Project began in 2009
BY ROGER SMITH
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
INEZ — A pedestrian bridge and walkway proposed nearly two decades ago could receive another chance at life after District 1 Magistrate Cody Slone raised the Rockcastle Creek Pedway Project during the July meeting of the Martin County Fiscal Court.
The long-delayed project would connect Old Route 3 and Boardwalk Street by crossing Rockcastle Creek near Skeeze Ward Manor. The pedestrian and bicycle route would provide residents of the manor and nearby apartments with easier access to the Inez post office, Dollar General and other downtown destinations.
“I know the city and the fiscal court previously had some sort of agreement,” Slone said. “Obviously none of us were here at that time, but it’s something that people down there really need at Skeeze Ward Manor and the apartments there, to have easier access over to the post office, the Dollar Store. Some of them don’t drive, and it’s hard for the wheelchairs and stuff to get around. So that’s one thing I’d like to try to bring back.”
The project dates to 2009 and appears in Kentucky transportation records under that year’s Transportation Enhancement program. Its original estimated cost was $400,000.
The City of Inez invested approximately $35,000 in the project in 2009, an amount equal to about $54,481 in 2026 purchasing power. The city also retained the original drawings and project paperwork at City Hall.
Despite years of planning, funding discussions and multiple attempts to bid the work, construction never began.
In December 2020, the fiscal court adopted a resolution authorizing an application for up to $36,000 from the Local Government Economic Development Fund. The money, drawn from Martin County’s single-county coal severance funds, was intended to help the City of Inez complete construction.
Then-Judge/Executive Bill Davis said a previous county administration had set aside the funding but the Department for Local Government later closed the project account because of delays and returned the money to the county’s primary account.
“The Transportation Cabinet has asked the Fiscal Court to reallocate the funds now that the bid has been awarded,” Davis said at the time.
Officials reported that the state had approved a winning bid and that construction was expected to begin in spring 2021.
Spring passed without construction.
By June 2021, Inez City Commissioners were publicly questioning the delay. They were concerned that continued delays would drive up the project’s cost.
Mayor Ed Daniels then reported that the state had not accepted a bid because the proposals exceeded the available funding.
“The bids came in too high,” Daniels said.
The state had advertised the project twice. The most recent bids, opened in July 2020, ranged from $448,728 to $638,169. Fredrick & May submitted the lowest bid at $448,728, followed by Walker Construction at $514,859 and M & M Service at $638,169.
Former Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Alternatives Program coordinator Kim Thompkins handled the project but later left the position.
The project’s latest verified appearance in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program is in Exhibit A-7 of the fiscal year 2019 STIP, in a project list current as of June 2018. The document listed $274,000 for construction and $27,400 for state-force and project-management costs, for a total federal cost of $301,400.
The dormant project surfaced again during a May 10, 2025, meeting of the Inez City Commission.
Aaron King, a transportation planner for the Big Sandy Area Development District, said he was preparing to seek Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization funding and asked whether the original engineering work had been completed.
Troy Hearn, physical activity and nutrition program coordinator for the Kentucky Department for Public Health and a former Kentucky Transportation Cabinet bicycle and pedestrian planner, proposed conducting a new feasibility study and cost evaluation. Hearn said he and King would work on a funding application.
Commissioners and Daniels told King that the original drawings and project records remained at City Hall.
Slone’s remarks placed the project before county officials once again, with a clear reminder that the delay has consequences for residents who do not drive and for people who use wheelchairs or have difficulty navigating the longer route around Rockcastle Creek.
The Rockcastle Creek Pedway is a City of Inez project. The city holds the original plans and records, and city officials would remain responsible for moving the project forward.
But Slone said the fiscal court also has a choice.
“Martin County previously committed coal severance funding to the pedway, and the county has the financial and administrative means to help its county seat pursue new funding, update the project cost and finally move the proposal toward construction,” he said. “The city has to lead the project, but the county does not have to stand on the sidelines.”