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By John Henson

Columnist

There’s nothing like a news report late in the evening on Congressman Hal Rogers celebrating another bypass construction in Pulaski County to make me start throwing things at my television and wondering why Harlan Countians continue to vote for him when it’s been clear for decades he doesn’t care we’ve been left behind for the past 60 years or so.

Rogers was in his native Somerset for the ribbon-cutting of the KY 461 and KY 80 interchange project as cars zoomed past on what seems like the 10th new road in the area. While Harlan County, once the largest county in all of eastern Kentucky, still doesn’t have a four-lane road, Rogers was already talking about another project for Pulaski County.

A news release from Rogers stated the congressman “has requested $45 million in Community Project Funding to begin construction on the highly anticipated northern bypass in Pulaski County. Rogers made the announcement during the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new KY 461 and KY 80 interchange project with the Kentucky Department of Transportation and local leaders.”

“The interchange at KY 461 and KY 80 is a stamp of economic success and growth for southern and eastern Kentucky, but we’re far from finished,” he said. “We have another mountain before us to build the northern bypass in Pulaski County, and I was proud to request the federal funding on behalf of the Pulaski County Fiscal Court to begin the next phase of this greater vision, which will connect to the Cumberland Expressway.”

“Southern Kentucky needs a four-lane highway that runs east to west, attracting new business and tourism dollars through the most beautiful parts of our state,” said Rogers in the report. “We are making significant progress towards that goal as we continue strategic planning across the federal, state and local levels.”

State legislators have also included a $1 million study in the six-year road plan to four-lane the Hal Rogers Parkway from London to Hazard. The study is slated to begin in 2024, according to the report.

In 2021, Congressman Rogers also secured an $8 million earmark to help four-lane KY 461 in Rockcastle County from Highway 150 to I-75. Construction on that project is scheduled to begin in 2024.

The list goes on and on, but no mention of Harlan County. It just drives me insane that our state legislators and county leaders aren’t complaining every month or so and demanding that Harlan County get its turn —whether it be a four-lane U.S. 119 to Pineville or a new U.S. 421 between Harlan and Hazard. Harlan County waited 25 years for news that the final 3.1 miles of road to Virginia to be completed, then we celebrated when the news came out that funding for one mile of the road at the Virginia line was approved.

Some may argue that Pulaski County has more people and more traffic, but that wasn’t the case until other areas of eastern Kentucky began receiving these road projects, while Harlan County was expected to be satisfied with a bypass from Baxter to Browning Acres. Rockcastle County, with 16,000 residents, benefits from the Highway 150 project and already has I-75 crossing through it. Harlan County, with over 25,000 residents and still the 44th largest county out of 120 in Kentucky, is left out yet again.