A recent camping trip took me through the heart of Eastern Kentucky. First, the Red River Gorge, next a visit to Butcher Hollow ,and then finishing in Elkhorn City and Breaks Interstate Park. I tried to unplug but couldn’t completely shut off my thoughts. A question I kept asking: What’s come from the recent promises made to the people in our state’s most distressed counties?
It was clear by the early 2010s the Appalachian coal fields’ boom-and-bust cycle had been replaced by a permanently diminished industry. The billions in coal severance monies doled out by Frankfort had failed to prepare the local economies for that stark reality. The apprehension hanging over the region back then was palpable.
Hoping to meet the moment, then-Gov. Steve Beshear and Congressman Hal Rogers launched “Shaping Our Appalachian Region” (SOAR).* A national non-profit was brought in to consult. A planning committee was appointed. Strategies were developed to inject new life into an area where more than a third of the population was surviving on government assistance.
Beshear and Rogers were clear at the outset that the government couldn’t do the job alone. Still, both were responsible for committing hundreds of millions of dollars to SOAR-related projects. Enough time has passed to consider how effective Kentucky’s leaders have been delivering on the promises made both then and now.
Mountain Parkway expansion: The 45-mile transportation project was announced to great fanfare in 2014. I drove the parkway on my trip and was dismayed to discover that, after eleven years, less than half of the project is complete. Only 16.3 miles of the existing roadway have been expanded to four lanes. The 13 miles of new construction from Salyersville to Prestonsburg has yet to break ground.
When all is said and done, the project is expected to cost the taxpayers $1 billion. It will likely be another decade before eastern Kentuckians realize the full benefits of a finished highway.
High-speed internet: What Hal Rogers called Eastern Kentucky’s new “I-Way” morphed into Kentucky Wired. The scale of that fiasco is well documented. It’s almost certainly the largest waste of money in our state’s history and is the fiber-optic equivalent of a “bridge to nowhere.”
Notwithstanding that debacle, there are some “green shoots.” High-speed internet access is providing new opportunities to work from home. The investments making that possible are being made by the private sector or local co-operatives. Most, if not all, of it would have happened if SOAR was never announced.
Economic development: Gov. Andy Beshear’s economic development strategy envisions building “America’s AgriTech capital in Kentucky.” In 2020, he appeared to deliver on that promise when AppHarvest announced a $100 million high-tech greenhouse in Morehead. However, not long after breaking ground, AppHarvest was broke. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2023.
Andy Beshear has also touted a huge new aluminum smelter in Ashland. The project depends on a $500 million federal clean-energy grant, making it uncertain at best. There’s a good chance that some newspaper headlines will be the only thing eastern Kentucky ever sees from the announcement.
No doubt there are promising developments in the region. Pikeville’s downtown appears to be thriving with a university and major medical center sustaining it. Also, the region’s tourism potential is being realized.
There are smart state legislators positioned to drive progress in their communities. Rep. John Blanton, R-Salyersville, chairs the House Transportation Committee and Rep. Josh Branscum, R-Russell Springs, heads that chamber’s Economic Development Committee.
My advice to them: focus on the fundamentals like straightening dangerous roads and funding clean water infrastructure. The ROI on those investments is real and long lasting.
Hal Rogers arrived in Washington D.C. the same year as Ronald Reagan. He’ll hold onto his seat as long as he wants. Unfortunately, that means more of the same at a time when Eastern Kentucky could benefit from some new blood working on their behalf.
*Note: This is a critique of the larger SOAR initiative. I’m not referring to the SOAR non-profit. That organization’s leadership is earnest and dedicated to the betterment of the region.
Andrew McNeill is the President and Senior Policy Fellow at the Kentucky Forum for Rights, Economics & Education (KYFREE). He served as the Deputy State Budget and Policy Director in Gov. Matt Bevin’s administration. His email address is amcneill@kyfree.org.