In Today’s Interview, Stan Ingold speaks with Aric Skaggs, who is the Mountain Parkway Expansion Manager.
State officials held a public hearing for residents in eastern Kentucky to discuss the ongoing expansion of the Mountain Parkway. Around 300 people attended the open-house style meeting at the Magoffin County High School in Salyersville. They got a chance to look at the latest maps and speak with project engineers and other officials working on the expansion.
Aric Skaggs is the Mountain Parkway Expansion Manager. In an interview with WEKU, he said overall, people appeared to have positive things to say about the project.
“For eastern Kentucky to grow, you have to have good infrastructure, great infrastructure. By having this four-lane facility, this is just going to help the people of eastern Kentucky and just help connect up the commonwealth and spur a lot of growth. Overwhelmingly, people were excited about it.”
Skaggs says the completion of Mountain Parkway has been promised for a long time. Skaggs said some have expressed frustration with how long the project has taken, but their work continuing that is not visible right now.
“Most people, don’t really realize a project is happening until they see the bulldozer out there working, but it takes years, if not decades of work prior to that, in terms of planning, design work, environmental studies, permitting, right of way acquisition, utility relocation and funding.”
Skaggs says many were excited to see the progress and hope the completed parkway can boost tourism, industry and other kinds of growth in the region. The project manager says they are looking to have the project completed in six-to-ten years.
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