KentuckyRoads.com - State Legislator Proposes Two Names for Hal Rogers Parkway; Patton Proposes Renaming US-25E to Honor Boone

State Legislator Proposes Two Names for Hal Rogers Parkway; Patton Proposes Renaming US-25E to Honor Boone

Posted: 1-Oct-2003 2:03AM CDT

Topics: [2004 Regular Session] [Bell County] [Clay County] [Daniel Boone Parkway/Hal Rogers Parkway] [Knox County] [Laurel County] [Leslie County] [Governor Paul E. Patton] [Perry County] [US 25]

State Representative Brent Yonts has filed a resolution to place two names on the parkway connecting London and Hazard. Yonts proposes the parkway be officially known as both the Hal Rogers Parkway and the Daniel Boone Parkway. He hopes that the compromise proposal will please those wishing to keep Daniel Boone.s name on the parkway and still provide recognition for U.S. congressman Hal Rogers. Rep. Rogers helped secure federal money to remove tolls from the parkway; In May, Governor Paul Patton directed that the parkway be renamed as the Hal Rogers Parkway. Yonts. resolution cannot be voted on until the General Assembly convenes in January.

Meanwhile, Governor Patton proposed renaming US 25E between Corbin and Middlesboro to honor Daniel Boone. US 25E generally follows the route of Boone.s Wilderness Road. The road has been upgraded to four lanes over the pass 20 years.

More information: Courier-Journal: E. Kentucky parkway could get 2 names (Sept. 11, 2003) , Associated Press: Patton Makes Suggestion To Solve Parkway Uproar (Sept. 19, 2003) , Courier-Journal: Governor would name U.S.25E for Boone to defuse controversy (Sept. 20, 2003)

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Comment posted by Resident of Hazard on 6-Oct-2003 8:53PM CDT

NOT GOOD ENOUGH!Hal Rogers name should not be on the Parkway. It should remain the Daniel Boone Parkway, period.An honorable figure such as Daniel Boone does not need a politician hanging onto his coattails. Why doesn't Hal Rogers do the respectable thing, show some integrity and ask for his name to be removed? We are the laughingstock of other states who cannot believe that Daniel Boone, the greatest frontiersman in our history, would have his name summarily replaced by a lowly politician. This issue will not go away till the Daniel Boone Parkway signs are back up. To Governor Paul Patton: Haven't you done enough damage to this state already? You had no right to intrude on our lives here in eastern Ky and try to force this on us. The citizens want the parkway to remain as The Daniel Boone Parkway. Naming US25 to honor Boone will not sway the people into giving up on this. Why aren't more of our local leaders speaking out on this? I think they are afraid of cutting off the gravy train from Hal Rogers. What a pity!

Comment posted by clay county resident on 7-Nov-2003 11:47AM CST

SOMETIMES GOOD INTENTIONS WILL GET YOU NOWHERE. WE APPRECIATE THE THOUGHT, BUT IT IS THE DANIEL BOONE PARKWAY OR NOTHING!!!! IT WILL ALWAYS BE THE DANIEL BOONE PARKWAY TO ME. SO IF YOU REALLY WANT TO "MAKE THINGS RIGHT" CHANGE IT BACK TO DANIEL BOONE. YEAH PAUL PATTON IS THE BIGGEST JOKE THIS STATE HAS EVER HAD FOR A GOVERNOR AND HIS LITTLE SIDEKICK CODELL, PROBABLY DOES NOT EVEN KNOW WHOM DANIEL BOONE IS. THANK GOD THEIR REIGN IS OVER AND NOW, MAYBE ERNIE FLETCHER CAN STRAIGHTEN THEIR MESS OUT. HOW ABOUT IT ERNIE, CHANGE IT BACK. OH YEAH, WHY DOES EASTERN KENTUCKY ALWAYS VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS WHEN THEY REALLY HAVE NEVER DONE ANYTHING FOR THIS AREA. SURE WOULD LIKE TO KNOW. THANK YOU.

Comment posted by E Hartson on 25-Nov-2003 6:12AM CST

Its a shame to honor someone for simply doing the job they should have been doing all along....Its not the point that Eastern Ky is getting a lot from Hal Rogers....The point is most of those before him HAVENT done their job! You dont reward a man for doing what he should be...

Hal you solve the poverty problem....The tourism problem....The Job Problem....The Drug problems......and the education problem and all the other hundreds of problems that hurt Eastern Kentucky and then and only then will you rate having your name on the parkway.....But you dont take a man who was fearless ....risking his life....and and discovered new grounds and replace an honor to him with a guy that was simply doing what he's paid to do. All the while shining a seat in a chair in DC.

Comment posted by Robert Brooks on 13-Jan-2004 1:25AM CST

Though I live in Texas, my family comes from Hazard. The Daniel Boone Parkway has been the end of a long journey east since I was a small child. I can mention this fact with pride to anyone, anywhere in the country: "Hazard is at the end of the Daniel Boone Parkway."

Am I now supposed to say, "Yeah, I go down some backroad named after some politician who scored a drop-in-the-bucket Federal grant?"

Compared with the billions that are proposed for I-66, the ~$25 million to get rid of the tolls is a trivial amount. I can't compare it with any projects in Kentucky, but it's 1/10 the cost of a single Dallas intersection (see http://www.dallashighfive.org/) . This bit of pork barrel politics, while nice when I'm going from Bowling Green to Hazard, hardly warrants dropping a name known across the US for a name hardly known outside the state.

I was proud to pay the toll on the Daniel Boone Parkway... I'll be embarassed to even drive the [little-known shady politician's name] highway.

And let's face it... naming anything after any politician who's not even out of office yet is asking for trouble.

Comment posted by C. Bingham of Hazard on 13-Jan-2004 4:54AM CST

I have lived here for 13 years, and the Daniel Boone Parkway has ALWAYS been a part of my life, as well PERRY COUNTY'S HISTORY! I Strongley beleive that it should remain Daniel Boone Parkway. It always has and always will be the Daniel Boone Parkway to me. Even if it is named "the hal rodgers parkays" To all of us i eastern Ky. It has been and always will be "THE DANIEL BOONE PARKWAY"

Updated: 13-Jan-2004 4:54AM CST