Regional Headlines
(2012-02-10)
MURRAY, KY
(wkms) -
The Kentucky Lock addition project missed out on its best chance to secure extra funding this week. Normally federal funding for the $844 million project comes from a river fuel tax trust fund set aside to pay for construction projects. Those funds have been lacking. Project manager Don Getty says the lock was eligible for a piece of $74 million in additional funding for ongoing projects. He says they needed the money to finish paying for an $8 million onsite concrete plant contract. Getty says,"We put in a submission to compete for that $74 million and earlier this week the corps released the results of that competition and unfortunately Kentucky Lock was not on that list. So we lost out on obtaining at least that source of funding to complete this contract that is so critical to the project."
Getty says he's not sure why they weren't awarded the funds, but if the contract isn't completed, they'll lose the concrete plant. If Kentucky Lock is finished, it would reduce delays for vessels going through Kentucky Lake. Getty says the funding denial is one more step towards the project finally being mothballed when their current funds run out in summer of next year.
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