Senator Wheeler seeks Hal Rogers Parkway designation and four-lane funding pathway for eastern Kentucky

Senator Philip Wheeler introduced House Bill 443 to extend the Hal Rogers Parkway designation from Hazard along Kentucky Route 80 through Perry, Knott and Floyd counties, saying the change could improve the project's prospects for federal funding to four‑lane remaining two- and three‑lane sections.

"This is a very simple little bill," Senator Philip Wheeler said, identifying himself as representing the 30th Senate District in Pike County. He told the committee the designation would lengthen the named parkway so the corridor from London to an area south of Prestonsburg would be more competitive for federal four‑lane funding.

Wheeler said some segments between London and Hazard remain two and three lanes and that extending the parkway could "put us in a greater advantage of achieving federal funding to make the whole line a 4 lane highway" and thus "further open up Eastern Kentucky for development." Committee members moved and seconded the bill; the committee reported House Bill 443 favorably with the expression of opinion that it should pass.

The bill, as described in committee, is a route designation and a tool supporters say could aid future funding applications. The committee recorded an affirmative roll call and advanced the bill to the next legislative stage with an expression of opinion favoring passage.

No specific federal funding commitment or timeline was discussed during the committee's consideration; Wheeler and other members framed the bill as a planning and designation step intended to strengthen future grant or federal-aid applications.