Construction of the new Tompkinsville By-pass is continuing and is on schedule, according to Wes Wyatt of the Kentucky Department of Transportation.

“There is still lots to do, but we anticipate the road opening to traffic in late fall or early winter of this year,” he said.

The roadway, when completed, will connect Highway 163 from the Edmonton Road side north of Tompkinsville (across from Ben Hall Road) to Celina Road to the south, near Jane Yokley Cemetery Road.

It is a new route that will feature a two-lane roadway with turning lanes at each intersection.

With this update, it will create intersections with Cap Harlan Road, Center Point Road and Radio Station Road.

The project is on schedule from the original projection which was set in late 2017. It is designed to provide a new north-south route to help reduce large truck and commercial traffic from the downtown area. In addition, Wyatt noted, it will help reduce the traffic congestions in the downtown area.

“In addition, it is a faster route for emergency and first responders to get to different areas of the county,” he said.

In the project, the work has turned to the final surfacing, installing signage, doing the ground work to form ditches along the roadway, and installing guardrails.

“There is some major intersection work still to do,” Wyatt added.

Access along the roadway remains restricted except where property owners must access.

However, with this limited access, no one should be on the roadway unless they are using it to get to their own property.

“Each of those property owners have been spoken with over time and there is no one else that should be on the areas,” Wyatt said.

“The roadway is not yet safe for motorists to use to travel on and it is dangerous to do so. So we implore people not to do it,” he added.

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The official report from the Monroe County Health Department’s Director Jill Ford on Friday, May 22, officially doubled the number of COVID-19 cases overnight.

Prior to last Friday’s report, Monroe’s count was seven since the first case on April 2. However, the new report noted seven cases were reported positive in one day–the highest spike thusfar in this area.

Since that time, another two cases have been noted as positive — one Friday, May 22 and one on Monday, May 25, bringing the total to 16 for the county.

Ford added that six of the cases for the county had recovered with several still in quarantine.

“We are working closely with the Kentucky Department for Public Health to continue tracing the recent history of the patients in an effort to identify and contact all those who may have been exposed to the virus. These individuals will be advised to monitor for fever and respiratory symptoms.

“As testing capability has increased across the state, we should expect to see the number of positive cases continue to rise. The announcement of new cases should serve as a reminder to us to remain vigilant in our efforts to protect ourselves and others,” said Ford.