Kentucky pays $625K over road project delay

FRANKFORT, Ky. – The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet recently paid $625,000 in damages to a highway contractor because the cabinet had not secured the land for a road project before a deadline to start construction that was set in a contract awarded by the Beshear administration.

Moreover, the state has agreed to pay the contractor, The Allen Company, of Lexington, another $850,000 of its scarce Road Fund dollars if work on this big project in Jessamine County does not begin by May 1.

And the damages payment has opened a new front in the war between Republican Gov. Matt Bevin's administration and that of his predecessor, Democrat Steve Beshear.

The Bevin administration says it was obliged to make the initial damages payment because Beshear’s administration irresponsibly rushed to award the contract before Beshear left office without obtaining the needed right-of-way and resolving utility relocation issues.

Read more: http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2016/08/17/ky-pays-625k-over-road-project-delay/87909000/