SUMMARY OF I-66 PROJECT WITH POTENTIAL CONCERNS The Kentucky Department of Transportation has unveiled possible routes for the section of I-66 between London and Somerset. This has made the possibility of a major interstate through the remote areas of Eastern Kentucky a stark reality. Much of this interstate corridor will use existing parkways in Kentucky, but some new segments will be built. The London to Somerset segment is in the conclusion of a planning phase conducted by Wilbur Smith Associates of Lexington, KY, and will soon enter an environmental assessment phase. A significant portion of land between London and Somerset is part of the Daniel Boone National Forest and contains rugged lands of the Cumberland Escarpment. The Daniel Boone National Forest contains relatively pristine woodlands and gorges along Rockcastle River and Buck Creek. This land has remained undeveloped and forest growth and wildlife are flourishing. This land contains karst aquifers of significance. The Lake Cumberland Area is plagued with traffic concerns stemming from the high tourist influx during the summer months. A major highway (State Highway 80) connects these two towns and connects the endpoints of the Cumberland and Daniel Boone Parkways, but is not of interstate grade. Rather than retrofitting State Highway 80 to meet interstate standards, proposed routes have been designed which will dissect the undeveloped woodland of the National Forest. These beautiful forests and hills that make our region desirable to many must be taken into consideration. The KY DOT draft map presents three proposed routes for the I-66 corridor between London and Somerset. All proposed routes are deficient for the following reasons: · Corridors cut through undeveloped land both inside and outside of the National Forest. · Planned routes cross the Rockcastle River that is listed as a Kentucky Wild and Scenic River. · Routes fail to utilize existing road grades. · Flanking lands are highly sensitive to environmental change and contain a plethora of protected and threatened species. · All planned routes cross karst topography endangering the integrity of the highway during and after construction. Regional Biology and Archeology Portions of the mixed hardwood forests in the region of forest separating London and Somerset have been extensively cut for timber over the past 200 years. Following the creation of the Daniel Boone National Forest, the flora and fauna have made a rebound. Other parcels of land have seen little or no disturbance by humans due to the rugged terrain. Bear and Coyote are again in the forest along with various sightings of mountain lion. Rare species of woodpecker are found in the National Forest such as the endangered Red Cockaded (picoides borealis). Several rare plant species exist in these woodlands such as Lucy Braun’s White Snakeroot (Ageratina Luciae-Brauniae), and Michaux’s Saxifrage (Saxifraga Michauxii). Several archeological sites exist in sandstone shelters along Rockcastle River and Buck Creek producing artifacts that have given insight into the Native American cultures of the Woodland and Mississippian period. In addition, settlements of the early 19th century dot the landscape. Mt. Victory was named for a nearby Civil War battle, and several reminders of that era exist in the region. The aquatic diversity in the region is of much attention to both biologists and sportsmen. At least 36 species of fish have been identified in the Rockcastle River including the rare Ashy Darter (Etheostoma Cinereum). Rare and endangered mussels abound in the sand and gravel banks of the rivers such as the Cumberland Combshell (Epioblasma Brevidens), Oyster Mussel (Epoiblasma Capsaeformis), and Cumberland Bean (Villosa Trabalis) just to name a few. The regional karst aquifers have produced a wealth of rare and sensitive species. These have already declined in numbers due to human impact through pollution and destruction of habitat. Several species of bat including the rare Gray Bats (Myotis Grisescens), Ranfinesque’s Big-Eared (Corynorhinus Rafinesquii), and endangered Indiana are found in caves of these aquifers. Species of blind crayfish, blind salamander, blind fish, and numerous invertebrates have been documented in several caves. Geology and Karst The land between London and Somerset is located along the edge of a topographic feature known as the Cumberland Plateau. This plateau extends from Alabama, through Tennessee and Kentucky to Ohio and West Virginia. At the edge of the Plateau the elevation drops dramatically at what is known as the Cumberland Escarpment. Along this escarpment are dramatic reentrant gorges, and residual knobs that separate London from Somerset and make the land very rugged and undeveloped. The strata of the top of the Plateau are mostly Sandstones with beds of shale and coal dipping to the south and east at 1 to 2 degrees. The rocks underlying the Pennsylvanian strata of the Cumberland Plateau are mostly limestones. These limestones are highly modified by chemical erosion creating karst aquifers. Proposed I-66 Routes Three routes have been proposed on the Department of Transportation map. These proposed routes for the I-66 corridor cross several large karst aquifers. Each route consists of several segments with multiple options near London and Somerset and can be categorized by a north route, a middle route, and a south route. The following distance estimates are based on measurements from place names on the proposal map and crossings of Buck Creek. · The northern proposed routes cross the rugged woodland from London to the Rockcastle River at different spots but converge just north west of Acorn near Burdine Valley about a mile south of Bethany Church. The north routes pass the head of dark hollow about one mile south of Pleasant Run Church. Just to the north is Short Creek (a spring outlet for an underground river that drains most of Pulaski County east of Buck Creek and north of the spring). The route crosses Emmit Branch about a half mile north of the peak of Egypt knob, crosses Buck Creek a half mile north of Dykes Quadrangle and follows the south edge of Cedar Creek less than a quarter mile south of Cedar Creek Cave and also near to Stykes Cave. It enters the north west corner of Dykes Quadrangle at the head of Cold spring Hollow and into Somerset Quadrangle. It appears to pass about three miles due north of Ruth, about a mile south of Soul’s Chapel cemetery and meet the northern Somerset bypass about two miles south of Barnsburg. · The middle route and most direct route crosses the rugged woodland of the National Forest in the least disturbed section. The route crosses state highway 1003 about a half-mile south of Whetstone skirting the ridge north of Baker branch crossing Buck Creek near the Mouth of Whetstone Cave and on the West side near Bradley cemetery. The Whetstone caves are currently being surveyed and have been mapped in excess of a mile thus far. Blind crayfish have been observed in these caves. From there it crosses a ridge into Long Hollow about three quarters of a mile north of Dykes and less than half a mile north of 192. Long Hollow contains several cave systems that have received attention. Dykes Bridge Cave, Dykes Bottom/Mud and Slime/Richardson's Cave, and Fossil Cave which is currently being mapped by members of the Long Hollow Team just to mention a few. It seems to follow the ridge north of Hargis Hollow and bend slightly north at the head of Haunted Cave Hollow. It meets other proposed routes about two miles north of Ruth and head for state highway 80. · The southerly route roughly follows the route of State highway 192 through National Forest land. This route passes by Laurel Lake and crosses the southern portion of Cane Creek Wildlife Management Area. The route crosses over the Rockcastle River gorge and passes about a half mile north of state highway 192 at Mt Victory. At the head of Silvers Hollow, there are two possible routes westward. Both routes cross near or over Wells Cave that contains 11.5 miles of surveyed passage. The southern most option heads almost due west through the old meander about three quarters of a mile north of Poplarville to the tip of a sharp bend in buck creek. This bend in Buck Creek contains White Lobster Cave with 4 miles of passage. From there, heading slightly south of due west, it appears to mount the ridge north of Hound Hollow three-quarters of a mile south of Colo. There it will cross or come close to Tobacco and Church Caves (part of the Coral Cave System). It also passes about half a mile south of the head of Wind Cave Hollow containing Wind Cave. It crosses Pitman Creek and Highway 27 about 2 miles south of Somerset then bends north crossing the Fishing Creek branch of Lake Cumberland. The other possibility of the southern route is more northerly. From the head of Silvers Hollow, It angles west-northwest directly over top of Wells Cave. It appears to pass along the slope of the ridge just above the entrance crossing state highway 192 just north of the anniversary complex sink entrance and crosses Buck Creek just north of the mouth of the hollow. West of the creek it crosses Ping hollow near its mid section, the upper part of Baker Hollow and into Calhoun hollow where it comes close to or crosses DJ cave. Then it angles north of Ruth to circle north of Somerset and connect to the Cumberland Parkway and cross the lake on an existing bridge. Construction Concerns Since interstate grades are usually built to a maximum of 6% (a thousand horizontal feet per 60 vertical feet) the road would have to undulate between ridges and hollows. The highway will likely be built by notching into the sides of ridges, crossing hollows by building causeways from the rock cut from ridges. These notches would typically be made at elevations containing stable rock strata (i.e. limestone or sandstone, not shale). Caves in the sides of ridges are at risk especially dome-pit and canyons which usually run along the caprock contact. Conduits underlying notches are susceptible to collapse due to shear forces and changes in overburden pressure. Valley caves are at risk from changes in run off as well as by being filled in or covered up. A few stretches of the highway may follow a ridge top, but it is likely to take the middle path, at elevations around eleven hundred to one thousand feet, which happens to be roughly the contact elevation of the Bangor Limestone. The slope embankments in hollows would be a minimum of 2 to 1(preferable 3 to 1) which means a roadway raised 50 feet would increase 100 feet in width on each side of the embankment causing more bottomland (containing numerous sinkholes). Alternatives There are options other than those presented on the DOT map. The first and primary option is to route I-66 along the already existing State Highway 80 grade. State Highway 80 is a 4 lane divided highway from Somerset to Shopville (8 miles east) and from London to Bernstadt (6 miles west). There are 18 miles of two-lane state highway between Shopville and Bernstadt. Taking advantage of this option would generate the following benefits: · Ease of construction and decreased time to completion, as the 32 miles of state highway 80 grade are of high quality and relatively straight. · Land acquisition ability and light reimbursement costs since development along this route is low outside of Somerset and London. · Cost effectiveness because of aforementioned reasons. · Decreased accident rates because interchanges and already existing access roads would replace blind and congested intersections. · This option would also have the least environmental impact. Concerns with planning study Upon review of the planning study compiled by Wilbur Smith and Associates, several concerns were noted which have a detrimental impact upon the environment, and local socioeconomic structure. General: · Studied parameters appear to be unjustified and under-researched in their findings. · Little or no data is provided for protected species and all alternatives are rated the same. · Almost no field verification seems to have been performed. Geologic/Hydrologic/Biologic · Study states that The region around Somerset does exhibit some Karst topography where sinkholes and depressions are quite common (KYDOT, 1999) but no mention of extent of karstifacation and potential geotechnical problems encountered in karst. · No geologic cross-sections are provided and the list of formations and thicknesses are not ordered correctly. · No information is provided in study concerning groundwater drainage, both in karst and not. This data is readily available through the Kentucky Geological Survey and the Kentucky Department of Natural Resources Division of Water. These groups can provide details on dye traces, karst aquifer drainage patterns, springs, caves, sinkholes, and existing flood hazards. ·Engineering cost projections is based strictly on surface topography. No given cost of mitigating subsurface impacts or engineering around underground features, though much of the relevant information was provided to Wilbur Smith Associates by cavers. Thus cost comparisons are seriously in doubt. · Wild & Scenic River is justification for tossing all N routes. No consideration given existing 80. · Effect on Daniel Boone National Forest is rated equal for all routes. This neglects the major difference in character between north and south, specifically the degree of degradation north of 80 due to recreational vehicles. Traffic: · Major traffic and accident concerns occur at the Highway 80/461 intersection. Construction of the Southern Corridor option would not alleviate traffic at this juncture as a majority of traffic volume are tourists from Ohio. · N1 route rates #2 in travel time & distance saved, southern routes are considerably longer. Recreation ·Southern corridor option is listed as providing better access to recreational facilities at Laurel River Lake. While better access may be a correct result, the land around Laurel River Lake is primarily owned by the USFS and has little or no room for development. Further, good access is currently available through I-75 at interchanges near Corbin. · Noise & air pollution are presumed to be negative impacts of the presence of an interstate. Yet the preferred route (S1) is that which is close to the point of damaging recreational values on the lakes it is intended to serve. · Worst projected cultural resource impacts are said to be N1 and S3, though information is incomplete and unsuited to making comparisons. · Lake access is pushing southern routes, emphasis on potential for development. Is having an interstate directly adjacent to the recreational resource desirable? Submitted by: LEE FLOREA