Judging by the comments on the News Journal’s Facebook page last week, people certainly have strong feelings about the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s plan to make a portion of Corbin’s Main Street a one-lane road with parallel parking on both sides.
“Who comes up with these ridiculous ideas? Traffic downtown Corbin is already a nightmare when they have any kind of event downtown and now this?” Deborah Sharp Taft wrote.
“What a brilliant plan…….I’m assuming that whoever came up with the roundabout plans all over SEKY came up with this plan,” Bob O’Neill wrote.
“Sounds like the State just asked AI how to do this and it spit it out,” J.D. Bonza wrote.
Not all the comments about the project were negative.
“Main Street is a drag race. This will be a good thing. Parking will be easier. You will be able to open your car door, and your mirrors won’t get ripped off by people speeding down main. Before you start ripping into the city give it a chance to see if it works. Something has to be done. Angled parking was considered and so the people’s safety when parking,” wrote JeNell Winchester.
According to what a Kentucky Transportation Cabinet spokesperson told the Corbin City Commission on Sept. 21, the plan is to make Main Street a one-lane road from Seventh Street to Gordon Street with parallel parking on either side. This would leave approximately a 2.5 foot buffer on each side of the road so people can get out of their vehicles more easily.
Yes, the state considered angled parking and deemed it too dangerous.
The idea of keeping Main Street two lanes and taking parking off one side or the other was briefly considered but scrapped because no one wanted to have to tell businesses owners on either side of Main Street they were losing the street-side parking in front of their business.
The state also plans to make a portion of the road on Kentucky Avenue one-lane in front of Corbin Elementary School. I think the idea is to make parent pick-up and drop-off a little easier and a little safer particularly when vehicles are lined up to get into the dropoff lane.
In answer to O’Neill’s comment about whether the people, who came up with this idea also came up with the idea for the roundabouts, probably. To the best of my knowledge the roundabouts at Exit 15 were a Kentucky Transportation Cabinet project and so are the plans for Main Street. In other words, people working in the same office probably came up with both ideas.
J.D. Bonza’s comment about the state asking AI how to do this was the funniest of the comments I read. I would imagine state engineers were also involved, but it would not shock me if AI played some role in the design.
I think most people can agree traffic along Corbin’s Main Street tends to be too fast. I think something probably needs to be done to slow it down. Not everyone is going to agree on the best solution to fix this.
It is probably worth trying and, if it doesn’t work, then all it will take is some paint to fix it back to the way it was.
My prediction about one lane on Main Street is it will be a lot like the roundabouts the state has installed at various intersections in recent years. I think people will do a lot of complaining about it at first, but then people will get used to it. The roundabouts at Exit 15 are a good example.
My prediction in terms of Kentucky Avenue is this one might change if the school district pushes back on it, or suggests something, which would work better.
One big thing I think most people are overlooking here is these changes are being done because Main Street and Kentucky Avenue are getting repaved. This is a good thing and long overdue.
