Work to begin widening of west bound lane of Hwy. 60; near Vastwood Park

Yager Materials Corporation, in Owensboro, recently got the contract to widen Hwy 60 from just east of the entrance to Vastwood Park, to 1957. Message boards are now in place, and from around mid-April to October, that length of the roadway will be switched over to a two-lane in the eastbound lane. The total cost of the project is over 11 million dollars.

K. Albert Allen, Area Operations Manager for Yager Materials, over the paving division, said the crossover lanes will be built first, probably sometime next week. “Once we get those in, we’re going to shift the traffic, so when you get to Vastwood, going westbound, you’ll be merged over in the eastbound lane and then when you get past 1957, we’ll merge back over,” Allen said. “It’ll stay that way, probably from now to October.  That’s per Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KTC). I would assume, with the work going on, they figured it was easier to do that, than try to put in several crossovers and then try to relearn traffic.

About mid-April, we should switch it over, and we’ve got until October before we have to switch it back. Even though they allotted us a year and a half on this contract in April to start to get it done, we’re hoping to get it done in October if things go like they should, and they don’t run into any big problems. At the very least, in October we’ll have it switched back, even if it’s just on the base and not on the surface lanes, and then finish the surface in the spring.”

Envision Contractors LLC, in Daviess County, has been sub-contracted to do the dirt work, and they will begin by taking the large hill out by the entrance to Vastwood. “Right where the concrete stops,” Allen said, “coming down the hill, where the blacktop is, they’re going to start working there. That’s going to be a really big visual for everybody to see that gone. You’ll be able to see across through there. That’ll be a pretty decent undertaking, taking that little mountain down.

It’ll be, basically, a mirror image of how the eastbound side is. It’ll be blacktop instead of concrete. They’re going to start on taking that mountain down while they’re getting the utilities moved, and then they’re going to slowly ramp-up and try to work on all three places at the same time, which is kind of the idea why we’re switching all the traffic. It’ll be two-way traffic, just in the eastbound lane as soon as they put the crossover lanes in.

When it actually gets switched over, you’ll have a message board at each end, and then an arrow board, and there will be a reflective retaining wall aiming everybody over as well. Plus, there will be a lot of signage. It’s definitely going to be a headache for some of the trucks trying to hit some of the factories and things like that. But, we’re doing everything we can with KTC to make that work out for everybody.”

Judge/Executive Johnny Roberts said, “We have so much truck traffic in Hancock County. It desperately needs to be widened in those areas. And, hopefully, in the future we can go from 1957 and go west into Lewisport and finish that 2 miles as well…It’s going to be a little congestion that we have to deal with for a few months.”