PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD: Relocating Kentucky

[Scott5114]

This poll is related to the proposal to merge the Ohio Valley board. If the result of that question is "no", the result of this poll will be null and void.

Feel free to leave your feedback in this thread.

[mrsman]

For this poll, I voted to put KY in the Midwest.  If the Ohio Valley board is removed, it would seem easiest to maintain KY with the Midwest.  For one, it would keep nearly all of the old Ohio Valley board together into the new Midwestern board.  It would also be easier to discuss the Cincinnati suburbs and Louisville and any other topics involving the Ohio River border of KY (including bridges) within the same board as OH and IN.

In some ways, I (and many others) view KY as a Southeastern state because of the way that collegiate sports teams line up, southern accents that are heavily found in KY, and KY's history as a slave state (but not Confederate).  Yet, because this forum is one that discusses the roads of a state (and not generally history or politics), it seems to make sense to make the border between the Midwest and Southeast the KY/TN border as opposed to the Ohio River.  This ensures that all discussions of the OH River bridges that involve KY would be in one board and not possibly in two boards.  (Obviously, the bridges in WV-OH and in PA could be in other boards.)

[Mr_Northside]

I went with "Midwest" - but that selection (for me) is pretty much tied with "Mid-Atlantic"  (even though I wouldn't consider KY itself as a Mid-Atlantic state, I'd probably see a lot less of it's thread(s) in the Southeast or Mid-South groups (since I don't follow those).

[ilpt4u]

Living in Southern IL/just north of Paducah and Western KY, I vote Midwest with Mid-South as the 2nd favorite, at least until I-69 is resolved at the KY/TN border

[hbelkins]

Southeast.

[vdeane]

While KY may have plenty of real-world ties to TN, in terms of roads discussion on the forum, the only cross pollination I can see is I-69, whenever the project at the state line happens.  As such, I voted to put KY in the Midwest for forum purposes.

[webny99]

I'm thinking about it in more general terms, rather than what specific projects/discussions are tied to adjacent states, and I think Kentucky is much more a southeastern state than a midwestern one. I'd be OK with Mid-South too, but keep in mind that most TN discussion (including the pinned TN state thread) is in the Southeast board.

[ilpt4u]

Southeast.

I'm thinking about it in more general terms, rather than what specific projects/discussions are tied to adjacent states, and I think Kentucky is much more a southeastern state than a midwestern one. I'd be OK with Mid-South too, but keep in mind that most TN discussion (including the pinned TN state thread) is in the Southeast board.

Our resident Kentuckian, who works for KYTC, votes Southeast for future consideration. I didn't vote that way, but I think hbelkins's input should have a little more weight here than the average forum goer/poster on this question

Southeast would be a fine landing spot for the Bluegrass State, should the Ohio Valley board move to the Archives

[Alps]

A good portion of KY is hills. It really lines up better with either TN or VA/WV than the Midwest. I don't get why so many people are voting Midwest on this one.

[ilpt4u]

A good portion of KY is hills. It really lines up better with either TN or VA/WV than the Midwest. I don't get why so many people are voting Midwest on this one.

Ohio River Bridges is my thought. The I-71/75 Bridge, the I-69 Bridge, even Illinois has to replace the US 51 Cairo bridge to Kentucky

Those bridge projects are big projects with Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, respectively

[kevinb1994]

Mid-Atlantic.

[MATraveler128]

I voted for Southeast as I think of Kentucky as the beginning of the south and the Ohio River makes a good boundary.

[NWI_Irish96]

A good portion of KY is hills. It really lines up better with either TN or VA/WV than the Midwest. I don't get why so many people are voting Midwest on this one.

Ohio River Bridges is my thought. The I-71/75 Bridge, the I-69 Bridge, even Illinois has to replace the US 51 Cairo bridge to Kentucky

Those bridge projects are big projects with Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, respectively

That was my rationale as well. Culturally, Kentucky is tied more to Tennessee and the southeast, but because of the Ohio River, road projects are more tied to Indiana and Ohio. I think of grouping states in terms of shared road projects more than traditional geographic divisions.

[hbelkins]

A good portion of KY is hills. It really lines up better with either TN or VA/WV than the Midwest. I don't get why so many people are voting Midwest on this one.

According to the federal government, Appalachia extends all the way west to Mammoth Cave.

[Alps]

A good portion of KY is hills. It really lines up better with either TN or VA/WV than the Midwest. I don't get why so many people are voting Midwest on this one.

According to the federal government, Appalachia extends all the way west to Mammoth Cave.

I believe it. Since my post Southeast has almost caught up (: This'll be a fun discussion with staff if it ends up this close.

[webny99]

A good portion of KY is hills. It really lines up better with either TN or VA/WV than the Midwest. I don't get why so many people are voting Midwest on this one.

Ohio River Bridges is my thought. The I-71/75 Bridge, the I-69 Bridge, even Illinois has to replace the US 51 Cairo bridge to Kentucky

Those bridge projects are big projects with Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, respectively

That was my rationale as well. Culturally, Kentucky is tied more to Tennessee and the southeast, but because of the Ohio River, road projects are more tied to Indiana and Ohio. I think of grouping states in terms of shared road projects more than traditional geographic divisions.

However, trying to keep metro areas in a single region is a big reason why we had split states to begin with. If split states is what we're trying to avoid, it makes the most sense to just use geographical divisions.

[Stephane Dumas]

A good portion of KY is hills. It really lines up better with either TN or VA/WV than the Midwest. I don't get why so many people are voting Midwest on this one.

According to the federal government, Appalachia extends all the way west to Mammoth Cave.

And the guys of Wikipedia said then Appalachia extends further southwest down to Northeast Mississippi state but that'll be for another topic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachia

[triplemultiplex]

A good portion of KY is hills. It really lines up better with either TN or VA/WV than the Midwest. I don't get why so many people are voting Midwest on this one.

According to the federal government, Appalachia extends all the way west to Mammoth Cave.

And the guys of Wikipedia said then Appalachia extends further southwest down to Northeast Mississippi state but that'll be for another topic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachia

Appalachia <in Kentucky>.
That seemed implied in the context of the discussion.

[ITB]

Kentucky is considered a border state, neither truly in the Midwest or South. However, it is more associated with the south. The University of Kentucky was a founding member of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in 1932.

[US 89]

My experience with Kentucky is limited to the immediate Louisville area and the I-24 corridor. Louisville...felt like a city, I guess? Gun to my head, I'd say it felt more South than Midwest, but I didn't explore enough around the area to feel all that confident making such a statement.

There is no question that the I-24 corridor is solidly Southern.

[vdeane]

A good portion of KY is hills. It really lines up better with either TN or VA/WV than the Midwest. I don't get why so many people are voting Midwest on this one.

According to the federal government, Appalachia extends all the way west to Mammoth Cave.

I believe it. Since my post Southeast has almost caught up (: This'll be a fun discussion with staff if it ends up this close.

Meanwhile when I picture the southeast, I imagine something even flatter than Illinois.

[hbelkins]

A good portion of KY is hills. It really lines up better with either TN or VA/WV than the Midwest. I don't get why so many people are voting Midwest on this one.

According to the federal government, Appalachia extends all the way west to Mammoth Cave.

I believe it. Since my post Southeast has almost caught up (: This'll be a fun discussion with staff if it ends up this close.

A good portion of KY is hills. It really lines up better with either TN or VA/WV than the Midwest. I don't get why so many people are voting Midwest on this one.

According to the federal government, Appalachia extends all the way west to Mammoth Cave.

And the guys of Wikipedia said then Appalachia extends further southwest down to Northeast Mississippi state but that'll be for another topic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachia

My point was that if you look at the boundaries of the Appalachian Regional Commission, you'll see that the ARC area extends to Edmonson County.

The original definition of the ARC was to be the counties actually in the Appalachian Mountains, plus bordering counties. Most consider Madison and Clark counties to be in the Bluegrass region, but the southeastern part of Madison and the very extreme eastern part of Clark are definitely mountainous, so they're in the ARC service area. And the Tennessee border counties west of I-75 (McCreary, Wayne, Clinton, and Cumberland) are definitely in the mountains.

[US 89]

Those boundaries are very generous in Georgia. No way should Gwinnett, Douglas, or Carroll County be considered Appalachian in any respect.

[armadillo speedbump]

If you are going to realign then I vote for Kentucky to join the Pac10.  They need all the help they can get and 12 eastern games.

[armadillo speedbump]

While I understand the logic in breaking up some states, putting W. TN and N. MS with AR/LA/TX doesn't make much sense.  90% of the Memphis metro population is in TN and MS.  The funding comes from Nashville and the family/migration/economic ties are stronger to the east than to the west.  Geo/topo differences at the river.  Keeping TN and MS each whole and in the Southeast makes more sense, although I admit the Southeast is already a large region for the board.

Moving Memphis west just because of 2 bridges, very iffy proposals for another, and 10% of the metro seems forced.

JMHO.  The world will keep turning either way.