Mountain advocate., 1919-10-24
u. S. AID HELD UP;
STATE BLAMED
Kentucky Congressman
Tells of Delay in Com
pletin9 Dixie Highway

man j. NJ. Robson when interviewed
by a representative of the Louisville
Herald, relative to the progress of
the work on the Dixie Highway from
Cincinnati through Kentucky to the
Virginia and Tennessee lines said:
Congress has appropriated some
thing over 100000, to aid Ken
lucky and the counties in that state
to build highways. The Dixie High
way runs through Kentucky from
Mt. Vernon, London. Corbin, and
from Corbin one branch goes thru
Barbourville, Pineville, Middlesboro
and over Cumberland Gap into Vir-
sinia and Tennessee and the other
branch goes from Corbin through
Williamsburg to the Tennessee line.
There is a good pike from Cincinnati
to the Rockcastle County line, and
Virginia nd Tennessee have both
built up to the Kentucky line. The
roads are in bad shape in Rockcas-
tie, Laurel. Whitley. Knox and in
Bell. These counties have voted
more than million dollars in bonds
to construct their main highways.
The main lines through these coun-
ties! have been practically all grad
ed. Laurel. Whitley, Bell and Knox
have macadamized a part Of their
roads.
Last spring the representatives of
these several counties and myself
met with Mr.. Wiley, the state road
commissioner, and he agreed to rec
ommend federal aid to aid these
counties in finishing the Dixie high
way through them. These several
counties made the necessary sur
veys and maps to secure this fede-
raj aid and also arranged to get
their part of the money. Mr.. Wiley
recognized that this work was very
essential as the Dixie Highway thru
these counties would have to be COM
pleted so that the people travelling
from the North could get through
the state to Virginia, Tennessee and
on South and persons coming from
Virginia, Tennessee and other points
could get through Kentucky to the
North. In other words the Dixie
Highway in Whitley. Bell, Knox .Lau-
rel and Rockcastle is the connecting
link between the North and the
South. | am advised that the road
departments in these counties have
made all of the necessary surveys
and maps as are required by the
State Department but none of these
projects have been sent to Washing
ton yet.
The Dixie Highway cannot get
federal aid until the project is ap-
proved by the Kentucky State Road
Department and sent to Washington
The State Road Department claims
that a federal engineer from the Chi
cago district has been holding the
matter up. | have visited the Road
Department here at Washington a
number of times and today learned
that nothing had been sent in from
the Road Department at Frankfort.
| have been urging the State Road
Department at Frankfort to send on
these projects to Washington. so that
they might be acted upon by the fed
eral Road Department here and this
work put forward. Nothing can be
done until the State Road Depart
ment at Frankfort approves and
sends in these projects for this fed
eral aid.
The Federal Road Department
here has given no instructions as to
widening the grade of the roads in
these counties and they have given
no instructions to that effect, so they
advise me. | understand that the
State Road Department is charging
this delay to the Federal Road De-
partment here. In view of the fact
that no plans or projects have been
approved by the State Road Depart
ment and sent here l cannot see how
the Road Department here at WASH
ington is to blame. l have time and
again advised the Road Department
at Frankfort that nothing gould be
done until they approved the plans
and sent them here to Washington
and believed that the Road Depart
ment here will approve such plans
II they are sent here by the Road
Department of Kentucky. l do not
want to do anybody an injustice but
feel that the delay is due to the
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