Source: WDRB
By Marcus Green
May 1, 2019
The idea has alarmed some residents, particularly in Bullitt County, who are concerned about a new highway’s impact on the area. Officials with Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest say it and a proposed LG&E natural gas pipeline threaten land it owns.
Summers, who was elected to the county’s top office last fall, said he is taking a wait-and-see approach to the bypass concept. Meanwhile, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is spending $1.9 million on a report expected this fall looking at three to four corridor options, as well as building no road at all.
A cabinet spokeswoman told WDRB News earlier this year that the study contemplates “wide, potential corridors, not specific roadway alignments.”
But HDR Engineering generally is evaluating an area that runs east from Shepherdsville and cuts between Mount Washington and Taylorsville, then moving north along the Shelby and Jefferson county line west of Simpsonville.
It would hug the Parklands of Floyds Fork in some areas and eventually join I-71 near La Grange, according to a preliminary map WDRB reviewed.
“The roadway project is downright scary,” Bernheim executive director Mark Wourms told WDRB News last month. “Because a roadway is big and wide and impactful and provides noise and pollution forever– and so it’s yet another level of threat to Bernheim.”
Summers said he’s aware of residents who are upset about the proposed pipeline and bypass study. The bypass is a “possibility,” he said, although it may not be needed.
He pointed to last week’s announcement by state officials that they are combining four interstate projects in Jefferson and Oldham counties, part of an estimated $180 million construction venture that could be done by 2023.
That work includes widening the Snyder Freeway between I-71 and Taylorsville Road and rebuilding the I-64 interchange at the Snyder, along with adding new lanes to a section of I-71 between the Snyder and Crestwood.
Summers said those projects could help traffic flow and make a bypass unnecessary, as could current plans to widen I-65 between the Snyder and Lebanon Junction.
“When you look at what they’re doing, cleaning up 71, 64 and 265, it could end up being a moot point,” he said.
For now, Summers said, the proposed bypass doesn’t make the cut.
“If this road’s not needed, you won’t see me beating the drum for it. But if it is needed…I’ve just got to understand how it’s going to help our community.
Reach reporter Marcus Green at 502-585-0825, mgreen@wdrb.com, on Twitter or on Facebook. Copyright 2019 WDRB Media. All rights reserved.