Governor formally dedicates new U.S. 641

Gov. Steve Beshear (third from left) officially broke ground today
on construction of a new U.S. 641 from Marion to — eventually —
Interstate 69. The ceremony took place at the Ed-Tech Center in
Marion, almost four miles from the primary current site of construction
in Crayne. Also pictured (from left) Crittenden County Economic
Development Corp. Board Chairman Terry Bunnell, Rep. Mike
Cherry, Gov. Beshear, Sen. Dorsey Ridley, Marion Mayor Mickey
Alexander and Crittenden County Judge-Executive Perry Newcom.

In a brief ceremony this morning, Gov. Steve Beshear formally dedicate construction of the new U.S. 641 that will eventually tie Marion to Interstate 69. Beshear was joined by Rep. Mike Cherry (D-Princeton), Sen. Dorsey Ridley (D-Henderson) who drove by car from Frankfort, and promptly returned to the Capitol for Day 30 of the 2012 legislative session.

The governor did not visit the primary site of construction in Crayne, but instead made his remarks christening the four-lane road after touching down in a state helicopter and traveling to the Ed-Tech Center in Marion. The center is about a mile from where the new U.S. 641 will tie into the existing corridor.

The new state roadway, the first to be constructed in Crittenden County in decades, has truly been a bipartisan effort.

The project, with roots as far back as 1990, was hatched under the leadership of Democratic Gov. Paul Patton in 1999 by then-Judge-Executive Victor “Pippi” Hardin, a Republican. Crittenden County’s representation in Frankfort has been Democratic — Rep.  Cherry and Sens. Paul Herron and Dorsey Ridley, both from Henderson — the entire 13 years since Hardin first pleaded the case for four-lane access to Marion for economic reasons. Subsequent judge-executives Fred Brown and Perry Newcom, meantime, are both Republicans like Hardin.

Late last year, when Cherry announced he would not seek re-election to his House seat, he called the construction of U.S. 641 one of his proudest achievements of his time in Frankfort. Hardin, too, has called it his most important work while judge-executive.

Meantime, Gov. Beshear, just weeks into his second term, has been in office during the critical phases of securing money to ensure construction of this first leg of U.S. 641 to Fredonia. The second leg, from Fredonia to I-69, is still awaiting property acquisitions and a determined route, but the governor assured the dozens in attendance at today meeting that the project would get finished.