Interstate 66 has no funding in sight, even in Ky.

Interstate 66, conceived as a coast-to-coast corridor that would travel through Southern and Eastern Kentucky, has hit its largest roadblock yet. Funding in Kentucky, the only state still pursing construction, has dried up.

We noted The Courier-Journal's extensive package on I-66 in 2007 and a follow-up 2008 story, which revealed Kentucky and Republican U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers were the only driving forces left behind the interstate's construction, it having been abandoned by other states as unnecessary or too expensive. Now the project is indefinitely stalled, as there is little prospect for construction funds in the foreseeable future, R. G. Dunlop reports for the Louisville newspaper.

"Since the end of 2008, the project’s been dead in the water," John Sacksteder of HMB Professional Engineers Inc. and the project manager for the London-Somerset portion of the road, told Dunlop. "We were told [by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet] to wrap up what we were working on and to set it on the shelf until further notified."

Nevertheless, Rogers still voices confidence in the project's eventual completion. "Many worthy transportation projects across the country are in a holding pattern until sufficient financing is realized," Rogers said in a recent statement. "This is nothing new, and doesn’t just affect I-66 or the Commonwealth of Kentucky."

If the project were to restart, the Transportation Cabinet would still need to seek an amendment to the state's wild-river law to build a bridge over the Rockcastle River, and obtain a biological opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Environmental groups have raised concerns because the road would take almost 200 acres of the Daniel Boone National Forest and would traverse unstable cave and sinkhole areas in Pulaski County.

Sacksteder told Dunlop that something along the lines of interest from a "major car company" in moving to the interstate corridor would have to occur to revitalize the project. But supporters of the road say no such investment will come without federal and state funding to actively pursue the project first. If the project is revitalized, opponents won't have gone away during it's slumber. "Citizens’ groups aren’t going to go away," environmentalist Leslie Barras told Dunlop. "If the project comes back up, we will be there." (Read more)