KY Transportation leaders provide update on EKY flooding cleanup efforts

FRANKFORT, Ky (WTVQ)- We’re inching closer to the one year anniversary of historic flooding in eastern Kentucky, where floods devastated families and buildings and left much of the region in shambles.

As the area continues to rebuild, lawmakers and Kentucky Highway officials are discussing cleanup efforts.

On Tuesday, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet provided lawmakers of the Interim Joint Committee on Transportation with an update on their efforts to help rebuild eastern Kentucky. They say while a lot of work has been done, there’s still a lot left to do.

“An enormous part of the challenge is providing folks of the region, those affected with a way to rebuild on land that elevated enough to afford the measure of security against future floods,” says Jim Gray, the Kentucky Transportation Secretary.

During a special session, lawmakers allocated hundreds of millions of dollars to Eastern Kentucky to help repair roads and bridges, sewer systems, and much more.
The committee learned more about how the funds have alleviated pressure on Kentuckians impacted by floods.

KYTC says $200 million dollars has been spent in the cleanup and disposal process. Officials also gave an update on Eastern Kentucky roads and bridges. In the immediate days following the flooding, officials identified at least 500 roadways with damages, including wash outs and roadways slips.
They say significant progress has been made.

“I’m happy to say that all of those washouts have been fully restored. We are still working on those roadway slips and unfortunately we will be working on those for a number of years to come,” says John Moore, the Deputy State Highway Engineer.

So far, clean up crews have removed 160,000 tons of debris from right-a-ways and 330,000 tons of debris from waterways.
Out of the 1100 bridges that were inspected, only 12 have not yet been repaired.

Both the committee and KYTC acknowledged the transportation workers who they say have worked day in and day out to help clean up eastern Kentucky. They say those workers are owed a huge thanks for all they’ve accomplished in the past year.