkhorn Lake dam isn��t the only dam state officials say needs attention. Kentucky has dozens of high hazard dams in poor or worse condition needing repairs and rehabilitation, according to a list sent by the state Department for Environmental Protection to the Legislative Research Commission in late August. The Lantern obtained the letter through the Open Records Act. The Elkhorn Lake dam ranked as the highest priority.

While a few of the 71 high hazard dams listed in the report are owned by state agencies, most are owned by smaller cities, county fiscal courts, soil and water conservation districts and private organizations and individuals. One high hazard dam considered to be unsafe by dam inspectors is in a Boone County suburb, homes directly abutting it. Others serve as drinking water supplies or for recreational purposes. All the dams on the list are in at least poor condition.

Local officials who spoke with the Lantern say their governments don��t have near the funds to make needed repairs, often $1 million or more. And that’s after paying for engineers.

Another challenge is even finding a dam owner to hold responsible, something that��s sometimes turned into a legal ordeal for state officials.?

DePriest hopes grants from the state or federal governments will repair the dam in Jenkins, given the financial burden his city of fewer than 2,000 would face trying to handle it alone. A dam safety organization warns those grants can be hard to come by given the need to repair dams across the country. ��How do you put pieces together from these different agencies in a way that gives you a goal of making it safe and still usable for what we need it for?�� DePriest said.

��Non-cooperative owners, incapable owners, and non-existent owners��

Dam inspectors in the Department for Environmental Protection have watched a number of high hazard dams deteriorate for years, conducting annual inspections, issuing notices of violations when owners haven��t fixed previously cited issues. When little to no action is taken, the Energy and Environment Cabinet has resorted to issuing fines and filing lawsuits.??

Cabinet spokesperson Robin Hartman in a statement said the cabinet pursues litigation only after ��all administrative enforcement options are exhausted.��?

��This authority includes administrative enforcement action, litigation, and emergency authority to take control of structures and take whatever action necessary to render a dam safe from loss of life and property,�� Hartman said. ��Challenges to enforcing the dam safety requirements include non-cooperative owners, incapable owners, and non-existent owners.��?

One city hadn��t communicated with the cabinet for years about its high hazard dam in unsafe condition, despite state inspectors�� concerns.?The cabinet sent a letter to the mayor of Stanford, the Lincoln County seat, on Aug. 13 fining the city $5,500 and directing the city to drain Rice Lake. The reservoir created by Stanford��s high hazard dam is one of three lakes supplying the city��s water, according to the city.

Yearslong issues cited by inspectors, including a part of the earthen dam sliding down its slope, had gone unrepaired. The city hadn��t responded since February 2022 to cabinet enforcement officials with updates on how an agreed plan to fix the dam was progressing.?

Stanford Mayor Dalton Miller told the Lantern he wasn��t aware of the status of the dam, directing inquiries to Stanford��s drinking water utility director who didn��t respond to requests for comment Friday. A cabinet spokesperson didn��t respond to a request for comment about the Rice Lake dam.?

In another case, the cabinet sued a private dam owner in Boyle County over failing to finalize an action plan to fix a dam with seepage issues that had been ��deteriorating for many years.�� Overgrowth of weeds and other plants at the Tank Pond dam had prevented inspectors from determining its stability with dozens of residences potentially threatened downstream, according to a lawsuit complaint.?

A Boyle Circuit Court judge ruled in favor of the cabinet in March because the dam owner failed to respond to the lawsuit, ordering the private dam owner to remove the Tank Pond dam and return the waterway to its original flow by the end of the year.

In Hopkins County, a court battle over who owns and has responsibility for another high hazard dam in unsafe condition has dragged on for over a year. A housing development? had been built in the 1980s around Otter Lake, but the dam holding back the lake hasn��t been properly maintained. The Energy and Environment Cabinet sued the county fiscal court and property owners near the dam in December 2022 seeking to determine ownership of the dam and get it repaired.?

The cabinet��s complaint states multiple property owners and interests have disputed their ownership of the dam for decades while its condition has worsened, spurring one home owner to sue an Owensboro couple for not disclosing the dam��s condition or disclosing responsibilities to maintain the dam.?

A judge ruled last year the Hopkins County Fiscal Court has at least partial ownership of the dam because of a nearby road, and the telecommunications company AT&T has also been looped in as a defendant because of alleged buried telecommunications lines nearby.?

Significant costs to prevent potential dam failures

The report on high hazard dams sent to the legislature acknowledges the high cost of repair and rehabilitation. Sarah Gaddis, director of the Kentucky Division of Water, writes that ��engineering expertise, materials, and other items required for dam repair are extremely expensive.��?

The report notes that $25 million in state funds has been used to reconstruct two state-owned dams, the Bullock Pen Lake Dam in Boone County and the Scenic Lake Dam in Henderson County with two other state-funded dam repair projects in the works having price tags of $15 million to $30 million each.?

The report also noted only four of the 71 high hazard dams listed are eligible for an existing state-funded dam repair program. For dams owned by local governments and organizations or private individuals, the report stated,? other funding mechanisms include federal grant programs or local monies and state earmarks.?

Robin Hartman, the cabinet spokesperson, in a statement said civil works projects like dams are ��inherently expensive�� and require specific expertise in design and construction methods. She said dam owners are required to bring on the needed engineers themselves.?

��Construction and design of dams also carry significant risk and liability due the inherent risk of impounding water,�� Hartman said.�� This elevated liability and risk command higher design standards and tightly controlled construction processes, which in turn increase construction costs.��

Katelyn Riley, the communications director for the Lexington-based Association of Dam Safety Officials, in a statement said the millions of dollars of costs fall on dam owners that either can��t afford them or may not qualify for grants or loans. While $2.15 billion has been made available for dam repair through the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, she said, it is ��a drop in the bucket compared to what is needed.��

��Lack of funding for dam rehabilitation is a serious problem nationally and in Kentucky.�� Riley said. ��The likelihood of failure can be mitigated by keeping a dam well maintained and, for older dams, upgrading them to meet current engineering design standards.��?

The Association of Dam Safety Officials in a 2023 report estimated the cost to repair and rehabilitate Kentucky��s more than 1,000 dams at $2.91 billion, with the cost to rehabilitate just the state��s high hazard dams estimated at $1.19 billion.?

As dams have deteriorated, so has Kentucky��s inspection force. The state employs fewer staff with less allocated resources to oversee dam inspections than in 1999, according to another report by the dam safety association.?

But Kentucky isn��t the only state with a growing dam problem. Nine other states had estimates over $1 billion to repair high hazard dams. That includes North Carolina, where dams were feared to be close to failure after rainfall from Hurricane Helene inundated Appalachian communities.?

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has funded hundreds of millions of dollars more in grants to repair dams through U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) programs, though only a small number of dams in Kentucky so far have benefited. State lawmakers in the 2022 executive branch budget allocated $5 million for matching funds for the USDA��s Watershed Rehabilitation Program.

Riley said some states offer financial assistance to dam owners for repair, rehabilitation or removal, something that could ��directly improve the safety of dams in the state�� along with investing more in the state��s dam safety regulators.?

Two key Republican legislative committee chairs didn��t commit to the idea of state earmarks for local dam repairs when asked recently about the idea. But the chairman of the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee Rep. Jim Gooch, R-Providence, told the Lantern he��d be willing to work with the cabinet on solutions.?

��I think we agree that we need to be proactive,�� Gooch said. ��We don’t do enough planning in advance sometimes to keep, prevent problems like this from happening.��?

Keeping a community��s identity

For the mayor of a small Western Kentucky city, trying to save the Loch Mary Reservoir is about protecting a community space he grew up with.?

Facing pressure from state officials to deal with the high hazard dam that inspectors considered unsafe, Earlington��s city council voted in June 2023 to allow Mayor Albert Jackson to pursue grants and other opportunities to repair the concrete and earthen dam.

The reservoir, adjacent to rows of homes, had cracks and seepage in its concrete and was deemed not hydraulically sound, meaning there��s a problem with its ability to hold or release water.?

But Jackson, 36, didn��t want to consider draining the lake. Working with its area development district, the city received a $490,000 grant from FEMA to begin design work on a reconstructed dam.?

Jackson said the effort would be ��absolutely impossible�� for his city of 1,200 to do on its own.

��It fell in our favor to get the grant money, but I feel for a lot of communities that aren’t able to secure grant money or grant funding,�� Jackson said. ��If you’re a small town there’s no way that you can, you know �� $1.5 million, $2 million, $3 million for some places, there’s no way that you can come up with that money in 12 months.��?

Jackson argued that because the state government is flush with cash, lawmakers should invest more in repairing infrastructure, like local dams, while the money is there.?

��It’s important for us to maintain those things, maintain our natural resources, especially in a state like Kentucky, because if we don’t we lose a part of our identity,�� Jackson said.

Cellist and vocalist Ben Sollee, above, in his "Misty Miles" video, will speak at the Kentucky Bike Walk Summit next month in Lexington. (Ben Sollee)

Acclaimed cellist and native Kentuckian Ben Sollee said he gained a sense of freedom growing up in Lexington on his bicycle. He would hop on it to ride around the neighborhood, no cell phone and little worries with him, not having to be home until dark.?

But as he grew into adulthood and a career as a touring musician across the country and world, traveling by cars, planes and trains, he began to feel disconnected from the ��experience of music and being in a place�� given his fast-paced, time-consuming travel.?

In 2009, he was booked to perform at the Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee and decided to try getting there via a newly-bought bicycle capable of carrying more than 50 pounds of equipment, supplies and, of course, his cello. He remembers the roughly 330 miles between Lexington and the music festival as ��very hot�� as he pedaled across the Cumberland Plateau, playing several smaller shows along the way.

��The wonderful thing about being on a bicycle is you can only ride so far and so fast, especially when you’re hauling so much gear,�� Sollee told the Lantern. ��I found myself being very present.��?

He said over the next five years he would ride about 6,000 miles on his bike as he incorporated it into some of his tours. The bicycle, he said, provides him not only a healthy way to get around but also a way to be more present in his community and with himself.?

It��s that message of how bicycling has improved his life and its connections with his music that he hopes to bring as one of the keynote speakers for the Bike Walk Kentucky Summit next month at Transylvania University in Lexington.?

The conference, scheduled for Aug. 15-16, is described by organizers as a gathering of hundreds of Kentucky leaders in and outside of government hoping to brainstorm and envision safer and more numerous walking, hiking and biking routes and facilities across the state. A similar summit took place at the private university in 2018 connected to the nonprofit Bike Walk Kentucky.

Jim Gray, the secretary of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and a former Lexington mayor,? will give opening remarks along with current Mayor Linda Gorton. In a statement, Gray said the summit will ��promote safe practices and encourage more complete streets to support a safer and more inclusive transportation system that protects all road users.��?

Other keynote speakers at the summit include Bill Nesper, the executive director of the League of American Bicyclists; Angie Schmidt, a writer and expert on sustainable transportation, and tourism and recreation leaders Kalene Griffith and David Wright from Bentonville, Arkansas, a community highlighted by Axios for its investments into the cycling industry.?

Sollee hopes the summit can promote cycling as not only something that��s healthy for Kentuckians and the environment but also something to be celebrated �� highlighting the challenges bicyclists face on public streets battling traffic but also the fun it can bring people, too.?

��The biggest thing we could possibly do is just celebrate and promote people that use their feet and bicycles in the community,�� Sollee said. ��We really have to be very proactive about sharing, not just what a battle it is out there to ride your bicycle on public streets, but also what a joy it is, and how you know how it helps us connect with other people in our community.��

Those interested in attending the summit can register on Bike Walk Kentucky��s website.

One of the next steps in deploying the money is ensuring the accuracy of Kentucky's broadband access maps. (John Lamb/Getty Images)

Federal officials have approved Kentucky��s plan to deploy almost $1.1 billion?to expand broadband, a key step toward connecting homes and businesses throughout the state.?

The funding was given to the state last year. Earlier this month the National Telecommunications and Information Administration approved the second volume of Kentucky��s proposed plans for using the money through the federal Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment Program, or BEAD, created by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.?

Those approved plans include how grants will be awarded to internet providers, what affordability mechanisms will be available to help Kentuckians pay for internet service once it’s expanded, and how workers will be trained to help build broadband connections.?

Kentucky will require internet providers applying for the funding to offer a ��low-cost�� option, which would be $30 a month or less, though internet providers could negotiate the price of that ��low cost�� option to a max of $65 a month. No charges for installation, maintenance or repairs are to be allowed in the monthly cost.?

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear in a Monday press conference said the internet expansion spurred by the funding ��should provide a route�� for more Kentuckians to have affordable internet.?

��If broadband and high speed internet is just as important as roads and bridges, then everybody needs to be able to use it. So, affordability is absolutely critical,�� Beshear said.?

Some providers will offer low-cost internet even as federal program ends, White House says

Beshear also called the recent expiration of a federal program that provided up to $30 a month to low-income households for internet access ��a shame.�� Approximately 1 in 4 Kentucky households were enrolled in the Affordable Connectivity Program.?

The next steps to roll out Kentucky��s funding include a process for ensuring the accuracy of the state��s broadband access maps. Meghan Sandfoss, the executive director of the Kentucky Office of Broadband Development, said her office has received more than 400,000 challenges to the maps from internet providers, nonprofits and local governments, and the challenge process should finish by July.? Accurate maps will better identify underserved and unserved parts of the state and make sure broadband expansion isn��t duplicative, Sandfoss said.?

From there, the state has less than five years to distribute broadband grants and build internet connection. Sandfoss said the state has until 2028 to distribute the more than $1 billion in BEAD funding. She said broadband projects underway that were previously funded by the state with hundreds of millions of dollars through the American Rescue Plan Act have to be finished by the end of 2026.

Sandfoss said about 12% of Kentucky is either underserved or unserved by internet providers,? according to federal data, and the BEAD funding should ��close the gap all the way.��?

��There’s quite a lot of activity going on right now, and it will continue for the next four years,�� Sandfoss said.

A tornado destroyed out buildings and damaged the roof and windows of Tabatha Adams' home in Hopkins County. (Courtesy of Tabatha Adams)

Sitting on her front porch surrounded by tornado damage, Tabatha Adams never imagined being on the other side of disaster recovery.?

As the former president of her local Rotary Club, she helped her neighbors when Dawson Springs grappled with the devastating aftermath of an EF-4 tornado in December 2021. The Western Kentucky city of about 2,400 lost 75% of its housing while 19 residents lost their lives in the severe weather outbreak that killed 74 Kentuckians.?

Adams organized disaster grants, totaling $180,000 in 2022 she said, to help her neighbors rebuild and spearheaded the construction of a memorial remembering those killed from Dawson Springs.

But now, it��s her own family that is receiving help from neighbors she had previously aided. Kentucky faced the brunt of another tornado outbreak Sunday with a particularly strong tornado �� one that spurred the National Weather Service to issue a rare ��tornado emergency�� �� tearing a track just north of Dawson Springs city limits through the unincorporated communities of Charleston and Barnsley.

A survey by the National Weather Service found the tornado to be of EF-3 strength with peak wind speeds of 160 mph and a peak width of 700 yards or nearly a half-mile. The Sunday tornado’s track was north of the path taken by the 2021 tornado and through a less densely populated area.

Gov. Andy Beshear said five people across the state were killed in the storms, including a 48-year-old woman from Hopkins County. Fatalities also were reported in Caldwell, Hardin and Mercer counties and in Louisville. At least 14 counties have declared states of emergency, and tens of thousands still were without power across the state as of Tuesday afternoon.?

About 40 homes across Hopkins County have been significantly damaged or are complete losses from the Sunday tornado, according to Kevin Cotton, the mayor of the Hopkins County seat of Madisonville. That included Adams�� home along Daylight Road, considered an epicenter of damage from the twister: her two-car garage and barn were both toppled, shingles torn off her roof and windows broken throughout her house.?

But she��s grateful her family, dog and cats are safe. She��s also not having to rebuild a second time; some homes hit by the Sunday storms were damaged or destroyed in the 2021 tornado. Adams said the 2021 tornado had missed her home by less than a mile.?

��We’re talking not even three years ago these people were picking up their lives and rebuilding,�� Adams said. ��Here they are again. It is unimaginable and unthinkable, and it just really makes you wonder why.��?

In recent decades, more tornado outbreaks have shifted geographically to the mid-South including Western Kentucky, which scientists say is connected to the impacts of climate change. More warm, moist air is coming from the Gulf of Mexico to collide with colder air from the Western U.S., fueling potential tornadoes across the South, scientists say.

In Hopkins County, recovery efforts at least have a head start because of the existing recovery infrastructure and knowledge on how to respond, said Heath Duncan, the co-chair of the Hopkins County Long Term Recovery Committee.?

Duncan, who��s also the executive director of the regional Habitat for Humanity organization, said a surge of hundreds of volunteers since Sunday has arrived to help clear debris and check on survivors. But the financial costs of recovery, especially what costs will ultimately be borne by local communities and residents, is still being realized.?

Duncan said the 2021 tornado destroyed not only homes but also city infrastructure from water lines to sidewalks. Rebuilding to better withstand future storms can be an ��incredibly expensive endeavor,�� he added. He said financial support moving forward will still likely rely on generosity of local donors and state and federal governments.?

��The process of long term recovery work has been difficult the last two years, and for me personally, the hardest thing that I’ve had to do in life,�� Duncan said, mentioning he feels frustrated on the verge of anger at times over his community��s situation. ��A lot of us are just tired from the 2021 tornado, and so now every time a storm blows through we’re like, ��Please, we can’t handle anything else.����?

Gov. Andy Beshear in a press conference with emergency management officials Monday said he believed the storm damage from across numerous counties, particularly in Western Kentucky, would qualify the disaster for FEMA��s public assistance program, which provides grants to restore infrastructure.?

But individual survivors being able to apply to FEMA for disaster aid is not guaranteed; Beshear said it would take every Kentuckian impacted to document their damage and report it for FEMA to open up aid to individuals. That��s especially crucial, he said, for those impacted who are uninsured.?

��Your willingness to track your damage and to turn it in is what could help a neighbor or someone you don’t even know from another county get that help,�� Beshear said.?

While state officials wait to hear if and what federal disaster assistance Kentuckians will receive, local Hopkins County residents are still working long hours in the immediate aftermath to help their neighbors.?

Meredith and David Hyde only moved back into a newly constructed home in Dawson Springs less than two years ago after their original home was made unlivable after the 2021 tornado. On Tuesday afternoon, they drove around damaged areas in Charleston dropping off monetary donations made possible by the local Rotary Club to survivors.?

Meredith Hyde, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, said she��s been mindful to provide survivors with mental health resources when they need it, some of them still processing the shock of the disaster. David and she don��t have many memories from the first couple of weeks after the 2021 tornado, she said, and ��neither one of us I don’t think could have made it without the other one.��?

She mentioned one woman they were visiting provided them $500 worth of kitchen supplies after the 2021 tornado.?

��This community just takes care of each other,�� Hyde said. ��This is not about having to do it. This is about wanting to do it.��

Downtown Hazard sits on the North Fork of the Kentucky River. The Perry County seat redoubled its efforts to fix up Main Street when prospective non-coal employers came to town and saw there were no good gathering places for them to take employees or have business meetings. (Photo by Austin Anthony)

CORBIN �� Eastern Kentucky is about to get an avalanche of federal and state money to help it transition from its largely disappeared coal economy, but some of its towns are already lifting themselves up and setting examples for the region.

That was the upshot of the 36th annual East Kentucky Leadership Conference in Corbin, where Main Street is pretty much full again and New Orleans-style balconies show that young professionals are migrating there.

��A lot of younger people have wanted to move closer to downtown,�� Corbin City Commissioner Allison Moore said during one panel discussion.

Conference attendees also heard about the revitalized downtowns in Hazard and Pineville, and about the hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants for which governments and nonprofits are already applying.

��There are now more resources than we have seen in our entire careers,�� said Peter Hille, chairman of the East Kentucky Leadership Foundation and president of the Mountain Association, a nonprofit community-development lending institution based in Berea. He��s been doing community-development work in the region for more than 30 years.

In addition to federal money, state government now has a program to help provide matching funds that local governments often need to get grants, noted Casey Ellis of the Kentucky Council of Area Development Districts. Originally targeted to coal counties, its outlay of $1.5 million helped generate $12.8 million in grants last year, Ellis said.

After the conference, held April 25 and 26, Hille gave some examples of the funding opportunities for governments, nonprofits and others:

• U.S. Energy Department funds to reduce energy consumption and bring renewable energy to census tracts where coal mines have closed since 1999, as well as adjacent tracts.
• New programs through the Appalachian Regional Commission, most recently one for multi-state collaborative projects funded by the bipartisan infrastructure bill of 2021.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture��s rural energy program, which covers half of the installed cost for efficiency and renewable energy for rural businesses.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency��s? Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, to bring solar energy to homes of low-income people, and money to build the capacity and workforce needed to install the equipment.
• Several other agencies have money for workforce development and infrastructure, including broadband.

Hille also talked about the federal money at the conference��s closing lunch, but also pointed out the efforts by local leaders, often helped with government grants but mainly spurred by local initiative.

��We��ve been seeing our communities come back to life,�� he said, ��because they are recreating themselves as places where people can live and choose to live.��

That��s essential as communities look for employers to replace coal jobs, said Bailey Richards, downtown coordinator for the City of Hazard. She said the Perry County seat redoubled its efforts to fix up Main Street when prospective non-coal employers came to town and saw there were no good gathering places for them to take employees or have business meetings.

��We realized you have to build a community,�� Richards said in one panel discussion. In the last five years, downtown redevelopment has brought 70 new businesses, 62 of which are still open, accounting for more than 250 jobs. Richards noted proudly that Hazard��s population rose 18 percent from 2010 to 2020, while Pikeville, which has the region��s best-known revitalized downtown, grew 12 percent.

In the Bell County seat of Pineville, Mayor Scott Madon looked out the window of his second-floor insurance office a few years ago and saw a public square with 20 percent of its buildings occupied. Now it��s 100 percent full, after a redevelopment plan that will hit its second big phase this summer, Madon said during a panel discussion.

One key was a five-year moratorium on property-tax assessment increases, which required the cooperation of the county government. Madon said the first property to emerge from the moratorium will pay $10,000 in property taxes this year, after generating only $400 a year before it was redeveloped. To help businesses succeed, Southeast Community College helps them work up business plans, and checks with them each quarter to see how they��re doing.

Hille said successes like Pineville��s and Corbin��s usually have ��spark plugs�� like Andy Salmons, who is both Corbin��s Main street manager and owner of a former drug store converted into a local-food restaurant and bar with apartments above. He did that 12 years ago, when half of downtown buildings were empty.

Skeptics, and there were many, ��said nobody��s going to come to a farm-to-table, craft-beer bar in Corbin,�� Salmons said. He ran out of money just before it was time to open, and people who wanted to see him succeed rounded up the last thing he needed for the Wrigley Taproom and Eatery: chairs.?

More openings followed, the town went fully ��wet,�� not just for restaurants, and other towns noticed and followed suit. ��Corbin was a game changer in this region,�� said Jacob Roan, the city��s parks director.

Some relief coming for housing shortage

Much of the conference focused on the region��s chronic housing shortage, which has been worsened by floods, inflation and high interest rates, which have also raised rents and home prices. But wait. ��Help is on the way,�� said Pam Johnson of Fahe, formerly the Federation of Appalachian Housing Enterprises.

Using flood-relief money and other funds, and donated land, the state has started seven housing developments in the counties hit hardest by the 2022 flooding. It recently started taking applications for $298 million in federal disaster-recovery money intended for housing and infrastructure to support it.

The application deadline is June 1, said Matt Stephens, general counsel of the state Department for Local Government. The five counties hurt most by the floods �C Breathitt, Letcher, Knott, Perry and Pike �C will get 80% of the money. The other 20% is allocated to 15 other counties flooded in 2022.

��We��re looking at a summer and fall of housing starts that we have not seen,�� Johnson said. ��That��s going to give a boost to the communities.��

Eastern Kentucky has a housing shortage partly because it has shortages of three things related to housing: developable land, infrastructure and contractor, said Wendy Smith, a deputy executive director of Kentucky Housing Corp., a state agency.

Smith said rents have climbed so much that landlords who once took federal Section 8 housing vouchers no longer do so, to avoid inspections required by the program, and more than half the people who got vouchers from KHC turn them back in because they can��t find housing in the 210 days the voucher can be used.

She said there is little new ��middle housing�� such as duplexes and triplexes, on which developers make less money. And while there is money for apartment buildings and rent subsidies, many people in Eastern Kentucky don��t like apartment living.

��It��s because we��re connected to the land,�� Corbin Mayor Suzie Rasmus said, unlike ��the rest of the nation, that is so transitory.��

This story is the first in the latest series of stories about Appalachian Kentucky from the Institute for Rural Journalism, based at the University of Kentucky. If you have story ideas, contact Director Emeritus Al Cross at [email protected] or Jenni Glendenning, the institute��s David Hawpe Fellow in Appalachian Reporting, at [email protected].?

Margie Baylis (photo provided)

LOUISVILLE �� One morning in 2019, Margie Baylis awoke to her right breast swollen up into her shoulder.?

The Owensboro photographer then got some shocking news: she had lung cancer at age 45.?

The first in her family to be diagnosed with cancer, Baylis, now 50, needed to come to Louisville for care at UofL Health��s Brown Cancer Center.?

She would have gone ��out of my way�� anyway for the care she got, she told the Lantern, but driving into downtown was daunting.?

��Louisville is a scary city,�� she said. ��I was 45. Trying to navigate that was scary. I can��t imagine being 70 and trying to navigate it.��??

For this reason and others, UofL Health is seeking $25 million from the Kentucky Legislature to build the Center for Rural Cancer Education and Research in Bullitt County off Exit 121.?

The money was not allocated in either the House budget or Gov. Andy Beshear��s proposal, but UofL hopes the Senate will add it. A Senate Majority spokesperson confirmed to the Lantern that the hospital system had requested the money but said it was too soon to know if it would make it into the Senate’s budget.?

Positioning this center in Bullitt County, UofL Health says, would allow better access to people coming from rural West, Western and South Central Kentucky.?

Worry over downtown traffic plagues many patients who need care, said Dr. Jason Smith, UofL Health��s chief medical officer.?

��People �� don’t mind driving but they don’t want to come to downtown,�� Smith said in an interview last week with the Kentucky Lantern. ��It’s hard. And you’re talking about patients that are older, patients that are sick. Patients are having to come to the hospital five times a week sometimes for chemotherapy or radiation.��?

Some, Smith said, will even forego the care they need.?

��The problem you run into is that ��Okay, well, if I know I have to have cancer care, and I’ve got to overcome traffic and parking and anxiety, I’m just not going to go,���� Smith explained. ����I’m just not going to get tested.�� What could be a little problem becomes a really big problem.��?

Kentucky suffers dismal cancer rates. In 2021, more than 10,000 Kentuckians died with cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Kentucky has the nation’s third highest rate of cancer deaths, better than only Mississippi and West Virginia. Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the state and nation, behind heart disease.?

In 2023, UofL Health said the Brown Cancer Center cared for more than 70,000 patients from 115 of Kentucky’s 120 counties.?

Margie Baylis�� story

After her 2019 Stage 2 lung cancer diagnosis, doctors removed the left lower lobe, leaving Baylis with one and a half lungs and a lower threshold for getting winded.?

Her surgeon, she said, ��really thought he left the cancer in a bucket in the operating room.��?

That was not so.?

The cancer returned and spread to her brain. Her body did not respond to chemotherapy.?

In January 2022, doctors told her the cancer had progressed so fast and far that it could take over her body by the end of summer.?

She could soon ��expire,�� she recalled hearing. ��In the cancer world, we don’t say ��die.����?

But staff at the Brown Cancer Center offered her a tumor-infiltrating lymphyocytes �� or ��TILs�� �� treatment through a clinical trial. This treatment involves taking a patient��s immune cells, modifying them outside the body and putting them back into the body, thus teaching the body how to ��recognize and kill” cancer cells, according to UofL.?

��Obviously chemo wasn’t going to work because we had been doing chemo for �� years now and it wasn’t working,�� Baylis said. ��So we did this TILs thing. It wasn’t easy. It was hard.��?

Baylis�� hair thinned �� and then she lost it all. She shed muscle mass and dropped weight during the TILs treatment process.?

But, it worked in killing the cancer in her body. She is now cancer-free.?

Still, Baylis needs to continue driving to Louisville every 21 days for immunotherapy treatments, a drive that can take her up to two hours in the car each way.?

��Good music on the radio helps�� with these long days, she said. But it��s still draining. She��d like a facility closer to home.??

��I have good days and bad days,�� she said. She lives with depression. But: ��I feel like I’m finally starting to get to do what I used to love to do and that there’s help, and give back.��?

Her big passion is fundraising for her community, Baylis said, including through March of Dimes. She used to use her photography business to raise money for scholarships for children, but the cancer that weakened her muscles has made it difficult to get back into that physically demanding work full time.?

The Center for Rural Cancer Education and Research

Smith said people come from all around Kentucky for care at UofL, but in particular a 14-county area in the western and southcentral parts of the state needs better access.?

��We’re looking for ways to increase access across the health care system,�� Smith explained. ��And cancer, obviously, is one of the areas from our health care system that we’ve put a lot of effort in.��?

After speaking with patients who cited downtown traffic as an impediment to physically reaching care, Smith said, UofL realized it needed a cancer center right off the interstate.?

��We started looking through the numbers and, great, we can get this done by about 2029 based off of all the other stuff that we’ve got going on,�� he said.?

UofL is expanding its downtown hospital as well as opening a hospital in Bullitt County in March. The proposed Center for Rural Cancer Education and Research would be built on the South Hospital campus. In addition to treating patients, UofL said, the center would also conduct clinical trials and research.?

But: ��The idea came up that if the state could help us do this, could we pull this off earlier?�� Smith said.?

Dorie Shelburne, the CEO of South Hospital, said with state help UofL could begin work 12 to18 months after contracts are signed, putting the project several years ahead of where it would be without that help.?

Shelburne also sees a Bullitt County campus, about half an hour from downtown and outside the outer loop of Louisville, as a way to recruit ��world class physicians�� who have access to the? nearby city but also can better serve the often underserved rural population.?

��If we can do this early, pull this off early, it would be fantastic,�� Smith said. ��It just brings cancer care out to a different area and a different level of population than we typically serve on our downtown campus. And it makes it easier for the folks to get in.��?

Legislative budget-writers are working with a record state surplus. The budget reserve trust fund reached $3.7 billion in the last fiscal year. In addition to approving a $130 billion state budget, the House also approved $1.7 billion in one-time spending to pay down pension liabilities and build infrastructure.

If Baylis had been able to access a facility like what UofL is proposing during her treatments, it would have made her life easier, she said.?

��I wouldn’t have to maneuver downtown as much and try to figure out the ins and outs of that,�� she said. ��The benefit of having another facility for people that do live in a more rural area that find downtown hard to navigate is a tremendous benefit not just for us Kentuckians but for some surrounding states.��?

Baylis is focused on loving every day of her life and cherishing the years she feels like she was gifted by her doctors.?

She��s become a self described ��concert junkie�� (Pink is her favorite). She��s traveled to Hollywood, Egypt and other places.?

��I guess,�� she said, ��I’m just happy that I get to live.��?

Bobbi Jo Lewis, the commissioner of the Department of Rural and Municipal Aid in the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, speaks to lawmakers Monday. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)

Kentucky is?unable to fulfill nearly $40 million of requests from cities and counties to help repair local roads because of a lack of funding, a Kentucky Transportation Cabinet official told state lawmakers Monday.?

Bobbi Jo Lewis, commissioner of the Department of Rural and Municipal Aid in the Transportation Cabinet, urged the House Budget Review Subcommittee on Transportation to put $45 million from the state��s next two-year budget into the Highway Construction Contingency Account.?

Lewis said the contingency account is the only source of state funding, besides a share of the tax on motor fuel, to help counties and cities maintain and repair more than 40,000 miles of locally-owned roads.?

The funding account received over $75 million worth of road repair requests from local governments in the current fiscal year but has only been able to fulfill a little more than $20 million worth of requests. In some cases that��s because some of the roads weren��t in bad enough condition to justify funding.?

At the same time, more than $38 million of road repair requests that did justify state aid weren��t able to be funded because the contingency account lacked money.?

Lewis said having consistent, adequate funding in the contingency account also can help provide emergency funding for road repairs, pointing to an example of a Breathitt County road whose shoulder had disintegrated leading to a car wreck in October 2023.?

��The car was occupied at the time it went off the side and was caught by the guardrail,�� Lewis said, mentioning no one was injured. ��Full funding provides the necessary alleviation of hazardous conditions and safety issues within the commonwealth.��

With the contingency account replenished, she said, the cabinet would be able to do projects as they are requested ��instead of having to worry about when we have the money to do them.��?

Lewis also said 510 locally-owned bridges across the state have various deficiencies and are in need of repairs and replacements, with $50 million allocated in the governor��s budget proposal to help fix the bridges.?

Rep. John Blanton, R-Salyersville, there are bridges ��in bad need of repair�� in his Eastern Kentucky district and that he sees plenty of roads that have ��slippage.��

��I want to make sure that we’ve got the funding that we need to to address these issues,�� Blaton said. ��There’s hardly a road that doesn’t have breakage right now, and it’s just slipping off unlike I��ve ever seen in my lifetime.��

Four transportation infrastructure projects in Kentucky have been awarded federal grants. (Getty Images)

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is scheduled to be in Lexington Thursday to highlight more than $33 million in federal grant funding for four transportation infrastructure projects.

According to a U.S. Department of Transportation press release, the funds come from the RAISE discretionary grant fund. Funding in the 2023 Fiscal Year will go to rural and urban areas. The projects funded ��will help more people get where they need to be quickly, affordably, and safely.��?

The Kentucky��s projects are in Bellevue, Jackson, Lexington and multiple counties in southcentral Kentucky.?

Of all projects awarded grants, 70% will go to regions that are an area of persistent poverty or a historically disadvantaged community. The department received $15 billion in requests while $2.26 billion was available to award.?

Kentucky��s projects and grant amounts are:?

• The Community Connections: A Regional Planning Effort Project will receive $600,000 to take inventory of bike and pedestrian facilities, develop a complete street plan in five cities (Franklin, Scottsville, Glasgow, Russellville and Tompkinsville) and explore the viability of an interconnected greenway system as an alternative to motor vehicle travel in the region. Ten counties in the Barren River Area Development District will benefit from the project.?
• The Northern Kentucky Riverfront Commons Project in Bellevue was awarded $3,774,940 to plan and design an about 20-mile multimodal transportation corridor to reduce vehicle dependence and reduce conflicts between vehicles and non-motorized users.
• The Panbowl Lake Corridor Project in Jackson will receive $21,153,600 for various corridor improvements, such as adding a lane. Widening the corridor is expected to improve freight mobility on KY 15, a key part of the National Truck Network, and increase overall travel time reliability in Breathitt County.?
• The Reconnecting Northland-Arlington Project in Lexington was awarded $8,120,000 to replace a railroad bridge overpass on North Broadway, allowing for ADA accessible sidewalks and bicycle facilities and other improvements. The additions are expected to better connect the community by giving more direct downtown access to freight traffic with an increase in vertical clearance and redirecting freight traffic from local roads.?

?Buttigieg said in a statement that the funds help ��communities in every state across the country realize their visions for new infrastructure projects.��?

��This round of RAISE grants is helping create a new generation of good-paying jobs in rural and urban communities alike, with projects whose benefits will include improving safety, fighting climate change, advancing equity, strengthening our supply chain, and more,�� he said.?

Members of Kentucky��s congressional delegation also praised the funding and projects.?

��When the cities of Jackson, Lexington, and Bellevue asked for my help, I was proud to lend my hand and advocate for their infrastructure needs in Washington,�� said Senator Mitch McConnell in a statement. ��The health of Kentucky��s economy is closely tied to the strength of our bridges, dams, roads, and railways. These federal funds will support much-needed projects across the Commonwealth that will serve Kentuckians for years to come.��

Congressman Andy Barr, whose district includes Lexington, said in a statement that upgrades for the North Broadway corridor ��will significantly enhance economic development and public safety in the Northern side of Lexington for decades to come.��?

��I am proud to have supported this competitive grant application through the Department of Transportation and look forward to seeing the much-needed improvements,�� Barr said.

At a roundtable at Simmons College, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo discuss deployment of more than $1 billion in federal funds for broadband expansion in Kentucky. Louisville, June 27, 2023. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Liam Niemeyer)

LOUISVILLE �� With more than $1 billion on its way to connect Kentuckians who have poor or nonexistent internet access, a roundtable of government leaders and telecommunications executives on Tuesday gave a window into the years of work that lie ahead to make broadband a reality throughout the state.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear joined the U.S. Commerce Department Secretary Gina Raimondo �� alongside state leaders of AT&T and Windstream �� to trumpet the latest federal funding influx to build internet access made possible by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

��Just think about what this can do. We’re talking about access everywhere. No neighborhood left out. No holler left out,�� Beshear said at Simmons College in Louisville. ��It means we bring it even where it��s difficult terrain, even where it��s been difficult to previously provide.��

Like previous rounds of federal broadband funding, the state��s Office of Broadband Deployment will be in charge of awarding grants to companies and groups willing to build the physical internet connection to homes and businesses. Those broadband providers range from local electrical cooperatives to large corporations such as Charter Communications, which received the lion��s share of money from one of the past funding rounds.

��Certainly this is going to be deployed in a period of years. It’s not going to happen in a period of months,�� Beshear said. ��It is a really exciting partnership between government and our private and nonprofit providers, where we believe, really, we both bring our strengths to the table to maximize the speed, the affordability and ultimately the access for all Kentuckians.��

Beshear also said the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, led by former Democratic state lawmaker and U.S. Senate candidate Charles Booker, will play a large role in raising awareness about programs to help Kentuckians afford internet access once it��s built, including the Affordable Connectivity Program.

��We often know that when amounts are delivered, allocations are made, the folks on the ground, the folks who need it the most can still be left out,�� Booker said. ��This type of investment is about addressing inequity.��

Booker said at the roundtable one of the biggest governmental ��blindspots�� is trying to build trust with community leaders who know what is needed in neighborhoods. His office is working with the Office of Broadband Deployment on a ��statewide equity plan�� on broadband access that is ��focused on the folks who get ignored the most.��

As a part of receiving more than $1 billion in funding,? U.S. Commerce Department Secretary Gina Raimondo said the state is creating a five-year ��action plan�� that lays out Kentucky��s near-term goals and priorities for building broadband to submit to the federal government.

��We are on a mission to find everyone and make sure everyone is connected to high speed, high quality affordable internet,�� said Raimondo. ��So there��ll be another few months we��ll work back and forth on the plan and then we’ll start putting money out the door.��

Beshear said the existing KentuckyWired broadband network, a public-private partnership creating a network of fiber-optic cable internet connection to all 120 counties, will eventually be integrated into the broadband projects funded by new federal dollars.

The KentuckyWired network in the past has been burdened with overspending and years of delays and faced strong criticism from lawmakers, but leadership of the effort has said the network is nearly complete in its construction.

President Joe Biden and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell celebrated another bipartisan infrastructure accomplishment in January: $1.6 billion in federal funding for Ohio River bridges connecting Covington and Cincinnati. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Michael Clubb)

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell hailed a White House announcement Monday that Kentucky will receive almost $1.1 billion to expand broadband internet access.

The funding is part of $42.45 billion unveiled by the Biden administration to connect all Americans to high-speed broadband internet by the end of the decade.

The funds, which will be distributed as grants across U.S. states and territories, are allocated under the bipartisan infrastructure law, passed in 2021, but unveiled as the kick-off for the administration��s three-week tour highlighting infrastructure projects and private sector investment across the U.S.

Speaking at the White House, President Joe Biden likened the ambitious goal to FDR��s New Deal-era rural electrification program that brought the then-modern technology to farms and rural areas across the United States.

��What we��re doing is, as I said, not unlike what Franklin Delano Roosevelt did when he brought electricity to nearly every American home and farm in our nation. Today (Vice President) Kamala (Harris) and I are making an equally historic investment to connect everyone in America to high speed internet, and affordable high speed internet, by 2030,�� Biden said.

��Because for today��s economy to work for everyone, internet access is just as important as electricity was, or water or other basic services,�� Biden continued.

Twenty-four million people lack access to high-speed internet because networks do not reach their homes or because of affordability issues, according to the administration.

Kentucky reaction

Calling it ��a historic day,�� Beshear said the federal funding will help the state ��connect every family, community and business to high-speed internet.��?

��Never before have we seen this type of investment in high-speed internet, and with it comes new infrastructure, more good jobs for our families and a boost to our already booming economy,�� said the governor who is seeking reelection this year.

McConnell, the U.S. Senate’s Republican leader, touted his role in leading the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to passage in Congress two years ago.?

A release from McConnell��s office said the measure ��will give Kentucky billions of federal dollars over five years to improve the Commonwealth��s roads, bridges, railroads, riverports, airports, broadband, and more.��?

��In today��s digital age, it��s essential that Kentucky��s communities, from rural towns to urban centers, have access to reliable and affordable high-speed Internet. Today��s federal funding will deploy internet infrastructure to communities across the Commonwealth that need it most, bringing new opportunity to millions of Kentuckians,�� said McConnell. ��The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law continues to deliver more wins for the people of Kentucky, and I��m delighted to see this significant investment head our way today.��

With the just-announced allocations, Kentucky will have received more than $1.6 billion in total high-speed internet funding since the American Rescue Plan Act was passed in March 2021, said Beshear.

The Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, created through the 2021 law, is a program of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration that will fund additional expansion of high-speed internet networks in Kentucky, said Beshear’s office.

The program prioritizes projects that serve areas lacking internet speeds above 25/3Mbps. According to the most recent data released last month by the Federal Communications Commission, Kentucky has more than 258,000 unserved locations.

The Office of Broadband Development will administer a competitive grant process to distribute these funds, including to internet service providers and local governments, beginning in early 2024.

��We are prepared to hit the ground running after this historic announcement,�� said Meghan Sandfoss, executive director of Kentucky��s Office of Broadband Development. ��Combined with the Governor��s previous record-breaking investments to expand access, these new funds are going to drive substantial growth in the reliability and availability of high-speed internet.��

Beshear encouraged Kentuckians to take the Broadband Speed Test and sign up for the Affordable Connectivity Program if they are eligible.

White House event

Harris opened the event in the East Room, attended by guests and members of Congress, with a description of her visit to Sunset, Louisiana, where she said 40 percent of households do not have broadband access.

��In Sunset, I met with parents who cannot apply for remote-work jobs because they do not have a high-speed internet connection at home,�� Harris said. ���� I met with entrepreneurs who struggle to start or grow a small business because they cannot get online. And I met with students who, when public buildings were closed during the pandemic, had to sit in the parking lot of a local library just to submit their homework over Wi-Fi.��

Jeff Say, manager of community engagement for UVA Health Culpeper Medical Center and a resident of Culpeper County, Virginia, told the crowd that the local internet service provider��s broadband connectivity stops a half mile from his home.

��What we ended up with was a hotspot that��s spotty at best and an ongoing struggle to work our schedule around the lack of connectivity,�� Say said after Harris spoke and before he introduced Biden.

��We have to drive our children into my work, to my wife��s school, or to our county library to finish projects or homework assignments. Every aspect of our daily life has now seemingly been touched by internet access �� education, health, commerce, and entertainment,�� he continued.

��Bidenomics�� touted

Connecting Americans to high-speed internet is a ��key part�� of ��Bidenomics�� �� Biden��s plan that ��is rooted in the simple idea that we need to grow the economy from the middle out and the bottom up��not the top down,�� according to a memo the administration released Monday.

During his remarks on broadband funding, Biden highlighted recent employment numbers and big-ticket private investment in areas like semiconductor manufacturing �� a nod to the CHIPS and Science Act he signed into law in 2022 that provided subsidies for the industry �� as proof of his administration��s recent economic success.

The latest round of broadband grants builds upon the Affordable Connectivity Program that provided income-eligible families at least a $30 discount per month on internet service as a part of the American Rescue Plan, both Biden and Harris noted.

Dubbed the ��Internet for All�� initiative, Monday��s announcement begins the near-month-long tour by Biden and administration officials to spotlight some of the 35,000 projects either funded or underway since Biden took office.

Biden is running for re-election in 2024.

The money will first be prioritized to install and upgrade broadband networks, according to the White House. Once those goals are met, remaining funds can be used for ��access-, adoption- and equity-related uses.��

The Department of Commerce��s National Telecommunications and Information Administration will administer the grants to all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories. The funding comes from the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment program established under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

States and territories are expected to receive a formal notice of allocated funds by June 30.

States, internet providers, tribal governments and community organizations will then have 180 days to submit grant proposals. The various grants are detailed at InternetForAll.gov.

The Biden administration announced $714 million to help rural areas expand internet access. (Getty Images)

President Joe Biden in Covington touted the bipartisanship that produced funding for infrastructure, including $1.6 billion to build a new bridge between Covington and Cincinnati and to upgrade the Brent Spence Bridge. (Photo for the Kentucky Lantern by Michael Clubb)

COVINGTON �� President Joe Biden, joined by senators and governors from both sides of the political aisle and the Ohio River, came to Kentucky Wednesday to celebrate the bipartisanship that’s bringing a long-awaited upgrade of the Brent Spence Bridge and other critical infrastructure around the country.

��A bridge built over half a century ago, having doubled the volume it was built for,�� Biden said. ��Folks, it��s about damn time we��re doing it.��?

Biden pointed to U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, as critical to Congress enacting the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which will provide $1.2 trillion across the country for not only bridges but also broadband expansion, clean water infrastructure and electric grid updates.?

��Leader McConnell �� we don��t agree on everything,�� Biden said. ��In fact, we disagree on a lot of things. But here��s what matters: he��s a man of his word. When he gives you his word, you can take it to the bank. You can count on it, and he��s willing to find common ground to get things done for this country.��?

In addition to McConnell, Biden was joined at a riverside ceremony by former Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio and Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who both voted for the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.?

U.S. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who was among 30 Republican senators who voted against the legislation, and newly elected Republican U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio were not present at the ceremony.?

��We all know these are really partisan times,�� McConnell said. ��But I always feel no matter who gets elected, once it’s all over, we ought to look for things we can agree on and try to do those, even while we have big differences on other things. And this bridge I think symbolizes the coming together.��?

The infrastructure law is providing $1.6 billion in federal grants for the Brent Spence Bridge Corridor Project, renovating the existing nearly 60-year-old bridge and building a companion bridge for longer-distance travelers between Ohio and Kentucky.

The bridge corridor project in Kentucky will include improvements to nearby pedestrian and bicycle facilities, along with a new sewer system to reduce flooding. The city of Cincinnati is expected to be able to regain 10 acres for redevelopment as a part of the project.?

McConnell and Democratic Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear also thanked the GOP-controlled Kentucky General Assembly for its role in making the federal funding for the bridge project possible. The state legislature allocated $250 million in the state��s two-year road plan as a part of the application process for the federal funding.?

Beshear touted the bridge as not only a promise fulfilled by his administration but as a boost to trade in the region.?

��The heavy traffic delays and safety issues are real, everyday concerns,�� Beshear said. ��This crucial project will address those issues. But the full impact goes to the very health and security of our nation’s economy.��

Groundbreaking on the project is expected in 2023, with more large construction happening in 2024, according to a release from Beshear��s office.?

Biden��s visit to Covington was part of administration efforts to highlight projects funded through the new law.

On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris visited Chicago, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was set to visit Connecticut, and White House Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu was scheduled to visit the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Thursday. ?

When the Brent Spence Bridge between Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati first opened in 1963, it was named after the longest serving congressman at the time, Democrat Brent Spence of Newport. In the decades since, maintaining the bridge has been one of the longest running infrastructure problems for the region.

President Joe Biden greets audience members in Covington. (Photo for Kentucky Lantern by Michael Clubb)

President Joe Biden greets audience members after speaking in Covington. (Photo for Kentucky Lantern by Michael Clubb)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivers remarks ahead of President Joe Biden on the more than $1.5 billion in federal spending on a companion bridge to the Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River at the City of Covington Owned Property Event Site on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023 in Covington, Kentucky.

President Joe Biden speaks, flanked by Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, former Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. (Photo for Kentucky Lantern by Michael Clubb)

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the more than $1.5 billion in federal spending on a companion bridge to the Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River at the City of Covington Owned Property Event Site on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023 in Covington, Kentucky.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the more than $1.5 billion in federal spending on a companion bridge to the Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River at the City of Covington Owned Property Event Site on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023 in Covington, Kentucky.

Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) delivers remarks ahead of President Joe Biden on the more than $1.5 billion in federal spending on a companion bridge to the Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River at the City of Covington Owned Property Event Site on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023 in Covington, Kentucky.

The Brent Spence Bridge on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. President Joe Biden visited the area to deliver remarks on the more than $1.5 billion in federal spending on a companion bridge to the Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River at the City of Covington Owned Property Event Site in Covington, Kentucky.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine delivers remarks ahead of President Joe Biden on the more than $1.5 billion in federal spending on a companion bridge to the Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River at the City of Covington Owned Property Event Site on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023 in Covington, Kentucky.

Governor Andy Beshear delivers remarks ahead of President Joe Biden on the more than $1.5 billion in federal spending on a companion bridge to the Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River at the City of Covington Owned Property Event Site on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023 in Covington, Kentucky.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear waits to deliver remarks ahead go President Joe Biden on the more than $1.5 billion in federal spending on a companion bridge to the Brent Spence Bridge over the Ohio River at the City of Covington Owned Property Event Site on Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023 in Covington, Kentucky.

Originally just three lanes wide, the bridge was designed to handle about 80,000 cars �� including 3,000 to 4,000 trucks �� each day when it first opened in the 1960s, according to the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments. The estimated traffic has multiplied to 160,000 cars and 30,000 trucks daily.?

The nearly 60-year-old bridge has received increasingly poor inspection ratings over the decades, and concrete pieces fell from the bridge in 2014 smashing a Ford Fusion while the car��s owner was at a Cincinnati Bengals football game. Inspectors said at the time the bridge was still safe to use. How to pay for renovating the bridge was a continual conversation in Northern Kentucky until the passage of federal funding, with some Kentucky residents opposed to tolls paying for upgrades.?

The bridge corridor project in Kentucky will include improvements to nearby pedestrian and bicycle facilities near the bridge, along with a new sewer system to reduce flooding. The city of Cincinnati is expected to be able to regain 10 acres for redevelopment as a part of the project.?