The roads, they are a changin’

The theme of my life for the past week has been “roads.”

It started last Thursday when I attended the Corbin Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon at David’s Steakhouse. The guest speaker for the day was Mr. Keenan Jones from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. He fielded many questions from myself, and from various club members, about several different planned and ongoing road projects in our local area (see the story on page A-6).

For the remainder of last week, and for about half the day this past Monday, I have been out and about a lot in Corbin, Williamsburg and Jellico, checking on our newspaper route and making a few changes. While moving paper boxes and talking to store managers, I have been up-and-down I-75, US-25W, 25E, Hwy 26, and a bunch of other roads throughout Whitley County and its surrounding communities.

Here are my thoughts…

The main topic of conversation right now for folks around here is the construction taking place off of I-75’s Exit 15 in north Williamsburg. This is, of course, where two roundabouts are being installed right off of the exit.

Now, I know a lot of people are upset about this, but I remain cautiously optimistic. Am I completely sold on the idea of these roundabouts making things better on that exit? No, but I am willing to give it a shot once construction is complete. And although I would still like to know the exact reasoning behind the decision to install roundabouts off of Exit 15, the fact is we won’t know how effective they will or won’t be until they are in place and drivers have the chance to use them.

My main concern as it pertains to the roundabouts is the fact that they are located directly off the interstate exit, which I have been told is not very common. It’ll be different, for sure, but again, I have decided to just take a wait-and-see approach before making my mind up about whether this is going to be a good or a bad decision.

I will admit that I thought the roundabout at the intersection of KY 363 and KY 1006 in London was a bad idea when I first heard about it, but it has ended up being pretty popular from what I can tell. Granted, that area is not right off of an interstate, but still, the point is that I think it’s important that we give this project a fair chance.

Who knows… it may work out perfectly. Only time will tell.

Speaking of time, it sounds like the bridge construction taking place down near the Pleasant View community of Whitley County could be ongoing for quite some time. I asked about that Monday, and was told that it could be late 2023 before the project is complete.

The area that I am referring to has been reduced down to one lane in a couple of spots for several weeks now. Lights are in place to let drivers know when to stop and when to go. It is only a minor inconvenience, though, as this particular stretch of road doesn’t typically see a lot of heavy traffic, and the stops only last for about a minute or two.

There are a couple of future road projects that I am particularly interested in that are located the south Corbin area, since that is where I live. The road widening off of Exit 25 between the I-75 on ramp and the intersection of Falls Hwy. and Hwy. 727 is going to change things pretty drastically, and that is a stretch that I personally cover just about every day of my life. It’ll definitely affect my commutes, as well as the commutes for everyone else in the Tattersall Estates/Oak Grove community, so I’m both a little nervous and a little excited about it.

Initially, it will be interesting to see the difference that the road widening will make on current roadside businesses and homes. In some places the road will be expanding from two lanes out to five, so that is going to be pretty significant. No doubt, it is going to change the landscape quite a bit in a few spots.

Once completed, it will be interesting to see if all the work will have been worth it. A lot must transpire before we get to that point, however, so south Corbinites should go ahead and be preparing themselves for a busy 2023, assuming things progress as planned.

There are two other local road projects that I want to briefly mention, and in both cases I see only good things resulting from the planned changes.

First is the installation of frontage roads in north Corbin between “malfunction junction” and the I-75 on ramp at Exit 29. I think these additional roadways should help to drastically decrease congestion on that stretch of 25E, and will give drivers an option to avoid certain busy intersections if they do not need to be travelling through those areas.

The other project that I am looking forward to is still in the development phase, but will (hopefully) eventually see a roundabout installed off of Fifth Street Road at the intersection of Black Diamond Road and Hwy. 3421. If you drive through that area with any kind of regularity, then you know it is a problem spot that definitely needs to be addressed. Personally, I think a roundabout here is going to make things so much better, and I am excited that plans are in place to put one there.

Regardless of where you happen to be on the roads in the coming days , I wish you safe travels, and a happy Fourth of July!