Barren County was awarded three transportation discretionary grants to resurface Cooktown Road, Capitol Hill Church Road and Kino Eighty Eight Road. The grants total to $485,545. From left, Gov. Andy Beshear; Secretary of Transportation and Glasgow native, Jim Gray; Barren County Judge Executive, Micheal Hale; and Kentucky’s 23rd District Representative, Steve Riley.
(BRENNAN CRAIN/WCLU NEWS)
GLASGOW — Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was in Glasgow Friday along with other state and local officials to present checks for transportation, water and sewer improvements.
Barren County was awarded three transportation discretionary grants for resurfacing projects along three Barren County roadways – Cooktown Road, Capitol Hill Church Road and Kino Eighty-Eight Road. The grants totaled to $485,545.
“Barren County has been very aggressive with these requests and have a lot of needs,” said Joe Plunk. “Fortunately for Barren County, these funds became available today. I know it’s going to be a great boom for the locals and citizens who use those roads everyday.”
While roadways are used by all types of vehicles, officials said school buses and those used among Barren County’s agricultural community will be serviced most by the funding.
Jim Gray, Glasgow native, is the Kentucky Secretary of Transportation. He was in attendance Friday.
“It’s especially important for our agricultural communities,” Gray said. “Having good roads we can all easily navigate for commerce and agriculture – for our agricultural industries and our farms – is essential. And that’s what this is really all about.”
The Governor also detailed several other grants, which will upgrade and promote access to clean drinking water in the region. A handful of homes without running water will gain access through the funding.
The Cleaner Water Program, a grant program to improve drinking water and wastewater, awarded $250 million to communities across the state. Officials awarded funding for projects in Barren, Hart and Metcalfe Counties.
“It does the right thing because clean drinking water is a basic human right, and it’s not just in rural counties where not every family – not every home – can turn on that tap and have access to clean drinking water,” Beshear said.
Glasgow Water Company was awarded $1,625,091 to help fund the fifth of a six-phased project to construct a transmission line from Barren River Lake to Glasgow’s westside.
“This will create a redundant line to improve reliability and overall water quality,” Beshear said.
Hart and Metcalfe counties were awarded three grants. Water and sewage projects will be approved in all 120 Kentucky counties within the next year.
Access to water is essential to industry recruitment, too, because companies seek “build ready” sites, which are those already equipped with utility access. Besher said ongoing industrial investments in the area from companies like SpanTech, Nemak and T. Marzetti bolster the attraction for other businesses.
“I’m here to tell you that Kentucky has arrived, never to be a flyover state ever again. Never to have somebody look down their nose at us ever again,” Beshear said. “As I like to tell people in other states, if they want to keep making fun of our accents, we’re going to steal their jobs, too.”
S&P Global Ratings recently upgraded its economic outlook of Kentucky to positive, Beshear said. Part of the outlook involves the continuation of rural advancements.
Beshear said “Kentucky has arrived,” and he hopes economic advancement continues to position rural communities toward further growth.
