Gov. Beshear Joins Local Officials to Cut Ribbon on Connector Highway in Floyd County

FRANKFORT —Governor Andy Beshear officially opened the Minnie to Harold connector on Kentucky Highway 680 in Floyd County on Sept. 8, with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

A release from Beshear said the connector brings greater safety and convenience to travelers and will encourage economic investment and job growth in a region rebuilding from catastrophic flooding. Started in 1991, a total of $118 million was invested in this important Eastern Kentucky infrastructure project, the release said.

“The new Minnie to Harold connector has been a long time coming and is a huge win for our people,” Floyd County Judge/Executive Robbie Williams said in the release. “We also celebrated new investments into our communities and our infrastructure. Today was an amazing day for Floyd County and is the result of years of hard work. We thank Gov. Beshear’s administration for helping make today possible.”

More than 30 years in the making and constructed in sex separate sections, the new connector provides a direct, time-saving link between Kentucky Highway 80 at Minnie and U.S. 23 at Harold, two of the most heavily traveled highways in the region.

The new roadway, 14.89 miles in all, is relatively straight, with wider driving lanes and generous shoulders, greatly improving safety. It also cuts the driving distance between Pikeville and Hazard by 7.68 miles, saving travelers significant time.

“This connector will have long-lasting benefits, not only for Floyd County, but for this entire region,” Kentucky Transportation Secretary Jim Gray said. “The people of Eastern Kentucky have been waiting a long time, and I’m proud that we were able to complete it.”

Beshear also presented more than $4.1 million in funding and grants to support Eastern Kentucky.

Among the awards were $1.6 million from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to Floyd, Johnson, Magoffin, Martin and Pike counties to build a new transportation administration building; more than $922,000 to the city of Wheelwright to rehabilitate its wastewater plant; $750,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding for the Floyd County Fiscal Court to make improvements to the Martin Community Center; $500,000 to Big Sandy Area Development District to conduct a brownfield assessment and $475,000 in KYTC funding for several road resurfacing projects.

Beshear said in his release that he is also recommending funding through the Appalachian Regional Commission including $750,000 for the city of Wheelwright to fund more improvements at its wastewater plant and more than $506,000 for Big Sandy Community and Technical College to purchase equipment for its East Kencuky AWS Training and Testing Center.