Albany and Clinton County received some good news last week when the 2016-2022 Recommended Highway Plan was revealed by Governor Matt Bevin during his first State of the Commonwealth Address last Tuesday.

The road plan submitted by Bevin for consideration by the members of the Kentucky General Assembly, still contained important pieces of the project to connect newly constructed portions of U.S. 127 between northern Clinton County and southern Russell County.

Of course, as local residents and officials have come to realize for decades, just because a project appears in the six year road plan, there is no indication that the project will be completed during that span as dates and project status can be changed for a variety of reasons.

In addition, last week’s road plan was simply a list of projects that Governor Bevin would hope to see progressed and will need to be approved by both chambers of the General Assembly before they continue to be a part of the official Kentucky Six Year Road Plan.

Still, the good news would be that at least lawmakers are getting the opportunity to continue to fund the progress of reconstructing and relocating sections of U.S. 127 in Clinton County and Russell County that would eventually make the project ,orecomplete through both counties.

In Bevin’s proposal last week, he submitted the plan that would see U.S. 127 reconstructed and /or relocated from near the intersection with the Aaron Ridge Road in the Aaron Community of northern Clinton County, and continuing north to the current U.S. 127 Jamestown Bypass in Russell County.

That section is broken up into several separate projects with several proposed start/end dates for the various phases necessary to see a highway project completed.

Those phases include a developmental phase, a right-of-way acquisition phase, a utility relocation phase and finally the actual road construction phase.

The plan also includes one project that would see a new bridge across the Cumberland River, just below the location of Wolf Creek Dam where traffic currently travels on U.S. 127.

The route proposed continues from the Aaron Ridge Road intersection in a northwest direction to the current intersection of U.S. 127 and the Ky. 1730, then into Russell County and across the Cumberland River across the new bridge and on to the Jamestown Bypass.

Proposed dates for the beginning of construction rage from the current year (2016) for some portions of the project, to the year 2022 for the beginning of other portions.

Those construction dates are always considered to be merely proposals and can be changed with each redrafting of the six-year plan.

The next step in the process will be to wait and see what, if any, changes to the project will be made by the General Assembly as they consider the budget and road plan submitted last week by Governor Bevin.

The U.S. 127 reconstruction project is just a small portion of the total six year road plan submitted by the Governor.

In all, the plan, if enacted, would include $6 billion in state and federal funds.

The current legislative session is one-third over it’s 60 day run that includes two final days the general assembly will meet after a 10 day break to attempt to overturn any vetoes the Governor might make on legislation that is sent to his desk for signature.