BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
WILDER -- A two-mile stretch of Ky. 9 here, something of a driving nightmare because of twists, turns and crumbling shoulders on its two lanes of asphalt, will finally be replaced with a four-lane highway. Construction begins later this summer.
The state highway department will open bids July 24 to select the contractors. The highway will run from just south of Moock Road to I-275 along the Licking River.
"The fight to fix this road goes back to the mid-1980s," said state Rep. Jim Callahan, a Wilder resident who works at Carlisle Construction on Ky. 9.
"There were attempts at repairing the extreme slippage, but none were successful," he said. "I made several trips to Frankfort with officials from Wilder and Newport and (Campbell County) Fiscal Court to meet with members of the Transportation Cabinet. We never let it die."
The state has earmarked about $30 million for the project, said Joe Kearnes, chief district engineer for the Transportation Cabinet. "Because of certain procedures we have to follow after the bids are opened, we probably won't see work started before Sept. 1," he said. "You can expect about two years to completion."
The portion of Ky. 9 through Wilder has been plagued with problems for years, including repeated slippage along the shoulders and at least one slide that resulted in the closing of the highway until that section could be repaired and the slide halted.
Mr. Callahan said Ky. 9, linking several Campbell County communities with the AA Highway, is a critical roadway that has used up thousands of dollars in repairs each year for more than 10 years.
"It carries a major amount of traffic from Newport Steel and Carlisle, among other companies," he said. "It is important to the area to have this road replaced, and have the job done right."
He said it was "probably just luck that we haven't had a major accident involving a car and a truck on that road. All you have to do is drive down the road and see a big truck coming the other way with its load shifting from side to side because of the uneven pavement, and you know it has to be fixed."
Mr. Kearnes said the new stretch of highway will generally parallel the existing roadway. The first construction step will be the installation of tie-back walls to hold the roadway and also hold the hillside above the road.
"We've moved the path of the new highway a little further away from the Licking River than the original plan, to get the roadbed on more stable material," he said.
He said the tie-back walls require drilling at an angle until solid rock is found, sinking anchors in the rock and connecting large beams by means of heavy cables.
Only four companies are pre-approved by the state to bid on the tie-back wall project, and just one, Richard Goettle Inc., of the Cincinnati suburb of Pleasant Run, is local.
