Joe Plunk, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 3 chief engineer speaks to the Barren Fiscal Court regarding upcoming secondary rural road projects in the county on Tuesday, June 21, 2022.
(BRENNAN CRAIN/WCLU NEWS)
BY BRENNAN D. CRAIN, WCLU News
GLASGOW — In a presentation to the Barren Fiscal Court last week, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet provided its annual report regarding the state’s rural secondary road program and described upcoming projects along state roadways in Barren County.
KYTC District 3 Chief Engineer Joe Plunk said the county has $1,950,450 available in rural secondary roadway funding. Of the amount, $245,613 will be carried over from the 2021-22 fiscal budget.
“That’s pretty significant because we had competition, we had good bids on our rural secondary projects,” Plunk said. “That carries over to this year.”
Three major projects will be underway in Barren County over the next year. Of the funds distributed to the county, $647,800 is allotted for routine maintenance of 145 miles of rural secondary roads.
A preventative road treatment project is expected to be completed sometime before next June. The project will treat 6.611 miles of Highway 87 in Austin. Road crews will work from the intersection at Milburn Taylor Road and extend north to the intersection of Peter Creek Road.
The state allotted $396,522 for the project.
A resurfacing and drainage project along Highway 1339 (Apple Grove Road) will extend east from the Edmonson County line to the intersection with Highway 255. Crews allotted $98,396 for the work.
The most significant project will include the resurfacing and drainage work along 5.3 miles of Beckton and Stovall Road. The work will begin at the intersection of Highway 1297 and extend north to the railroad crossing. The project’s budget is $462,890.
Other funding allotted in the Rural Secondary Program includes $3,875 for county judge expenses, which is used to fund administrative costs when the county receives discretionary funding.
The county also received $16,000 more in “flex funding” next fiscal year, which allows county government to recommend work be completed on secondary state roadways not included in the original plan. The whole amount is $340,967.
Plunk said the Rural Secondary Program’s funding is set aside by county, while primary route projects are statewide programs. One example of a primary route is Columbia Avenue in Glasgow, which has mustered a lot of concern in recent years due to its rough pavement.
“You can put an inch of asphalt, but if you don’t fix the foundation, it’s just going to bleed back through the asphalt surface,” he said.
The KYTC paved the roadway in the 1990s and later removed the pavement in 2010. The road’s underlying concrete was installed over 80 years ago, which is the main problem.
The six-year highway plan signed by the governor earlier this includes $4.5 million for “pavement rehab.” The state highway department is expected to work with an engineering firm to understand what the best plan would be to correct the issues like it across the state.
“That won’t happen for another year or more, but we’ll be working through that plan to figure out what’s the best way to fix it,” Plunk said. “Not just band aid it but fix it.”
In other projects, ongoing construction near Eighty-Eight is expected to be complete next spring. Crews are constructing a bypass around the unincorporated community near the Metcalfe County line.
A one-inch resurfacing project is also under contract with Scotty’s Construction. The work will resurface a section of roadway from Beckton Road to the Veterans Outer Loop. The contractor has until Nov. 15 to begin work.
Cumberland Expressway construction from Interstate 65 to Adair County continues, too.