Cumberland County Design Build

The Cumberland County spot improvement project on KY61 and KY90 employed an innovative contracting method “Design Build.”  This method of contracting requires that a qualified contractor-consultant team submit proposals to provide all services required to perform highway design, geotechnical engineering, permitting, right of way acquisition, utility relocation, and actual construction of the new highway.  The proposal prepared by the combined efforts of ATS Construction, Gaddie Shamrock, Stantec, American Engineers, and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for the construction of the highways selected Qk4 Engineers.  KY61 had recently been designated a national truck route through Kentucky and in to Tennessee.  One key goal of the project was to correct the deficiencies in the alignment and width of the roadway to meet the standards for national truck routes.  Even though KY90 does not bear the designation of a national truck route, it has a significant amount of truck and boating traffic from the local poultry, houseboat manufacturing, and tourism industries in the area.  Many locations along KY90 had been identified for spot improvements for substandard roadway.

Design, permitting, geotechnical exploration, right of way, utility relocation, and actual construction began in the Fall of 2007.  Property acquisition and utility relocation progressed through the Winter and Spring of 2008.  Construction activities resumed in the Spring of 2008 and lasted for approximately two years.  The road was opened for traffic to use in November 2010.  Final cleanup and punch list work was wrapped up in the Spring of 2011.

In the Spring of 2012, the highway department added extra work to the project to reconstruct a one and a half mile of highway known as the Leslie Curve.  The inclusion of this work in the contract had become a hot topic of debate between local and state leaders.

Design, permitting, right of way, and utility work have begun on the Leslie Curve.  Construction activities are scheduled to start June of 2013 and should be complete by the summer of 2014.