The Pikeville Cut-Through is a rock cut in Pikeville,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

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, created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, through which passes a four-lane divided highway ( Corridor B, numbered as U.S. Route 23 (US 23), US 119, US 460, and KY 80), a railroad line (

CSX CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Railroad classes, Class I freight railroad company operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Operating about 21,000 route miles () of trac ...

' Big Sandy Subdivision), and the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River. It is one of the largest

civil engineering Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...

projects in the

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. Nearly of soil and rock were moved, making the Pikeville Cut-Through second only to the

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() when ranking the hemisphere's largest earth-moving projects.Flow Diversion-Pikeville Cut-Through

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. Retrieved on November 22, 2010. Dr. William Hambley, who served as mayor of Pikeville for 29 years, Robert H. Holcomb, Chamber of Commerce president, and Henry Stratton, local attorney, spearheaded the project. Pikeville Cut-Through from south

The Pikeville Cut-Through is wide, long, and deep.Maddox, Connie. The Pikeville Cut-Through Project (brochure). Pikeville-Pike County Tourism. Retrieved on June 17, 2010 The project was completed in 1987 following 14 years of work at a cost of $77.6 million ($ in dollars).

Purpose

The project was initially envisioned by Pikeville native Dr. William Hambley in 1960.Pikeville "Cut-Thru Project"
Kentucky Tourism. Retrieved on June 17, 2010 He wanted to relocate the railbed because he wanted to eliminate the dust that came from the

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

hauling trains that passed through the city daily. In 1963, Pikeville received a $38,000 federal grant for a railroad relocation feasibility study and was named a Model City by the recently formed Model Cities Agency, generating even more funding. By 1965, his plan had further developed to accommodate Corridor B of the Appalachian Development Highway System, assuring the construction of the Pikeville Cut-Through. Pike County, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved on June 17, 2010 It was also decided to relocate the

Levisa Fork The Levisa Fork (also known as the Levisa Fork River or the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River) is a tributary of the Big Sandy River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Nat ...

of the Big Sandy River, which then snaked through the downtown area, to eliminate almost-yearly flooding. The river bed then was to be reclaimed, significantly increasing the available space for development within the city.

Construction

The project was constructed in four phases by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers between November 26, 1973, and October 2, 1987. Phase I of construction began on November 26, 1973. By the end of Phase I, nearly of rock were blasted from Peach Orchard Mountain to create a channel for the road, railroad, and river. The cost of Phase I at completion was $17,250,000. Phase II of construction began on March 4, 1980. During this phase the coal tipples and railroad tracks were removed from downtown Pikeville, a bridge was constructed across the cut, the river was rerouted, and the former riverbed filled. of soil was moved to create of available land in downtown at a cost of $22,200,000. Phase III and IV of the construction began on March 15, 1983. The final stages consisted of: the construction of the downtown interchanges and flood walls, another new bridge, and the construction of Hambley Boulevard atop the former railbed – a lasting tribute to William Hambley. These two phases created an additional of downtown property at a cost of $19,700,000. The project was dedicated on October 2, 1987.

References

External links

Tourism information
{{coord, 37.47527, N, 82.53891, W, source:placeopedia, display=title Transportation in Pike County, Kentucky Tourist attractions in Pike County, Kentucky Transport infrastructure completed in 1987 Cuts (earthmoving) U.S. Route 23 Kentucky Route 80 1987 establishments in Kentucky Pikeville, Kentucky