New US 119 in Kentucky
H.B. Elkins
portion of US 119 east of Pikeville, Ky. For those of you who attended the
Pikeville meet last year, this was the first bridge we visited on our tour; the
one we saw from below on KY 1441. This bridge was named for the family whose
land was taken for the bridge and the dedication ceremony was held while the
road is still unopened.
Turns out this bridge is the first steel box girder bridge constructed in
Kentucky. It's more than 1,200 feet long and the steel box girder design was
chosen because of the bridge's curvature. Those girders are hollow and 10 feet
tall, and several members of the Pinson family actually went up inside the
girders. I wasn't dressed to crawl on the ground to get up into the girder so I
missed the opportunity, but I may go back and check them out. If only we had
known when we were there...
Anyway, I checked out the construction on US 119. Final surfacing is being done
on the portion from the end of the existing four-lane over to KY 194, the Johns
Creek crossing. I drove all the way out to Johns Creek on the unopened road and
got some photos. There is a grade-separated interchange there and I am told this
road will open sometime in August after a ribbon-cutting event. Looks to me that
after the final surfacing is done (they were working on the shoulder of the
northbound side today) all that is lacking is guardrail, striping and signage,
and it'll be ready to open.
I hope to have my pictures up soon; about the same time as I get my trip photos
from last week posted and some I took of a brief jaunt into West Virginia in
May.
Speaking of pictures -- I noticed that in District 12 (which does not have any
parkways but has some trailblazers for the Mountain Parkway) that the old
Mountain Parkway signs have been replaced already with the new-style Kentucky
parkway markers. I first noticed this on US 23 northbound just past the KY 1428
intersection, but was in the far left lane and couldn't snap a pic. I exited at
KY 80 and intended to turn around and head back so I could get a pic when I
noticed one of the new markers on KY 302 where it intersects KY 80 and US
23/460. I counted four of the new markers and got photos of three of them.
Actually I think District 12 jumped the gun on installation because these have
been installed nowhere else in the state -- and last week I saw markers for
every parkway except the Cumberland on my road trip.
Anyway, here's a pic if anyone wants to see...
http://www.millenniumhwy.net/new_mtn_pkwy_sign.jpg
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SP Cook
H.B. Elkins wrote:
> Today I attended the dedication of the Pinson Family Bridge on the unopened
> portion of US 119 east of Pikeville, Ky.
Looking at a map, I see the completion of Corridor G between Pikeville
and Charleston to be of more significance than most folks do. With the
other good (and now toll-free, thanks to Hal Rogers) roads that
converge on Pikeville, IMHO, this completion will have two effects.
One is that Pikeville will become even more of a regional center than
today. Reachable from all directions via a good road and the largest
town around for many miles in all directions. Think what Beckley is in
the economy of southern WV.
Two is that Corridor G, which today in WV is just a road used by
locals, will become much more of a through highway, connecting markets
from the inland south to the northeast, and tourists as well.
With too many traffic lights, an underposted SL, and the last seven
miles of unplanned development near Charleston, this will prove a
burden to the road, which will need some upgrades (certainly a fully
access controled bypass of the Charleston shopping area is needed).
SP Cook
H.B. Elkins
>Looking at a map, I see the completion of Corridor G between Pikeville
>and Charleston to be of more significance than most folks do. With the
>other good (and now toll-free, thanks to Hal Rogers) roads that
>converge on Pikeville, IMHO, this completion will have two effects.
Paul Patton (remember him?) made comments to that effect yesterday at the bridge
dedication.
>One is that Pikeville will become even more of a regional center than
>today. Reachable from all directions via a good road and the largest
>town around for many miles in all directions. Think what Beckley is in
>the economy of southern WV.
Pikeville is now the educational, medical and banking center of the region. It
is also a regional shopping center but 30 miles away in South Williamson is
another regional center. Pikeville is growing by leaps and bounds, now most
notably by a new development across the river from where US 119 now comes in to
US 23, and it appears there is plenty more room for development in that river
bottom.
>Two is that Corridor G, which today in WV is just a road used by
>locals, will become much more of a through highway, connecting markets
>from the inland south to the northeast, and tourists as well.
Right now the only impediment to taking corridors F and G from I-75 in Tennessee
to Charleston is the Pine Mountain crossing on US 119. Even with that, and the
two-lane portions of the corridor along US 119 and TN 63, I'd rather take the
two corridors from Knoxville to Charleston than either I-75 and I-64, or I-40,
I-81 and I-77.
>With too many traffic lights, an underposted SL, and the last seven
>miles of unplanned development near Charleston, this will prove a
>burden to the road, which will need some upgrades (certainly a fully
>access controled bypass of the Charleston shopping area is needed).
There are some sections in West Virginia that, to my view, could use some
upgrades now -- some of the older portions. I'd think building a Charleston
bypass would be difficult -- should it tie into I-64 west or town or the
Turnpike south of town?
I haven't been out to Southgate or Southwind or whatever it's called for a few
years now but I'd say it has grown even more than the last time I was there.
Arif Khokar
> On 1 Jul 2006 06:23:15 -0700, SP Cook wrote:
[RE: Corridor G]
>>With too many traffic lights, an underposted SL, and the last seven
>>miles of unplanned development near Charleston, this will prove a
>>burden to the road, which will need some upgrades (certainly a fully
>>access controled bypass of the Charleston shopping area is needed).
> There are some sections in West Virginia that, to my view, could use some
> upgrades now -- some of the older portions. I'd think building a Charleston
> bypass would be difficult -- should it tie into I-64 west or town or the
> Turnpike south of town?
>
> I haven't been out to Southgate or Southwind or whatever it's called for a few
> years now but I'd say it has grown even more than the last time I was there.
They started upgrading a portion of it near the Wal*Mart to 6 lanes in
2001 I believe. I don't know if they're making any further changes, but
it looked essentially the same the last time I was there (in 2005).
Sherman L. Cahal
I don't see any widening in the long-range forecast for WVDOH, and its
not in their six-year program. There is very little ROW since it was
built through a developed area.
H.B. Elkins
>It's also the family that owned *The* place to stay and eat in downtown
>Pikeville in the early 70's, namely the Pinson Hotel. Unless, of course,
>you stayed at the Landmark Inn out on the South Mayo Trail.
Yes, the family businesses, including the hotel, were mentioned frequently
during the ceremony.
There's a video link to the WYMT_TV story here (Windows Media):
http://www.wymtnews.com/Global/category.asp?C=71973
SP Cook
H.B. Elkins wrote:
>
> There are some sections in West Virginia that, to my view, could use some
> upgrades now -- some of the older portions. I'd think building a Charleston
> bypass would be difficult -- should it tie into I-64 west or town or the
> Turnpike south of town?
>
> I haven't been out to Southgate or Southwind or whatever it's called for a few
> years now but I'd say it has grown even more than the last time I was there.
>
centers, but which appears on mileage signs on Corridor G. WV DOH is
encouraging use of that word in place of "Corridor G". In Charleston
"Corridor G" means that shopping and residential area, as opposed to
the road itself, and certainly as opposed to the whole road to
Pikeville. As "Shop at the Corridor G Wal-Mart".
While one cannot bypass that shopping area, one can skip the remaining
5 miles up to I-64 by taking the Davis Creek-South Charleston exit and
following Davis Creek Road, which becomes Jefferson Road to I-64 at MP
54. This involves a terriable zig-zag connection left over from before
any of the roads were built. The owner of the northernmost of the
shopping centers is a political insider and is willing to donate land
behind his complex which would take a four lane directly to Jefferson
Road, which would help greatly.
The real solution would be to build that, and then take out the State
Police HQ on Jefferson Road (the place is a dump due to poor
maintainence) and a dis-used city owned health club and thus build an
elevated road directly connecting to I-64. Then a road could be built
from this running south on the west side behind the current malls,
which would provide a bypass of the whole mess.
SP Cook
H.B. Elkins
>While one cannot bypass that shopping area, one can skip the remaining
>5 miles up to I-64 by taking the Davis Creek-South Charleston exit and
>following Davis Creek Road, which becomes Jefferson Road to I-64 at MP
>54. This involves a terriable zig-zag connection left over from before
>any of the roads were built.
Yes, you have to choose your lanes well in advance and last time i was across
thru there, the lanes were very poorly signed.
H.B. Elkins
>What's not widely known is that the Pinson family, back in the 50's
>and 60's, purchased the Pikeville franchise rights for the major
>motel chains, like Holiday Inn and Howard Johnson's, and sat on 'em
>so they'd have *no* competition in Pikeville.
I don't know if their hotel is still in existence or not -- a jewelry store was
frequently mentioned during the event, however -- but there are now a Days Inn
and Super 8 that I know of in Pikeville. Hampton Inn's coming, too.
>>There's a video link to the WYMT_TV story here (Windows Media):
>>
>>http://www.wymtnews.com/Global/category.asp?C=71973
>
>*Pout*. That gave me a generic page that didn't mention the
>bridge, but I *was* able to search for the text version of the
>story at http://www.wymtnews.com/Global/story.asp?s=5102413
At one point they had a link to the text and video, but the page I linked to had
only a Javascript embed that turned on the video link and I wasn't sure how to
link directly to the Windows Media file. Guess they had rotated the video link
out in favor of something more recent when you saw it.
If you are really interested, tapes are available from WYMT. Heather shot a lot
of video that day that wasn't used, including the Pinson granddaughters climbing
up into the hollow box girders.