There's a part of the Mary Ingles Highway in Campbell County, Ky., drivers haven't been able to get to for four years. But officials with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet say that could change soon.
The road — now designated KY 6335 but formerly part of Kentucky Route 8 — closed in 2019 after a massive landslide. It's taken until now to line up the funding and plans to fix it. But KYTC District 6 Public Information Officer Jake Ryle says state lawmakers, transportation officials, home and business owners, and railroad and utility companies have all come together and the project will go out to bid this month.
"It really took a lot of different folks to come to the table and work together to be able to find this solution that ultimately is going to allow a lot of folks to have opportunities to travel through a part of the county they haven't had in quite some time, and also to do so in a fiscally responsible way so we're spending tax payer dollars the way they should be," he said.
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The extensive repairs will involve excavation, adding retaining walls, installing railroad rails, replacing piping, reconstructing the shoulder of the road, adding culverts and a number of other measures. The repairs should make maintaining the road much less expensive in the future, KYTC says. Should bidding fall within the funding state lawmakers have approved, work on the road could begin later this year. Ryle says KYTC should have updates on the project's schedule next month.
"It's falling essentially into the river, falling down the hill in certain areas," Ryle says. "So it's going to take quite a big maintenance project to get this thing back up and running, but we're looking forward to it."