Pikeville Cut-Through

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The Pikeville Cut-Through is a rock cut in Pikeville, Kentucky, United States, through which pass a four-lane divided highway (Corridor B, numbered as US 23, US 119, US 460, and KY 80), a railroad line (CSX Big Sandy Subdivision), and the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River. It is one of the largest land removal projects ever completed in the western hemisphere by the Army Corps of Engineers, moving a total of 12,000,000 cubic yards (9,200,000 m³) of rock and dirt (compared to the Big Dig (15 million cubic yards) and the Panama Canal (240 million cubic yards)). The project was completed in 1987 after 14 years of work. Dr. William Hambley, who served as mayor of Pikeville for 29 years, Robert H Holcomb, Chamber of Commerce president, and Henry Stratton, local attorney, spearheaded the project, seeing it as the only way to eliminate the frequent flooding caused by the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River. The river, which at one time snaked around the downtown area, was relocated through the Cut-Through, along with the highway and railroad. $77.6 million was spent on the project. Land reclamation from the old riverbed has significantly increased available space for development. As Pikeville is a city that was built mainly on a mountain, suitable developmental land is scarce, and the reclaimed land from the filled-in riverbed was a major addition to the town.