April 14, 2012 by William.

Heading south from I-44, I-53 would use US 65, most of which is already a freeway between Springfield and Branson.  South of Branson, I-53 uses an upgraded US 65 all the way to I-40 at Conway, Arkansas.  I-53 would then overlap I-40 to I-30 at North Little Rock.  I-53 would then overlap I-30 to the junction of I-30, I-440, and I-530.  From there, I-53 replaces I-530 outright all the way to its current terminus in Pine Bluff.  From there, I-53 follows the US 65/US 425 overlap to where it splits, and then uses US 425 all the way to I-20 at Rayville, LA.  From I-20, I-53 continues to use US 425 all the way to US 61 south of Natchez, Mississippi.  I-53 then uses US 61 all the way to the Baton Rouge area, where it would meet and supplant I-110 all the way to I-10 in Downtown Baton Rouge.

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October 29, 2011 by William.

This begins a series of blog posts outlining ideas I had to expand the Interstate Highway System, which will involve some renumbering of existing routes to get rid of the oddities that have emerged over time (like I-24 and I-26 being largely North/South routes), and to facilitate expansion of the system.

Here’s a new route to get us started:

 Intestate 28 - Decatur, Alabama (I-65) to Bolton, North Carolina (Future I-20)

 This route would begin by replacing Alabama’s I-565 in its entirety.  I-28 would then follow US 72 from Huntsville, Alabama to I-24 near New Hope, Tennessee.  From there I-28 would overtake I-24 through the Chattanooga area to South Cleveland, Tennessee.  I-28 would then follow or replace US 74 all the way to Rockingham, North Carolina.  Through Gastonia and part of Charlotte, I-28 would overlap with I-85.  East of Rockingham, I-28 would replace an already planned expansion of I-74 in North Carolina, which consists primarily of upgrades to US 74.  I-28 would end at Bolton, where a planned extension of I-20 would carry traffic headed to Wilmington.

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October 23, 2011 by William.

New Mexico Bowl - Wyoming vs. Florida International (not enough eligible teams from Pac 12)

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl - Ball State vs. Nevada

New Orleans Bowl - UTEP vs. Louisiana-Lafayette

Beef ‘O’ Brady’s Bowl - Western Kentucky vs. Pittsburgh (not enough eligible teams from C-USA)

Poinsettia Bowl - San Diego State vs. San Jose State

Las Vegas Bowl - TCU vs. California

Hawai’i Bowl - Hawai’i vs. Southern Miss

Independence Bowl - Colorado State vs. North Carolina State

Little Caesars Pizza Bowl - Purdue vs. Toledo

Belk Bowl - Miami (FL) vs. Rutgers

Military Bowl - Virginia vs. Northern Illinois (Navy not bowl eligible)

Holiday Bowl - Texas vs. Arizona State

Champs Sports Bowl - Georgia Tech vs. West Virginia

Alamo Bowl - Texas A&M vs. Oregon

Armed Forces Bowl - Brigham Young vs. Southern Methodist

Pinstripe Bowl - Eastern Michigan vs. Notre Dame (not enough eligible teams from the Big 12)

Music City Bowl - Wake Forest vs. Mississippi State

Insight Bowl - Texas Tech vs. Illinois

Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas - Baylor vs. Iowa

Sun Bowl - Florida State vs. Washington

Liberty Bowl - Houston vs. Vanderbilt

Fight Hunger Bowl - North Carolina vs. Utah (Army not bowl eligible)

Chick-Fil-A Bowl - Florida vs. Virginia Tech

TicketCity Bowl - Ohio State vs. Tulsa

Outback Bowl - Wisconsin vs. Georgia

Capital One Bowl - Penn State vs. South Carolina

Gator Bowl - Nebraska vs. Auburn

Cotton Bowl - Oklahoma vs. Arkansas

BBVA Compass Bowl - Syracuse vs. Ohio (not enough teams from the SEC)

GoDaddy.com Bowl - Temple vs. Arkansas State

Rose Bowl - Michigan State vs. Stanford

Fiesta Bowl - Kansas State vs. Boise State

Sugar Bowl - Alabama vs. Michigan

Orange Bowl - Clemson vs. Cincinnati

BCS Title Game - LSU vs. Oklahoma State

Right now I have neither Kentucky nor Louisville making bowl games. Tennessee and Ole Miss are winnable games, but the Wildcats would need to beat either Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, or Georgia assuming they beat Tennessee and Ole Miss. Of Louisville’s five remaining games, the Cardinals have West Virginia and Syracuse, likely meaning they need to beat all of Connecticut, Pittsburgh, and South Florida, who currently all have similar records.

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April 6, 2011 by William.

The WAC is expected to announce new members next month as it tries to rebuild itself as a FBS (nee Division I-A) conference.  Meanwhile, the strongest conference in FCS (nee Division I-AA), the CAA, seems to be in great danger of falling apart.  Why not work together?

Step 1:  The WAC still needs another full member.  We’ll volunteer Lamar, currently of the Southland conference, to move up from FCS to FBS alongside fellow Southland schools Texas State and Texas-San Antonio, who have already announced their moves to the WAC.

Step 2:  The WAC invites James Madison, Old Dominion, Georgia State, Delaware, and Towson, all of the CAA, to join for football only.  The WAC also invites Charlotte (Atlantic 10) for football only.

WAC Football West - San Jose State, New Mexico State, Utah State, Idaho, Texas State, UTSA, Lamar
WAC Football East - Louisiana Tech, Georgia State, Charlotte, James Madison, Old Dominion, Towson, Delaware

If the MAC does not add UMass as its fourteenth football member, they could be in play for the WAC as well.

This arrangement lasts for five seasons, which is long enough for all of the football-only members to complete their FCS-to-FBS transitions.  In all likelihood the 6 incoming affiliates for football would likely play one season as an independent prior to beginning WAC conference play, as those schools would not count as FBS opponents for scheduling purposes their first year.

Step 3:  The CAA invites Georgia State, James Madison, Old Dominion, Towson, and Delaware to move their football membership from the WAC to CAA.  The CAA also invites Charlotte, Temple, and Massachussets to leave the Atlantic 10 and join the CAA for all sports.  The CAA also adds an upgrading Stony Brook to balance out at 9 football members and 16 for all sports. (*non-football member)

CAA North - UMass, Northeastern*, Hofstra*, Stony Brook, Temple, Drexel*, Towson, Delaware
CAA South - Georgia State, Charlotte, UNC Wilmington*, James Madison, Old Dominion, George Mason*, VCU*, William & Mary*

WAC - San Jose State, Idaho, Utah State, New Mexico State, UTSA, Texas State, Lamar, Louisiana Tech, Denver* (and possibly others)

Atlantic 10 - St. Louis, Xavier, Dayton, Duquesne, St. Bonaventure, Richmond, George Washington, St. Joseph’s, La Salle, Fordham, Rhode Island

The CAA balloons to 16, but keeps or improves its presence in significang East Coast markets (Boston, Philadelphia, New York, etc.), has at least 9 for football (VCU is considering starting a team, which could give them 10), and adds some schools with some history of success in basketball.

The Atlantic 10 is left with only 1 public school (Rhode Island), still has a noticeable geographic outlier in St. Louis, and loses a strong Temple basketball program.  If Rhode Island stays the Atlantic 10 probably looks at adding Butler of the Horizon League.  If Rhode Island leaves it is possible the Atlantic 10 stays at 10 schools.

The WAC gets time to get back on its feet, extra conference games (even if they are halfway across the country), and exposure on the East Coast.  After the football affiliates leave, WAC schools can leverage their existing intersectional rivalries against CAA schools in non-conference play and in bowl games.

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November 21, 2010 by William.

BCS Title Game: Oregon vs. Auburn

Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Stanford

Sugar Bowl: LSU vs. Ohio State

Orange Bowl: Pittsburgh vs. Virginia Tech

Fiesta Bowl: Oklahoma State vs. Boise State

New Mexico (Mountain West vs. WAC): *UTEP (no Mountain West) vs. Western Michigan (no WAC)

Humanitarian (MAC vs. WAC): Temple vs. Nevada

New Orleans (C-USA vs. Sun Belt): Southern Methodist vs. FIU

St. Petersburg (Big East vs. C-USA): Louisville vs. East Carolina

Las Vegas (Mountain West vs. Pac 10): Utah vs. *Toledo (no Pac 10)

Poinsettia (Mountain West vs. Navy): San Diego State vs. Navy

Hawaii (C-USA vs. Hawaii): Tulsa vs. Hawaii

Little Caesars (Big 10 vs. MAC): *Connecticut (no Big 10) vs. Ohio

Independence (ACC vs. Mountain West): Georgia Tech vs. Air Force

Champs Sports (ACC vs. Big East): Florida State vs. West Virginia

Insight (Big 10 vs. Big 12): Michigan vs. Missouri

Military Bowl (ACC vs. C-USA or Army): Clemson vs. Army

Texas (Big 10 vs. Big 12): Northwestern vs. Baylor

Alamo (Big 12 vs. Pac 10): California vs. Oklahoma

Armed Forces (C-USA vs. MWC): Southern Miss vs. BYU

Pinstripe (Big 12 vs. Big East): Texas Tech vs. Notre Dame

Music City (ACC vs. SEC): Boston College vs. Georgia

Holiday (Big 12 vs. Pac 10): Arizona vs. Texas A&M

Meineke (ACC vs. Big East): Maryland vs. Syracuse

Sun (ACC vs. Pac 10): Miami (FL) vs. UCLA

Liberty (C-USA vs. SEC): UCF vs. Mississippi State

Chick-Fil-A (ACC vs. SEC): NC State vs. Florida

TicketCity (Big 10 vs. Big 12): Illinois vs. Kansas State

Outback (Big 10 vs. SEC): Iowa vs. South Carolina

Capital One (Big 10 vs. SEC): Michigan State vs. Alabama

Gator (Big 10 vs. SEC): Penn State vs. Kentucky

GoDaddy.com (MAC vs. Sun Belt): Northern Illinois vs. Troy

Cotton (Big 12 vs. SEC): Nebraska vs. Arkansas

BBVA Compass (Big East vs. SEC): South Florida vs. *Louisiana-Monroe (no SEC)

Fight Hunger (Pac 10 vs. WAC): *North Carolina (No Pac 10) vs. Fresno State

ACC, Big East, and Conference USA have teams to spare thanks in part to Notre Dame and Army being bowl eligible (assuming Louisville does beat Rutgers).  The Pac 10 losing USC to probation and placing two teams in the BCS bowls causes them to fall short of their contractual obligations.  The Sun Belt has a chance to usurp an SEC bowl slot if Louisiana-Monroe can beat Louisiana-Lafayette and Kentucky can beat Tennessee.

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May 20, 2009 by William.

Tulane left the SEC in 1964, and Georgia Tech left the SEC in 1966.

Tulane would spend three decades as an independent in football, until Conference USA kicked off in 1996.  Tulane’s other sports began in the Metro Conference in 1975, which became Conference USA in 1995.

Georgia Tech was also a founding member of the Metro Conference, although the Yellow Jackets would leave in 1978 (Football would remain independent until 1982).

Had both schools stayed in the SEC, the SEC would have the same lineup of 12 schools it did in 1940:

West - Tulane, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Alabama, Auburn
East - Florida, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Kentucky

The Pac 10, currently college football’s most stable conference, has had the same lineup since 1978 when it added Arizona and Arizona State.

With two of the Metro’s six real-life founding members unavailable, the Metro would have likely added South Carolina, who left the ACC in 1971, in 1975 instead of 1983.  Florida State joined the Metro in 1976, followed by Virginia Tech in 1979, and Southern Miss in 1982.

Metro (1982) - Southern Mississippi, Florida State, South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis, St. Louis

Things change significantly in 1991:

* Arkansas would have never left the Southwest Conference in 1991, and South Carolina would not have left the Metro Conference that same year to join the SEC.
* Florida State still leaves the Metro for the ACC
* The Great Midwest Conference never forms-instead, the Metro adds UAB, VCU, Old Dominion, UNC-Charlotte, and South Florida, all from the Sun Belt.
* Marquette stays in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now the Horizon League), who also adds independent DePaul (went to the Great Midwest in 1991) and keeps Dayton (who joined the Great Midwest in 1993).

Thanks largely to the grumblings of Louisville, the Metro never sponsored football.  As the conference only had six football members prior to 1991, and five after that in this scenario, that still holds.

The Sun Belt still merges with the American South, and keeps the Sun Belt name.

Metro (1991):
East - South Carolina, Virginia Tech, VCU, Old Dominion, South Florida, UNC-Charlotte
West - Southern Mississippi, Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis, St. Louis, UAB

Sun Belt (1991):
West - UALR, Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, Southwestern Louisiana, UTPA, Lamar
East - WKU, South Alabama, Jacksonville, Central Florida, New Orleans

ACC (1991):
Florida State, Clemson, UNC, Duke, Wake Forest, NC State, Virginia, Maryland

Virginia Tech and South Carolina get football-only inviations to the Big East in 1991. Central Florida leaves the Sun Belt in 1992 to play in the Atlantic Sun and football in the MAC.

The great realignment of 1995 plays out differently as well.  In real life, the Big 8 took four from the Southwest Conference, which at that time had all of its members in the state of Texas.  With Arkansas on the board, the Big 12 looks slightly different:

Big 12 (1995):
North - Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Nebraska
South - Arkansas, Texas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State

Baylor, Houston, TCU, Rice, and SMU are now left out in the cold in Southwest Conference.  Sun Belt members Louisiana Tech, SW Louisiana, and Arkansas State play football in the Big West.  The SWC adds the three Sun Belt football members, and Southern Misssisppi and Memphis from the Metro.

Southwest (1995):
Baylor, Houston, TCU, Rice, SMU, Arkansas State, Louisiana Tech, SW Louisiana, Memphis, Southern Mississippi

Metro (1995):
South Carolina, Virginia Tech, VCU, Old Dominion, South Florida, UNC-Charlotte, Louisville, Cincinnati, St. Louis, UAB

The Sun Belt adds Florida International and North Texas for all sports in 1998 (replacing Jacksonville and UTPA).  Middle Tennessee State joins.  The 3 I-A football members play football in the Big West.

Sun Belt (2001):
North Texas, UALR, Lamar, New Orleans, Louisiana-Monroe, South Alabama, FIU, MTSU, WKU

WAC (2001):
Pacifc - Hawaii, Fresno State, San Diego State, San Jose State, Utah, UNLV
Mountain - Wyoming, Colorado State, Air Force, New Mexico, UTEP, BYU

Big West (2001):
Full members - Boise State, Utah State, Idaho, New Mexico State, Nevada,
Non-football members - Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Pacifc, Cal Poly-SLO, Cal State Fullerton
Football-only members - FIU, MTSU, Louisana-Monroe, Tulsa

The 8-team ACC gets the expansion itch in 2005, and raids the Big East, inviting Virginia Tech, Miami-FL, Syracuse, and Boston College.  The Big East adds South Florida, Louisville, Cincinnati for all-sports, the remainder of South Carolina, and non-football members DePaul and Marquette, giving the league 8 for football and 16 overall.

The Southwest Conference adds UAB (Metro) and Central Florida (Atlantic Sun/MAC football), and changes its name to Conference USA.

The Sun Belt loses Lamar, but adds North Texas, Tulsa, Troy, Marshall, and Florida Atlantic.  The five remaining football members of the Big West get football-only memberships in the Sun Belt.

The remaining four schools in the Metro Conference call it a day.  All but St. Louis join the CAA.  St. Louis rejoins the Horizon League.

Sun Belt (2005):
West - Tulsa, North Texas, UALR, New Orleans, WKU, MTSU
East - South Alabama, Troy, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Marshall, East Carolina
Football only - Idaho, Utah State, New Mexico State, Nevada, San Jose State

WAC (2005):
Pacific - Hawaii, Fresno State, San Jose State, San Diego State, UNLV, Utah
Mountain - Wyoming, Colorado State, Air Force, New Mexico, BYU, UTEP

ACC (2005):
Atlantic - Syracuse, Florida State, Clemson, Maryland, North Carolina, North Carolina State
Coastal - Virginia Tech, Miami-FL, Boston College, Virginia, Duke, Wake Forest

Big East (2005):
Football - South Carolina, South Florida, Louisville, Cincinnati, Rutgers, Connecticut, Pittsburgh, West Virginia
Non-football - Notre Dame, Providence, DePaul, Marquette, Georgetown, Villanova, Seton Hall, St. John’s

Conference USA (2005):
West - Baylor, Houston, TCU, Rice, SMU, Arkansas State
East - Louisiana, Lousiana Tech, Southern Miss, UAB, Central Florida, Memphis

Big West (2005) (no longer sponsors football):
Boise State, Utah State, Idaho, New Mexico State, Nevada, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Pacifc, Cal Poly-SLO, Cal State Fullerton, UC Riverside

The five Big West football-playing schools and Pacific reportedly meet in airport, and talk about inviting San Jose State, Fresno State, and Hawaii to a new conference, tentatively named the Mountain West.  Pacific would reportedly be given six years to move back up to FBS-long enough to satisfy the automatic bid requirements in basketball.

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April 29, 2009 by William.

Alabama has nearly 4.66 million people and 67 of them.  California has 36.76 million people and 58 of them.  Kentucky has 4.27 million people and 120 of them.  What are they? Counties.  As someone who’s been to more than 90 of Kentucky’s 120 counties, I can assure you that Kentucky has too many.

Given that cutting back on the number of counties would likely result in some layoffs-although some of those could come as much as 10 years down the road since Kentucky’s constitution already requires merging counties to maintain branch offices in each of the former counties-we don’t want to cut back too far initially.

Here are the 63 counties that I propose:

• Mississippi:  Former Hickman, Fulton, and Carlisle.  These 3 counties along the Mississippi River are experiencing little to negative population growth.  The county seat would be Clinton in the former Hickman County.
• McCracken:  McCracken would absorb Ballard, and the seat would remain in Paducah.
• Graves:  no changes, due to the fairly large area of this county.  Graves borders all the three counties that make up Mississippi County (see above).
• Marshall:  Marshall absorbs Calloway.  The new seat would be Benton, located in the current Marshall near the Calloway line.
• Crittenden: Crittenden merges with Livingston and keeps its current seat of Marion.
• Lyon:  Lyon joins Caldwell, and seats itself at Princeton in the former Caldwell.
• Christian: Trigg joins forces with the exponentially more populous Christian, and the seat remains at Hopkinsville, one of the larger cities in the Commonwealth.  Both Trigg and Christian are part of the Clarksville, Tennessee MSA.
• Todd: Todd survives in name only as it becomes part of Logan County.  Russellville, seat of the former Logan, becomes the new seat.
• Webster:  Webster and Hopkins keep the Webster name, but gets seated at Madisonville in the former Hopkins.
• Union:  The city of Henderson-a suburb of Evansville, Indiana-in Henderson County becomes the seat of a much larger Union.
• Muhlenberg:  Muhlenberg keeps its seat of Greenville and picks up McLean County.
• Daviess:  Daviess and Hancock merge.  Owensboro, the third wheel in the Evansville market, and the third largest city in Kentucky, remains the county seat.
• Butler:  Since Ohio County no longer is on the Ohio River, the Butler name stays.  The former Ohio seat of Hartford is the seat of the new Butler.
• Grayson:  Grayson absorbs Breckenridge and keeps its seat of Leitchfield along the Wendell H. Ford Kentucky Parkway.
• Warren:  Bowling Green, nipping on the heels of Owensboro to become Kentucky’s third larges city, remains the county seat.  Warren picks up Edmonson County, which includes part of Mammoth Cave.
• Simpson:  Simpson picks up Allen as the two counties south of Bowling Green become one.  The former Allen seat of Scottsville becomes the new seat.
• Barren:  Barren keeps its name and its seat of Glasgow while adding its neighbor to the east, Metcalfe.
• Cumberland: Monroe, Cumberland, and Clinton go from three counties to one.  The current Cumberland seat of Burkesville provides a centrally-located seat for the new county.
• Adair:  Adair and Russell become a single county and keep Adair’s seat of Columbia.
• Hart:  Hart keeps its seat of Munfordville along I-65, and adds Green County.
• Nelson:  Nelson and Larue, which have relatively unusual shapes, become one.  Bardstown in the current Nelson remains the seat.
• Taylor:  Located along the line between the Eastern and Central Time Zones, there are no changes for Taylor.
• Washington:  Washington and Marion tie the knot, keeping Marion’s seat of Springfield (with hopes of landing the premiere for the next Simpsons movie).
• Lincoln:  Lincoln keeps its name even though it was born 29 years before Honest Abe.  Lincoln merges with Casey and uses the latter’s seat of Liberty.
• Wayne:  Since McCreary has no incorporated places within its borders, Wayne keeps its seat of Monticello (The Houseboat Capital of the World) while roughly doubling in size.
• Pulaski:  no changes for the county seated at Somerset.
• Knox:  Knox picks up Whitley, and moves its seat to Corbin, the largest city between the two, even though Williamsburg (Whitley) and Barbourville(Knox) were the seats.
• Bell: Bell absorbs Harlan County, and seats at the city of Harlan in the former county of the same name.
• Leslie:  Leslie and Perry (local pronunciation “Purry”) go from being two of the strangest shaped counties in Kentucky to a near-rectangle.  The former Perry seat of Hazard serves as the seat of the new Leslie.
• Letcher:  Letcher takes over its northen neighbor, Knott, and keeps Knott’s seat of Hindman.
• Pike:  no changes for what is already Kentucky’s largest county in area, and one of the top 10 in population.  Pike is one of the few counties in Kentucky that borders two states (West Virginia and Virginia)
• Floyd:  Floyd and Johnson assume the Floyd name and keep Floyd’s seat of Prestonsburg.
• Vinson:  The former Martin and Lawrence counties rename themselves after former US Chief Justice Frederick Moore Vinson, while keeping Martin’s seat of Inez.
• Boyd: Boyd and Greenup merge and move their seats from Catlettsburg (Boyd) and Greenup (Greenup) to Ashland, which straddles the current Boyd-Greenup line.  As a odd footnote, the city of Ashland has a population density almost twice that of Lexington, even though Ashland has 258,000 fewer people.
• Elliott:  Elliott and Carter merge and keep Carter’s seat of Grayson.
• Magoffin:  Magoffin and Morgan counties merge and keep Morgan’s seat of West Liberty (which is 100 miles east of Liberty in what is now Casey County).
• Breathitt:  Because of the size (in area) of Breathitt compared to its neighbors, no changes here.
• Owsley:  Two of Kentucky’s least populous and poorest counties, Lee and Owsley, join forces and try to pump some life into tiny Boonville, currently the seat of Owsely with a population just over 100.
• Clay:  The name stays since Kentucky will want to keep a county named after a cousin of Henry Clay, but the seat moves to one of the fastest growing places in the Commonwealth-London, currently the seat of Laurel.
• Rockcastle:  Rockcastle absorbs Jackson County and keeps the former’s seat of Mt. Vernon, convienently located off I-75.
• Estill:  Estill absorbs Powell, and keeps Estill’s seat of Irvine (pronounced “Irvin”).
• Wolfe:  Wolfe absorbs Menifee, and keeps the former’s seat of Campton.
• Madison:  Madison absorbs Garrard, due to the unusual shape of the latter and the long border between the two.  The new county keeps Madison’s seat of Richmond.
• Clark:  This suburban county in the Lexington area sees no changes.
• Bourbon:  The more rural side of greater Lexington, Bourbon and Nicholas keep Bouron’s seat of Paris.
• Rowan:  Rowan keeps its seat of Morehead and adds Fleming County.
• Bath:  Since most states have a Montgomery County, Bath keeps its name but loses its seat to Montgomery’s seat of Mt. Sterling.
• Lewis:  Lewis and Mason merge, and keeps the latter’s seat of Maysville.
• Bracken:  Bracken swallows Kentucky’s least populous county, Robertson, and keeps its seat of Brooksville.
• Scott:  Scott takes over Harrison, and keeps its seat at the more populous Georgetown-located at the southern end of the county a few miles from Lexington.
• Grant: Grant and Pendleton tie the knot and use Grant’s current seat of Williamstown.
• Miami:  Formed from two of Kentucky’s more populous counties, Kenton and Campbell, Miami County brings a number of Cincinnati’s Kentucky suburbs together.  Newport (Campbell) gets the nod for the county seat over fellow co-county seat Alexandria and Kenton’s seats of Covington and Independence.
• Boone:  Suburban Boone and rural Gallatin merge to bring the southwestern part of Greater Cincinnati together at Boone’s seat of Florence.
• Carroll:  Carroll keeps its seat of Carrollton while merging with tiny Trimble County.
• Henry:  Henry and Owen merge and keep the fomer’s seat of Eminence.
• Lexington-Fayette Urban:  No changes for the only city-county government in Kentucky.
• Woodford:  Kentucky’s wealthiest county absorbs one of the fastest growing, Jessamine.  The new Woodford keeps its seat at Versaillies.
• Mercer:  Mercer and Boyle merge.  Although Danville (Boyle) is better known and slightly larger, the county seat is at the more centrally located Harrodsburg (Mercer)-the oldest city in Kentucky.
• Franklin:  The home of Kentucky’s capital, Frankfort, absorbs nearby Anderson, already part of the Frankfort Micropolitan Statistical Area.  The more populous Frankfort remains the county seat.
• Oldham:  This fast growing suburban/exurban area sees no changes, and escapes being annexed by Louisville (for now).
• Shelby: The state’s sixth fastest-growing county (by percentage) absorbs the state’s fastest-growing county, Spencer.  The two already see quite a bit of commuter traffic between Shelbyville and Taylorsville, as the two seats are only 18 miles apart.  Shelbyville gets the nod as the county seat.
• Jefferson:  The state’s largest county absorbs Bullitt, its neighbor to the south.  Part of Bullitt actually have Louisville mailing addresses.  Since Louisville already has Metro Government (city merged with county), unincorporated Bullitt County would become part of the “city” of Louisville.  The new Jefferson County would have a population approaching 800,000 (roughly 600,000 would be attributed to the unincorporated balance of the county, i.e., “Louisville”).  Jefferson County also picks up part of Fort Knox, which is already a regular commute for many Louisvillians.

Eliminating 57 counties would save Kentucky millions of dollars each year, primarily in salaries (County Judge Executives, Fiscal Court Commissioners, County Clerks, Commonwealth Attorneys, etc.).  The state would also have to spend less administering programs to supervise local governments, such as audits from the Auditor of Public Accounts and the Department of Local Government.  Residents of Louisville and Lexington would see a greater percentage of their taxes stay at home rather than going to support counties that need state assistance to maintain a fully-staffed local government.  Residents across the state would have their lives simplified by their being fewer taxing districts, fewer school districts, having to change their license plates less often when moving, etc.

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April 25, 2009 by William.

Interstate 64 currently exists as a 954-mile freeway from suburban St. Louis, Missouri to Chesapeake, Virginia.  In between, I-64 currently serves such places as Evansville, Indiana (via I-164/Future I-69), Louisville, Lexington, Huntington, Charleston, and Richmond.

My plan would leave the bulk of I-64 unchanged, with 2 major exceptions: adoption of the 8664 plan to bypass Louisville, and a re-routing through Eastern Kentucky.   The plan would open up Louisville’s waterfront, connect Louisville’s East End to Southern Indiana, and better connect Eastern Kentucky to the rest of the state.

The 8664 site discusses the re-routing of the Louisville and Southern Indiana portions of I-64 at length.  If you initially dismissed this plan in the past, you might want to take a look at the rendering of Waterfront Parkway, a surface street that would replace the current Interstate 64, and its connection to the existing I-64 freeway (which they call I-364).

Another tweak I would make for the Louisville area would be to add an exit for Clark Station Road near the Jefferson/Shelby County line, splitting up one of the longest stretches of freeway in Kentucky between exits-and since one of those exits is I-265, that means it’s nearly 11 miles between Blankenbaker Parkway and KY 1848 in Simpsonville.

I-64 would remain unchanged from Simpsonville to Winchester, where I-64 currently has a junction with the Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway.  An upgraded Mountain Parkway-part of which is a freeway, part of which is currently a two-lane highway-would become part of Interstate 64.  I-64 would then cover about 45 miles of new terrain, following US 460/KY 114 towards Pikeville.  In Pikeville, I-64 would meet up and overlap with the already-planned Interstate 66 and continue in to West Virginia.

In West Virginia, I-64 would need to cover very little additional terrain apart from the planned I-66 to rejoin the current I-64 at Crab Orchard, and would generally follow the route of WV 10 and WV 16.

What currently is almost a three-hour trip from Pikeville, Kentucky to Beckley, West Virginia, is reduced to about 45 miles.  The 213 miles between Winchester, Kentucky and Beckley, West Virginia is reduced to about 170 miles.

What happens to the rest of the current I-64 in Kentucky and West Virginia? It could become an extension of Interstate 79, even though it runs east to west like the Interstate 49 extension in Louisiana.  This portion could also be assigned a new number such as I-58 (I-60, I-62, and I-68 would be out of the question because of some US Highways that run through the Lexington area).

Should the Bluegrass Parkway ever connect to I-64 in Lexington, there would be an opportunity to further extend that Interstate designation (whatever it may be) through Lexington, to I-65 in Elizabethtown, down I-65 for a couple of miles, and down the portion of the Western Kentucky parkway not absorbed by I-66.

The I-64/I-77 overlap in West Virginia would simply become I-77.

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April 25, 2009 by William.

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

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