Alternate Routes For Heartland Parkway Revealed At Meeting

The potential routes the Heartland Parkway would take through Adair and Taylor counties were presented for public inspection and comment at a hearing conducted by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Tuesday night at Adair County High School.
The meeting, which attracted a crowd of over 175 people, featured large, detailed maps of the alternative routes the four-lane, limited access road would take, and illustrated what properties would be affected along the routes.
"The purpose of the meeting tonight is to present the alternatives, and get input from you to reduce the number the number of alternatives down to three,"John Moore, project manager from the Elizabethtown Department of Highways District office told the audience. "We'll then take the three alternatives, do more work on them, including the environmental impact, then come back later this year or the first of next year and present them to you and try and narrow the alternatives down to one route."
David Lindeman of Palmer Engineering gave a description of how the road would be built, and the paths the alternatives would take through the county.
He said the road would be four lanes, with a median of 40 feet (or possibly less in certain areas), with partially controlled access. There would be 1200 feet spacing between places where vehicle could access the parkway.
The parkway would start at the end of the new Columbia Bypass. Linderman said there are four alternative plans for connecting the parkway to the bypass.
According to the maps, one alternative is a "no build" alternative, which would connect the parkway to the bypass at the present KY 55-bypass intersection.
Another alternative would have the parkway taking an eastern swing, crossing KY 551 and Bull Run Road, then coming along side United Citizens Bank and straight into the bypass. The other two alternatives have the parkway taking a western swing and connecting to the bypass just west of the KY 55 interchange.
The three alternative routes the parkway would take through Adair County into Taylor County are all centered the present route of KY 55.
One alternative goes along the center of KY 55, with the roadway being widened on both sides. Another alternative calls for the current two lanes of KY 55 to be used as the southbound lanes of the parkway and two new lanes built to the east of 55 to serve as the northbound lanes. The other alternative calls for the current two lanes of 55 to be used as the northbound lanes and two new lanes built on the west to serve as the southbound lanes.
Lindeman then gave a proposed time line for how work would proceed on the project.
He said that the next step would be to refine the alternate routes using the input from Tuesday night's meeting (and another meeting that will be held next week in Campbellsville), which would be followed by additional public meetings in 2010.
In 2011, the preferred route would be identified, and an environmental assessment of the route would be prepared and submitted to the Federal Highway Administration for approval.
In 2012, final approval of the preferred alternative would be sought from the FHWA.
"At the present time, this is all of the project that has been funded," Lindeman explained. "We haven't got funding for purchasing right of way, utilities relocation or actual construction.
"Right now, we are proceeding with the project like funding will be there, although we don't know for sure at this time," he continued.
If funding is approved, he said that right of way acquisition would begin in 2015, and construction of the first segment would start in 2017.
All those attending the meeting were given survey forms and asked to vote on which alternative they preferred on each of the various segments. There were also numerous representatives from the state and the engineering firms on hand to answer any questions.
Becky Judson, pubic information officer for the District #4 office in Elizabethtown, said they were well pleased with the way the meeting went.
"The meeting was very well attended, and everyone seemed pleased with the maps we had and the way they showed all the alternates," she said. "People were able to look at the maps and understand where each route would go and how the routes might affect their property." Photo:Dr. Max Downey, left, checked out one of the maps containing the proposed alternate routes for the Heartland Parkway at Tuesday night's public hearing. Assisting Downey was Dean Loy from the Department of Highways.