Updates may be done on Black Diamond Road by end of year

Work to entirely resurface and widen portions of Black Diamond Road in Whitley County could begin before the end of the year, though that is contingent upon state funds being received in time.

The Whitley County Fiscal Court approved a memorandum of agreement with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet during a special-called meeting Friday morning, which would allow $375,000 to be transferred to the county’s budget to pay for the project. However, when the transfer of those funds may occur is currently unknown, according to Judge-Executive Pat White.

“It really depends on the state’s schedule,” said White.

Magistrate Mondo Cima, whose district includes Black Diamond Road, has been working with state legislatures and representatives for years to obtain funds for such a project. The road has several rough areas and some spots that can be hard to navigate with other traffic due to how narrow it is.

White said that—ideally—he would like to begin the work before winter, but stressed that it could be pushed to spring next year if everything doesn’t fall into place. Coupled with the county being at the whim of the state’s transfer of the funds, White noted that since the beginning of the pandemic there have been issues getting contractors, which could further slow the start.

The county has already prepped the road for the project, with tile replacements and other necessary work being done this past spring.

In other fiscal court business:

– A payment claim between the fiscal court and Kentucky Utilities was approved, which will fund the installation of several poles at the Whitley County Fairgrounds. The poles will be used to run electricity and will be equipped with street lights.

“I think it will be really nice though. We’ll get some use out of this,” said White. “We’re going to continue to grow that property.”

White noted that prep work had already been done and—barring some issue—should be in place before next month’s bluegrass festival.

– A change to the county’s 2022 soil conservation tax rates was approved. The fiscal court had previously elected to set the rate at 1.4 cents per $100 evaluation, but amended that down to 1.3 cents per $100 evaluation during Friday’s meeting.