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A major highway project which involves state and federal funds such as the Southern Kentucky Corridor (I-66), the Appalachian Corridor Segment will progress through nine basic steps before the project is opened to
traffic.
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Planning, Environmental Overview Stage
Prepare a purpose and needs statement that expresses the reasons for the project. Gather data
regarding land uses, environmental overview, traffic, and economics that are influenced by the project. This step is currently underway.
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Corridor Public Meeting
Share project information and general corridor location with the public and gather comments. The comments and data previously gathered will be used to develop alternative alignments that serve project purpose and need.
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Identify the “Best” Alternatives
Alternative alignments will be
developed based on information gathered on project impacts (environmental
overview and cost estimates), and comments received from the public and from local
and state government. These alternatives will be evaluated with a decision
matrix to identify the "best" alternatives to pursue in the full-scale
environmental basement. It is important to understand at this stage of project analysis that the “best” alternatives are actually 1000-foot-wide corridors, not a detailed alignment.
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Preliminary Engineering - Environmental Assessment and Public
Hearing
An in-depth, environmental assessment will be performed on the “best” alternative.
A final environmental assessment document will be prepared and approved by the
federal government for review by the public. This document will include a “preferred” alternative.
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Official Public Hearing and Record of Decision
An
official public hearing will be held to review the findings of the
environmental assessment and the "preferred" alternative. Comments received from the Public Hearing
will allow the environmental assessment to become a documented Record of
Decision, which makes the "build alternative" for federal funding.
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Final Design (US 23 to Kimper)
After
the Public Hearing, if the record of decision is to proceed with the project,
the final right-of-way and construction plans and specifications will be
developed. In this case, the section from US 23 to Kimper will proceed to design.
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Right-of-Way Acquisition and Utility Relocation (US 23 to Kimper)
Right-of-way and utility plans are
used when meeting with property owners and utility companies relative to
federal and state acquisition procedures of assessment, negotiations,
acquisition for property parcels, and relocation of utilities.
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Advertisement, Acceptance of Bids and Construction Contract
Award (US 23 to Kimper)
State law, for the protection of the taxpayer, regulates the call for bids, opening
and acceptance of the bid, and the award of the bid. This process usually requires about six weeks.
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Construction Contract (US 23 to Kimper)
Large
and complicated projects, such as this project that includes bridges and major
intersections, may take more than two years to build before the road is accepted
and open to traffic.
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