Pikeville Cut-Through
The Pikeville Cut-Through is a rock cut in Pikeville, Kentucky, United States created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, through which passes a four-lane divided highway (Corridor B, numbered as US 23, US 119, US 460, and KY 80), a railroad line (CSX Big Sandy Subdivision), and the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River. It is one of the largest civil engineering projects in the western hemisphere, moving nearly 18,000,000 cubic yards (14,000,000 m3) of soil and rock, compared to the Big Dig (15 million cubic yards) and the Panama Canal (240 million cubic yards).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.
The Pikeville Cut-Through is 1,300 feet (400 m) wide, 3,700 feet (1.1 km) long, and is 523 feet (159 m) deep. The project was completed in 1987 following 14 years of work at a cost of $77.6 million ($164 million in 2016 dollars).
The project was initially envisioned by Pikeville native Dr. William Hambley in 1960. He simply wanted to relocate the railbed because he wanted to eliminate the dust that came from the coal 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.
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