Corbin citizens encouraged to voice opinion on traffic trouble spots

John Steinmetz with Banks Engineering speaks to the Corbin Rotary Club

If you live in the city limits of Corbin and have a strong opinion regarding the safety of a particular roadway, now is your chance to make your voice heard.

As Mayor Suzie Razmus explained at a recent meeting of the Corbin Rotary Club, the city was recently awarded a $200,000 federal planning grant called Safe Streets For All (SS4A). Part of the planning process is soliciting comments from community members, which elected officials and a representative from the Banks Engineering firm (Nicholasville) are currently doing.

“The Biden administration and the federal highway administration has set aside $5 billion a year for the goal of greatly reducing traffic fatalities and serious accidents,” said John Steinmetz of Bank Engineering at the same previously mentioned Rotary Club meeting. “The first step is having an action plan.”

Steinmetz described the action plan as a document, approved by a particular community, that must be in place in order to obtain eligibility for the actual implementation grant, which would ultimately help to fund construction for various safety projects.

“John and his team will be assessing the City of Corbin and finding safety issues that we can then take to the federal government and see if we can get money to make our streets safer,” Razmus said.

Some of the specific areas that Steinmetz said are being looked at include portions of the Corbin Bypass, roadways near the city pool, and streets coming in-and-out of the Corbin High School campus.

Master Street was also mentioned, along with the fact that recurring flooding issues on that stretch of road frequently results in dangerous driving conditions. When asked if implementation grant funds would be able to help address that particular issue, Razmus said that was how she understood the matter.

Razmus also clarified that comments concerning areas of North Corbin are also being considered, as the city intends to annex into those areas by year’s end, which is when the action plan is hoped to be complete and ready for submission.

More areas of concern mentioned by attendees of the Rotary meeting included sections of Gordon Hill, Barton Mill and Oaklawn subdivision.

The repaving of Kentucky Avenue in downtown was also brought up, and Corbin City Manager Scott Williamson, who was also present, assured that he has been in touch with a state highway engineer concerning the matter and that the District 11 transportation office was aware of the situation.

“I feel somewhat optimistic,” Williamson said about the possibility of road conditions on Kentucky Avenue getting addressed in the near future. “I don’t know about this year, but we are working on that and they know that it’s needed.”

Steinmetz said that, should Corbin be awarded an implementation grant next year, he estimates anywhere between 15-20 years minimum to fully complete all projects that will be included in the final action plan.

Razmus announced that a public meeting will be held at city hall on Monday, June 3, at 5 p.m. where she and other officials will be soliciting input on which areas of town need to be focused on with this ongoing study. Comments can also be sent now to safety@corbin-ky.gov or by calling the city clerk at (606) 528-0669.