Moving the line right was wrong on Ky. Street

Don Estep is Publisher Emeritus of The News Journal.

As I turned the sharp corner at Gordon and Kentucky Streets in Corbin, sharp because the center line had been moved to the right, I said to my wife, “Oh good it looks like they are getting ready to repave Kentucky Street.”

I assumed that because the center line on the street had been moved to the right and I thought it was because the cracks and bumps down the street were going to be repaired.

But then a few blocks down the street the line went back to the center of the street. I was confused because the most cracks in the street were further down in the vicinity of the elementary school. But there the line was in the center of the street again.

I said to her, “I guess they are just going to pave a section at a time.”

Today I was astonished to hear that none of what I was thinking was going to happen. For some dumb reason parking on the northern section of Kentucky Street has been eliminated.

People having business dealings on the right side of the street have to park across the street now and deal with oncoming traffic. I wouldn’t think the businesses on the right side of the street are too happy with this decision either.

I travel that street daily and have never witnessed a problem with traffic flow or parking. Kentucky Street is wider than Main Street which allows for parking on both sides. When vehicles are not parked properly on Main Street, outside of the marked spaces, it is a problem.

I don’t know who made this decision and I don’t undersand the logic. I’ll admit, there is a lot in life that I don’t understand and decisions made on our roads is one of them.
For example, patch work was done receently on Highway 312 in Corbin. That is the section from Kentucky Street up Gordon Hill that leads to Keavy and Interstate 75.

The biggest pothole on that road is at the corner of Gordon and Kentucky Streets. It has been there for over two years. But for some reason asphalt work was done just above that area and the pot hole is still there.

I don’t know who makes the decisions on what does and what does not get paved, but it is a mystery to me how big breaks like the ones on Scuffletown Road and the Barton Mill Cutoff are overlooked.

I hold my breath every day I take my granddaughter to the Primary school on 5th Street road. It received some patch work and I am grateful for that.

But knowing that in about every vehicle, and there are many, is a young child, I worry because the road is not suitable for that much traffic.

Making this road suitable for heavy traffic should be at the top of the state’s priority list. In the meantime use extra caution.