Kentucky pays $625K over delay in Jessamine road project

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) – The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has paid $625,000 to a highway contractor over a delay in a central Kentucky road project and agreed to pay the contractor another $850,000 if work doesn’t start by May 1.

The Courier-Journal (http://cjky.it/2bdlRBa ) reports the damage payment was required because the cabinet didn’t secure the land for the project before a deadline to start construction that was set in a contract awarded by the administration of former Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat.

Asa James Swan, chief of staff at the Transportation Cabinet under Republican Gov. Matt Bevin, says it was “incredibly irresponsible” for the Beshear administration to let a project where the right-of-way wasn’t resolved.

Beshear issued a statement saying the damages resulted only because the Bevin administration refused to move the Jessamine County project.

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Information from: The Courier-Journal, http://www.courier-journal.com

Copyright 2016 The Associated Press.