Olmstead $

I had heard that the Olmstead Locks and Dam project was way over budget and way behind schedule. When Adam and I were in the Paducah area over Memorial Day weekend for a family wedding, we took off for a few hours one morning so we could look around the lower river. We stopped at the post office in Olmstead and got directions to the project, and this is what we saw:

Considering the weather and where the sun was, it was not a good morning to get pictures, but it was a good day to see how much had been done and how much remained.

Here's an article in The Courier-Journal of Louisville on the status of the project. Whether Mitch McConnell and Dick Durbin have the ability and/or the desire to keep the project going I have no idea.

All I know for sure is that these big public works projects get more and more expensive. When it costs a billion dollars to build a bridge over the Ohio River, you're talking real money. And that's apparently nothing compared to the cost of building a new locks and dam from scratch.


And a tip of the hat to Richard McCoy of Huntington for sending the link.