By GINA KINSLOW
HORSE CAVE — The city of Horse Cave has acquired funds to repair Bluegrass Avenue.
City Councilman Randall Curry has confirmed money to make the necessary street repairs will soon be made available.
Curry, who is also vice chairman of the Hart County Industrial Authority, approached the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet in Elizabethtown about the project.
KYTC has agreed to sign a memorandum of agreement with the Hart County Industrial Authority to not only repair the road, but also to widen it so that large trucks can easily pass one another.
Bluegrass Avenue runs between the Bluegrass Motel and Ken-Dec in Horse Cave and is used by farm traffic traveling to and from a Southern States facility, as well as tractor trailers going to a building owned by Dart Container.
No written agreement has been signed at this time between KYTC and the industrial authority. Only verbal agreement has been given. However, the industrial authority is scheduled to adopt a resolution Monday afternoon to be the fiscal agent for the project.
“We’re just happy this has happened,” Curry said.
Repairing Bluegrass Avenue has been debated for quite some time by the Horse Cave City Council, but has been overshadowed by a dispute between Mayor Odell Martin and the council concerning the city’s 2006-07 audit.
The council discussed Bluegrass Avenue at its April 13 meeting, but decided to table action on it until further notice.
Martin thought it possible the city could get some funding through USDA Economic Development to make the road repairs.
“If the city cannot get help from economic development then Dart will have to fix the road,” he said. “If we can’t get economic development to help us, (then) I’m going to have to have some conversations with Dart Container.”
He also said during the council meeting that he believed the damage “was brought forth by Dart Container.”
