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Governor and First Lady Talk Trails, Tourism in Lexington

Chase Cavanaugh

Kentucky’s Governor and First Lady visited Lexington Tuesday to tout tourism and unveil a statewide trail plan. 

Standing in Lexington’s Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden, Governor Steve Beshear and First Lady Jane Beshear unveiled the Cross Kentucky Master Trail Plan.   The measure will help maintain over 12,000 miles of existing state trails, create new paths, and make new connections through the Kentucky Trail Town Program.  The First Lady says the plan, in the works since 2008, will not only connect the Commonwealth end to end, but provide Kentuckians with greater access.    

“This is a way to get some folks that don’t even get out of their own community to get out and enjoy their state, to see what’s here,” she said.

The governor also touted the state’s success in the tourism industry.    

"Over the last five years, the economic impact from tourism in Kentucky has increased more than $2.2 billion and it has now reached $13.1 billion.  Furthermore, the tourism industry has added 13,000 jobs during those 5 years, for a total of 180,000 Kentuckians working in the tourism industry,” he said. 

Both the Governor and First Lady hope the plan will improve these numbers further and keep communities connected.

Chase Cavanaugh first got on the air as a volunteer reader for Central Kentucky Radio Eye, a local news service for the visually impaired. He began reporting for WUKY in February 2012, after receiving his Master’s degree from the University of Kentucky’s Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce.