Published: March 08, 2008 12:34 am            

Timetable for Ky. 1247 project in question

Delays in relocating transmission lines from power plant an issue

The completion date is a bit iffy for a new four-lane road between the southeastern bypass (Ky. 914) and U.S. 27 in northern Burnside because of delays in relocating transmission lines from John Sherman Cooper Power Plant, according to Rodney Little, engineer and project manager for the Department of Highways’ District 8.

“We’re projecting (completion in) 2010.” said Little. The projection pushes the completion date later in 2010 than earlier thought.

Nick Comer, spokesman for East Kentucky Power Cooperative, owner-operator of the Cooper Power Plant at Burnside, said five transmission lines coming out of the power plant are affected by the Ky. 1247 project.

“Three of these lines are critically needed and can’t be taken out of service except under the right circumstances,” said Comer.

In April, one, or possibly both generating units at Cooper Station will be down for maintenance and it will be easier at that time to move the transmission lines, Comer said.

“We’re working with the highway department to determine the potential cost (of taking the transmission lines out of service),” said Comer. He said during this outage electricity may have to be “purchased ... and that’s expensive.”

Also, Comer said contacts must be made with adjoining utilities such as TVA to make sure the interruption won’t affect those systems. The grids are interconnected, he noted.

Meanwhile, road construction continues. Hinkle Contracting Corporation of Somerset and Paris, for $22,597,148, is four-laning a little more than three miles of Ky. 1247 from the southeastern bypass across from Murphy Avenue Extension to Bend of the Lake Road just east of the intersection with U.S. 27.

The new Ky. 1247 will replace a narrow, crooked two-lane road that dips sharply to Pitman Creek south of Elihu; climbs upward through Cedar Grove; then meanders past John Sherman Cooper Power Station to join a partial cloverleaf interchange now under construction in northern Burnside.

The four-lane road follows a corridor originally intended for the southeastern bypass. For still unexplained reasons, the existing southeastern bypass ended up with the east half a two-lane road off Ky. 80 and the west half feeding into busy U.S. 27 near Beacon Hill Baptist Church.

Right of way for four lanes is available on the eastern half of the southeastern bypass and a highway department spokesman said a couple of years ago that four laning this section is on a “needs to be done” list. The four-lane, western half of the bypass, ballyhooed as a new and convenient route to Ky. 461 and I-75, is squeezed to two lanes at the Rush Branch Road intersection.

When the Ky. 1247 project to Burnside is completed, it will allow motorists from the North to leave Ky. 80 east of Somerset, travel Ky. 914 to Murphy Avenue Extension and continue south to the U.S.27-Ky. 90 interchange in northern Burnside. They will still have to deal with the two-lane section of Ky. 914.

A new bridge, 521 feet long, will take motorists 85 feet above Pitman Creek. Existing Ky. 1247 across Pitman Creek will remain for local travel, Little said.

The road construction is most visible near the end of Murphy Avenue Extension. Huge trucks are moving massive amounts of dirt and rock on the east side of the street at the south corporate limits of Ferguson to provide fill dirt for a new four-lane Ky. 1247.

Little said the material is being moved by Weddle Enterprises, subcontractor for Hinkle. The excavation “technically is not a part of the new road,” Little said. He called it a “borrow site,” a slope of a hill on the east side of Murphy Avenue Extension that the contractor has acquired from a private property owner for fill dirt. The dirt and rock are being hauled across to the south side of the southeastern bypass to form an “at-grade” Ky. 1247 intersection with the southeastern bypass.

The new Ky. 1247 at its southern end will join the partial cloverleaf interchange now under construction in northern Burnside.

The partial cloverleaf interchange is designed to connect the planned but unscheduled four-laning of U.S. 27 through the Burnside business district to the entrance of General Burnside Island State Park; the aforementioned four-laning of Ky. 1247 from the interchange through Cedar Grove to Ky. 914 (southeastern bypass); and Ky. 90 west across the new bridge over Lake Cumberland to near the Bronston Post Office.

The interchange overpass will take through traffic on Ky. 90 and Ky. 1247 above U.S. 27 and Norfolk Southern Railroad tracks. Appropriately designed ramps and signs will direct traffic north, south, east and west onto the motorist’s road of choice. U.S. 27 will go beneath the overpass.

The partial cloverleaf interchange, being built by Elmo Greer and Sons of London, is scheduled for completion in mid 2009. The partial interchange bridge structure already spans U.S. 27.

        

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