Mayor warns don’t expect US25w traffic to improve in near future

Williamsburg residents hoping to be able to pull out onto US25W from Cumberland Avenue without experiencing construction delays will be disappointed until possibly Labor Day.
Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison told the city council Monday evening that the road will be shut down to one lane for much of the day during working hours until June or July as crews prepare the road to be widened to three lanes and the utilities moved near the entrance of town.
Plans are currently to shut down the road near the Main Street and Cumberland Avenue Bridges in July for the cliffs to be blasted off, and that it will remain closed for two months while the debris is removed, and the three-lane road constructed up to Locklin Avenue.
Harrison said he met with Transportation Cabinet Secretary Bill Nighbert, the former mayor, about possibly getting the blasting date moved up to June so that the construction would hopefully be done before school starts back in August.
The reason the cliffs can’t be blasted sooner is because Bell South needs to move a fiber optic cable running under the current road first.
“If they can get that taken care of quicker, the blasting date can possibly be moved up to June. It looks like it will be July though. If we keep our fingers crossed it might be June,” Harrison cautioned. “It is going to be one lane like it has been until then. Once the cliffs come down 25W will be no more. My best advice for people in Highland Park will be to go back and take Exit 15 and go back through town,” Harrison noted.
The construction will require other traffic to be detoured onto Old Corbin Pike.
“It will be a major headache,” Harrison said. “Old Corbin Pike will be a mess,” Harrison said.
As congested as Old Corbin Pike will be Harrison said his biggest concern will not be for emergency vehicles having to travel that road or the interstate, but rather school buses having to get onto the interstate twice a day if construction isn’t finished before school starts.
Still, he says the project will be a good thing in the end.
“It is just not going to be a good situation. Everybody needs to stay kind of positive about it because once the project is finally done, it will be nice,” Harrison said.
During Monday’s city council meeting, city leaders discussed the need to start the chamber of commerce back up.
“People say they’re embarrassed that we don’t have one. Obviously they were not too embarrassed, or we would still have one,” Councilman Donnie Witt noted.
Harrison noted that it is not a mayor’s job to start a chamber of commerce, but that he has been talking to a local individual about trying to get one started again.
City officials say they are hoping the formation of a new chamber of commerce will assist with industrial recruitment.
In other business, the city council:
• Announced progress toward removing blighted buildings and cleaning up blighted property.
Harrison noted that the city recently had the old Riverside Motel torn down, and that after receiving letters from the city attorney, two property owners, one on Hickory Street and another on South 10th Street, have already begun tearing down dilapidated buildings. City officials plan to take action soon regarding a building on Third Street if something isn’t done with it.
During Monday’s meeting, the fiscal court authorized City Attorney Frank Atkins to file suit to recover the $28,000 the city paid to tear down the Riverside Motel. If the case goes to court, the property could be sold at a master commissioner’s auction in order for the city to recover its costs.
• Approved the first reading of an ordinance approving financing on the police department’s new fleet program, which calls for the purchase of all new police cruisers after the city has used the vehicles for three years.
By purchasing the 10 new cruisers at once, the city will pay $235,000 for its new fleet, which will come road ready. The city will make about a $3,000 payment per month on the vehicles, which are financed for five years.
Harrison noted that the city used to purchase two new police cruisers per year, which usually run about $30,000 a piece to fully equip.
The idea behind the program is that after three years, the vehicles will have enough resale value to pay off the remaining loan and have money leftover to put toward the down payment on 10 new vehicles.
• Approved the promotion of Denny Shelley to Williamsburg Police Chief. Former chief Don Hamblin retired last month. Shelley became assistant police chief three years ago.
• Scheduled PRIDE Spring Clean-ups from April 8-22 on the Highland Park side of town, and from April 24-May 5 on the downtown side. During those weeks, city residents will be allowed to call city hall at 549-6036 in order to schedule one additional pick-up of trash.
• Approved the second reading of an ordinance changing the zoning of a tract of land owned by Briar Creek LLC adjacent to the Williamsburg Motel, from agriculture to a business highway and shopping center district. The change was made at the request of the owner.