Portion of Poplar Creek Road being relocated

What do you do when you have a section of road with reoccurring slides and none of the repairs you make solve the problem? Move the road.

This is the solution that the Whitley County Fiscal Court has come up for a slide problem at mile point 1.873 on Poplar Creek Road, which is located about two-tenths of a mile east of Hamblin Hollow.

On Monday, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced that Whitley County would receive $80,200 in county road aid emergency funds to fix the road.

“This is not like any other slide repairs we have done,” noted Whitley County Projects Director Amber Owens. “On the others we have done, we have driven the steel down into the bedrock beside the road to secure the road.”

Owens said that the problem is actually two reoccurring slides on Poplar Creek Road.

“We have tried to fix them before and nothing seems to be working so we are actually going to relocate the road and the utilities in order to prevent the slides,” she added.

County officials hope to start the bid process this month with construction starting late this year or early next year depending on the weather.

“We are hoping we will have some good weather and we can get it done. It is going to be a pretty big project,” Owens said.

The Whitley County Fiscal Court is responsible for administering the work and has already received half of the grant money with the remainder coming at a later time.

“The Bevin administration is committed to the Cabinet’s mission of providing a safe, reliable transportation network for all Kentuckians,” said Transportation Secretary Greg Thomas. “These emergency funds will help local governments repair and restore damaged infrastructure throughout their communities.”