Landslide repair on Parkway to take longer than expected

Above, rock tumbling onto the parkway caused hazardous driving conditions-Photo Furnished

After carefully examining the site of a landslide and rock fall on the Wendell Ford-Western Kentucky Parkway in Caldwell County, Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Engineers say it may take four weeks or more to clear debris from the roadside and stabilize the area.
The 150 foot long landslide briefly blocked the eastbound lanes of the parkway near the 19 mile marker last Wednesday morning. Motorists alerted the Caldwell County 911 Call Center to the slide about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday.
Initially rock from the slide knocked over a guardrail then rolled into the passing lane and the median. Some of the chunks of rock that came down onto the shoulder in the slide are the size of a compact car or larger. The Caldwell County highway maintenance crew took a loader to the site to push debris off the roadway to allow one lane to open to traffic.
Transportation Cabinet crews have now set up a lane restriction to allow a long-reach track hoe to start to clear rock and mud that came down onto the shoulder. Engineers initially thought repairs on the embankment would take about a week, but after carefully surveying the site on Wednesday they determined that more extensive work would be required. The rock face near the slide appears to be cracked and some additional material will likely have to be taken down to stabilize the area.
Highway engineers believe extreme cold temperatures over an extended period probably contributed to the incident. The cold weather is blamed for causing a deck overlay to peel up on the westbound I-24 overpass at Cadiz Exit 65 last week. Highway engineers are watching a bump that appeared immediately after the cold spell on US 41-A between the 9 and 10 mile marker in Hopkins County.
To facilitate repairs to the landslide on the Western Kentucky Parkway, the eastbound lane restriction is expect to remain in place until the work is complete. The lane restriction runs from roughly the 17.9 mile point to about mile point 18.7. This is at the Longbreak Road underpass and about 3 miles west of the Caldwell-Hopkins County line.
Eastbound motorists on the Parkway should be alert for slowing and merging traffic as they approach the 18 mile marker between Princeton and Dawson Springs.
Motorists should slow down and use caution where equipment, flaggers, and highway personnel will be on the roadway in close proximity to traffic flow. Highway crews and contract personnel are likely to be working at the site during daylight hours anytime weather allows over the next four to five weeks. Some short delays may be possible for eastbound traffic during the movement of equipment working at the site.
About 8,500 vehicles travel this section of the Parkway in an average day.