LEITCHFIELD, Ky. (WDRB) -- It might sound cheesy, but a plant in Leitchfield pumps serious cheddar into the local economy of the small town southwest of Elizabethtown.
"We make Mini Babybel. We make the Mini Babybel and the Laughing Cow cheese," said Bel Brands USA Plant Director Doyle Baker. "We make a million pieces of the Mini Babybel every single day and two million pieces of Laughing Cow every day."
Even though Baker loves doing business in Leitchfield, there is one complaint: there's no good route to get his dairy trucks from one side of town to his plant on the other.
"There's been numerous trucks stalled out, had a lot of problems, get up on the curbs, and that type of thing in downtown," he said.
Bel Brands USA, in Leitchfield, manufactures Mini Babybel cheese. (WDRB Photo)
There have been accidents and more near-accidents. Babybel isn't alone in experiencing the problem.
Others say the lack of better infrastructure often cripples the town with Los Angeles-like gridlock. For years, there's been talk of extending an existing bypass, but that process has been slow.
"We're doing what's right with your money," said Governor Matt Bevin (R-Kentucky) Saturday morning during an announcement at the Babybel plant. "Simple as that."
Bevin and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet brought good news to Leitchfield: the state is expediting a project to expand the bypass for almost two miles from Highway 54 to Highway 259. According to KYTC, the right-of-way phase of the western extension of the existing William Thomason Byway in Leitchfield will begin in early 2020 — at least six months ahead of the original schedule.
The proposed bypass extension in Leitchfield. (WDRB Photo)
"We have accelerated forward both the land acquisition by working with a true public-private partnership, and local organizations and entities like Scotty's and Wabuck have stepped up and said, 'We'll donate land,'" said Governor Bevin.
It's good news to Baker.
"It is exciting," he said. "It's exciting, because it means that Leitchfield's growing. It means that there's a future for this town and for its people."
Bel Brands workers attend Gov. Bevin's announcement. (WDRB Photo)
It's also good news to the governor, since a public-private partnership helped speed up the project. It's an arrangement he'd like to mimic in other parts of the state to expedite other infrastructure projects.
"Could there be and should there be?" the governor asked rhetorically. "Yes and yes."
Gov. Bevin announces work on expanding the Leitchfield Bypass is ahead of schedule because of a partnership. (WDRB Photo)
He hopes, once the bypass expansion is complete, more businesses and manufactures will locate in Grayson County.
Construction should begin on the extension in 2022.
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