Lawmakers waited until the last few hours of the 2014 General Assembly session before they approved a statewide road plan. House and Senate members agreed to spend more than $3 billion over the next two years for repair and replacement of the state's roads and bridges. The Senate voted 37- 1 for the measure.
Senate Speaker Pro Tem Katie Stine cast the only "no" vote. Her concern focused in part on a source of funding for a new outer loop highway in northern Kentucky.
"By changing that mechanism now, we have to start all over again and have to conform with various federal environmental studies and regulations that were not attached to the state funding which is what it had for ever and ever,” she said.
Frankfort Senator Julian Carroll warned that divvying up roads in legislative districts to further re-election efforts is not in the best interest of the state.
"They want to produce something good to take home and so they want an approved road project for the next time that they run,” he said. “It's beneficial to their election."
Stine says Senators received 40% and House members 60% of available road funds for their districts. Stine says that's not an appropriate breakdown of road resources.
