LEBANON JUNCTION, Ky. (WDRB) -- The mayor of Lebanon Junction wants drivers to know 'Road Closed' signs, in fact, mean the road is closed.
Highway 434 in Lebanon Junction near the Rolling Fork River washed out a year ago. And it kept eroding away during the rainiest year on record.
“It started sliding down the bank,” Lebanon Junction Mayor Larry Dangerfield said.
Now that the road is fully closed for repairs, Dangerfied said drivers are ignoring the signs.
“I-65, that's one of our nightmares. It had a wreck, so people get put off on our exit," he said. "The GPS sends them right here, and I sat and watched 76 cars within just a few minutes go past two signs that say 'road closed, local access only,' and when they get down here, even tractor trailers, they got nowhere to turn around."
It would be physically impossible to drive the road right now. Last week, an estimated 100 tandem truckloads of sludge, rock and debris were hauled out from the bottom of the embankment," Dangerfield said.
Now, the road is being built back up and stabilized with hundreds of tons of gravel.
“They’re just going to keep hauling rock, and as you can see, they dump it over the edge," Dangerfield said. "One track hoe pushes down, the other is leveling it, and they're compacting it, and they're putting the big rocks in there also."
While some are unhappy with a completion date of November 2019, Dangerfield is optimistic, even with the uncertainty of Mother Nature.
“It's rained three of the last four days here now," he said. "But they assured me they're already ahead of schedule."
The project costs $763,422.
Drivers can detour this area via KY 61 to I-65 South to KY 313 (Joe Prather Highway) and then reconnect with KY 434.
Copyright 2019 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
