Still No Specific Timeline For Sunfish-Roundhill Road Rebuild, But Judge/Exec Says it is Priority

Site of the Sunfish-Round Hill Road breach, May 6, 2025.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
After three years, the specific timeline for the rebuild of Sunfish-Round Hill Road remains unknown as Edmonson County Judge/Executive Scott Lindsey says "complexity of the work," and things "factored in that we were not accounting for," are some of the issues the county is facing with the massive road project.

The county road off of HWY 70 (Morgantown Road) and HWY 187 (Sunfish Road) first began to collapse in the summer of 2022 due to the parallel Cub Creek that had exceed its original banks and began eroding the base of the road. The initial extensive repair was attempted by the Edmonson County Road Department, under the direction of then supervisor Greg Carroll, hired by the fiscal court led by former Judge/Executive Wil Cannon.

According to the current Judge/Executive's Office during a March 2024 interview, the more the road crew worked on the repair, the more repairs were needed. Eventually, the entire base of the road failed and was dug completely down to the creek, at a depth of nearly 20 feet from the top of the road. This is when Judge Lindsey said the county discovered that they didn't have the funds to rebuild the road. As a result, portable barriers with "Road Closed" signage were placed on both sides of the breach.

However, in April of 2023, Donald Hardison, a Muhlenberg County man, was found deceased in a 2007 Ford Expedition after driving off the closed road into water at the construction site of Sunfish-Round Hill Road. It is unclear whether or not the barriers were in place when the man drove into the water. At the time, Judge Lindsey said they had been placed in the correct areas but it was not known where they were at the time of the accident or if the man simply avoided and driven around them. It is an approximately 20 foot drop off from the roadway to the bottom.

Regardless of where they are placed, the barriers alone can still be driven around fairly easily. In December of 2019, Alexandra Richardson was able to drive around the same barricade on Oak Hill Road, where flooding had caused the water to be several feet over the road. She drove into the water while intoxicated with her 20 month-old son and another juvenile. The boy died as a result of the crash and Richardson was charged and convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years in jail.

View of what used to be the roadway on Sunfish-Round Hill Road, May 6, 2025.

Nearly three weeks passed after Mr. Hardison's accident before Edmonson County Fiscal Court voted to take a more permanent action to avoid the possibility of anyone else driving into the drop off. Some Sunfish residents attended the May 8, 2023 fiscal court meeting and demanded action be taken immediately. The court voted that day to place large loads of rock at both breaches which still remain today, along with "Road Closed" signs.

The breach is well over 100 foot long by 20 foot deep, and still has a portion of Cub Creek running into the original base.

Judge Lindsey announced to the Edmonson County Fiscal Court on March 18, 2024, that he had found a possible solution for funding, which was estimated to cost around $900K. He said that while the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had agreed to pay for the project, the county would have to cover the initial cost, which they didn't have. Lindsey said that the county could secure a line of credit through the Kentucky Association of Counties, a state governing body of county offices in KY, (KACo). He also said that he hoped the work would be done in 2024, which did not happen.

We followed up with Judge Lindsey last week about the status of the project that has disrupted the lives of many Sunfish area residents, and asked for an update.

The credit line was secured in June of 2024, according to Judge Lindsey and the $900k has been borrowed. The funds have been placed in a separate account, ready for use.

Lindsey said a variety of factors have hindered the project but that he feels they have all been addressed and the county is close to moving forward.

"Some of the factors that took some time to complete were having to do with the geo-studies that were completed in and around the roadbed to make sure that the foundation the road was being rebuilt on was strong enough to support the road," he said. "Or does it need to be secured by using engineering methods like rail and cribbing that would add strength to the affected area. There were several other tests that were done as well."

Second barrier of rock past the "Road Closed" sign.

He also said due to the water issue from the creek, rerouting the water under the road without eroding the road base had to be part of the solution. If not, the road would continue to fail as a result of the same issue.

"There were also multiple options presented as to the possible placement of the road based on the information gained from the results of the engineering studies. Once the best option was chosen, we had to obtain the right-of-ways and permissions to use that model from the landowner. That has now been discussed and verbally agreed to, and we are moving forward using that information."

Lindsey said he had hoped the entire project could have been completed last year.

"Unfortunately, due to the complexity of the work, and things that factored in that we were not accounting for originally, the project hasn't moved forward as quickly as we had hoped or intended."

He said the county hired an engineering firm, Arnold Consulting Engineering Services, (ACES) who was an approved state vendor, and one that the county has used for other projects in the past.

"They have been doing the testing and engineering for the blueprints and planning to rebuild the road. They are handling the engineering and scope of work for the project. We will take sealed bids for the reconstruction once ACES gets the bid packet finalized."

Judge Lindsey said while no specific time period has been discussed by ACES, he said it is a priority and they are working on that now. Once they submit all the information to the county, the fiscal court will advertise for bids, which would take two to three weeks, then those bids will be opened and read at the following meeting.

"It is the goal of all involved to be able to get this project completed this year," Judge Lindsey said. "We want to get it completed as soon as possible."