CONGRESSMAN ROGERS ANNOUNCES I-66 BYPASS FUNDING Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TransAmerica Corridor, Inc. applauds $85 Million INFRA Grant for Somerset Northern Bypass (I-66) Congressman Hal Rogers announces third-largest federal transportation grant in Kentucky history; federal funding for the I-66 Bypass now totals $167 million.

SOMERSET, KENTUCKY — SEPTEMBER 29, 2026

TransAmerica Corridor, Inc. the nonprofit leading the effort to complete and extend the congressionally authorized Future Interstate 66 Corridor, today congratulated Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers (KY-05). At a press conference in Somerset, he announced that the Somerset Northern Bypass has received an $85 million grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Infrastructure for Rebuilding America (INFRA) program. Congressman Rogers’ office said the award is the third-largest federal transportation grant in Kentucky’s history.

With the INFRA award, federal funding secured by Congressman Rogers for the project now totals $167 million. That total includes two Community Project Funding earmarks, from fiscal years 2024 and 2026, totaling $82 million. Construction could begin as early as summer 2027.

The Northern Bypass is a new route of about eight miles around the north side of Somerset. It will connect the US 27 / Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Expressway area to the Hal Rogers Parkway at the KY 461/KY 80 interchange. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s FY 2026–2032 Six-Year Highway Plan lists the project as the “Somerset Northern Bypass (I-66).” The project has long been central to Interstate 66 planning in Kentucky. KYTC’s 2000 Southern Kentucky Corridor (I-66) Planning Study named the Somerset Northern Bypass the first-priority segment of I-66 between Somerset and London.

Two congressionally designated High Priority Corridors meet in Somerset. The East-West TransAmerica Corridor is High Priority Corridor 3 under Section 1105(c)(3) of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, as amended. In Kentucky, federal law describes it as generally following the Louie B. Nunn Parkway corridor from Somerset to Columbia, to Glasgow, to I-65. High Priority Corridor 97, under Section 1105(c)(97), is the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Expressway from I-65 in Barren County to US 27 in Somerset, and Congress has designated it I-365. The two corridors therefore share a common alignment along the former Cumberland Parkway between I-65 and Somerset. Carrying two designations on the same pavement is routine federal practice and does not replace or cancel either one. I-365 is foreseen as the preliminary auxiliary route to establish the foundation for the I-66 Corridor in the years ahead.

East of Somerset, the Northern Bypass links the Cumberland Expressway with the Hal Rogers Parkway. It advances both corridors toward a continuous east-west connection from I-65 to I-75, then on through eastern Kentucky to Future I-73 in West Virginia near Williamson. That connection is seen as the I-66 Corridor. Federal law recognizes the tie-in: near Williamson, High Priority Corridor 3 shares a common corridor with the I-73/74 Corridor.

Pulaski County Judge Executive Marshall Todd described the bypass as groundwork for an east-west highway system reaching from Paducah, through Pulaski County, to Pikeville. That span follows the Kentucky route Congress set out for the East-West TransAmerica Corridor.

“Today’s announcement is a milestone for Kentucky and for the entire East-West TransAmerica Corridor,” said Robert Spurlock, President & Executive Director of TransAmerica Corridor, Inc. “Congressman Rogers has championed the I-66 Corridor for decades, and the Somerset Northern Bypass shows what happens when federal, state, and local leaders work together. This is how the corridor Congress authorized in 1991 gets built, one funded segment at a time, across all twelve states. It was Missouri District 8 and Kentucky District 5 that got this corridor added to the High Priority Corridor List in 1991.”

In an August 28, 2026 Letter of Support to TransAmerica Corridor, Inc., Congressman Rogers highlighted his Community Project Funding for the Somerset Northern Bypass. Today’s INFRA award builds directly on that investment.

It marks the first I-66 Corridor project to be completed in over a decade.

More information is available at transamericacorridor.com.