From my hometown paper, a Christmas X-iday story:
I-66 once was planned as a transcontinental highway, but current plans call for a drastically scaled-back version -- two relatively short segments in Southern and Eastern Kentucky.
And even those have come under fire for being too expensive ($3.5 billion or more for 61 miles of roadway), unlikely to fulfill supporters' claims of an economic-development bonanza and a threat to inflict significant environmental damage.
How much money could 61 miles of roadway save in eastern Kentucky?
Let's say that you can save an hour of time on each trip into the Daniel Boone National Forest. If time is valued at $25/hour, it would take 140 million trips to justify the $3.5 billion price tag.
And then there are the environmental costs:
It would cut through 198 acres of the Daniel Boone, home to sensitive and rare animals and plants whose survival depends on habitat that would be damaged or destroyed.
It could harm the Rockcastle River, a state-designated "wild river" that harbors rare fish and is a major natural, scenic and recreational resource for Kentucky. State law bars construction of a second bridge over the protected section of the river, as envisioned in plans for I-66.
Caves underlying the proposed route are inhabited by many species of rare invertebrates, which could be harmed by chemicals and other pollutants washing off the highway and into the groundwater of Pulaski County's delicate karst terrain.
Blasting and excavation could trigger sinkholes, altering drainage patterns and groundwater flow.
Blockages in the area's massive underground drainage system -- known as Sinking Valley -- could cause flooding, undermining the new road and creating more sinkholes.
Since I might be considered something of an expert in non-market valuation and have conducted a benefit transfer or two, I declare that these resources are priceless, and the devil's road (note: isn't it obvious that I-66 is a thinly veiled reference to I-666) should never be built.
