State to expand road work in downtown Corbin

Road work going on in downtown Corbin has been expanded, Corbin Mayor Willard McBurney confirmed Tuesday, to include portions of Fifth Street, Fourth Street, South Main Street and Gordon Hill Pike.

Crews have been working feverishly to prepare the roadway on Main Street and Kentucky Ave. in downtown Corbin for resurfacing. In many areas, workers have to fix the road itself where the underlying ground has become weak, or where there are drainable problems.

"There are some stopped up and broken drainage pipes underneath the road so they are having to dig that up and replace them," McBurney said. "It’s a big job, but we are glad they are doing it."

Work will continue through the winter on roadway repair. This week, workers were digging up portions of Main Street from three to five feet deep, and backfilling it with mesh fabric and large stone.

"That’s a pretty extensive job they are doing for this time of year," McBurney said. "Some of those places they’ve dug up there was just water standing everywhere. It was just full of water and that’s not good."

Coinciding with the road work, the state is fixing 112 handicap accessible approaches on the sidewalk to meet more modern codes.

The work being completed now will cost roughly $1.2 million. All of it is being funded through the state’s Transportation Cabinet.

McBurney said he got good news recently that state road work in Corbin has been expanded. Resurfacing will take place on Fourth and Fifth Streets inside the city. Also, Gordon Hill Pike from 312 bridge into town will be repaved.

And work on Main Street will be extended as well. State workers plan to resurface South Main Street from 18th Street to the Corbin Bypass starting in April.

Coinciding with the work, the city’s Public Works Department is replacing sidewalk along Main Street from 18th Street down to the old City Utilities building. After that, McBurney said crews would finish sidewalk work on Engineer Street that is already underway.