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Beshear touts record investments, breaks ground on Brent Spence corridor and companion bridge without tolls
Summary
Governor Andy Beshear highlighted billions in new investments, announced specific business expansions and site‑development support, and said the companion Brent Spence bridge will be built without tolls, framing the projects as nonpartisan, generational wins for Kentucky's economy.
Gov. Andy Beshear on Monday framed recent multi‑billion‑dollar announcements as evidence that Kentucky is "breaking every economic development record" and said the administration is prioritizing long‑term infrastructure projects including the Brent Spence Corridor and a companion bridge that will be built "without tolls."
Beshear led the Team Kentucky briefing by citing a string of major wins: he said the administration announced $6.3 billion in recent investments and, since he took office, "over 1,300 new location and expansion projects totaling over $50,000,000,000" and more than 70,000 new jobs. He called the results a multiyear record for wages and tourism and said the projects show a nonpartisan path to economic progress.
The governor listed projects approved by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority, naming companies and counties: Abastos Wholesale (Jefferson County), Infineon Technologies Americas Corporation (Fayette County), Pittman Creek Wholesale (Lincoln County), Rad Accessories (Marshall County), and US Smokeless Tobacco Company (Christian County). He highlighted a US Smokeless Tobacco expansion in Hopkinsville that he said will create "over 200 new Western Kentucky jobs." Beshear credited the state's KPDI site‑preparation program for helping companies open quickly and announced $750,000 in state support for the Allen Veil site in Floyd County, a roughly 40‑acre property with about 30 acres ready for development.
On regional infrastructure, Beshear called the Brent Spence Corridor "generational," saying it required "a tremendous amount of planning and coordination" and calling companion‑bridge construction without tolls an administration priority. He framed the project as an intergovernmental, nonpartisan achievement and urged local engagement on large investments.
The governor also cautioned that large projects should deliver community value: "If a company's gonna make $1,000,000,000, $5,000,000,000, $20,000,000,000 investment in the community, they better get in that community," he said, arguing companies should pay for their own power, resolve water and environmental questions, and not seek outsized tax breaks.
Beshear closed the economic portion of the briefing by thanking local leaders for partnerships that support job creation and site readiness. The administration said it will continue to promote projects that it judges to be a net benefit to the hosting communities.
The next procedural steps noted by the governor were routine: projects approved by the finance authority will proceed to permitting and local review; site‑development grants and KPDI investments will continue to prepare locations for private investment.
