Shane Pippin
Staff Writer
A section of KY 987 in Bell County totally collapsed during early Tuesday morning following a period of heavy rain.
“It’s gone,” said a local onlooker.
Several neighbors came out to surmise and marvel at the devastation.
Cathy Hobbs was one of the locals who stayed around for a little while to tell the story of what happened.
Hobbs reported that the road’s collapse was first discovered around 5 a.m. when David Givens was traveling along to go pick up his school bus so he could begin his morning route. Givens quickly realized the danger presented.
Givens immediately recruited the help of Wayne Smith who lives near the fallen road. They began watching the road from both directions in order to flag people’s attention to the imminent hazard, while someone else called the road department.
“If it wasn’t for David, someone probably would have gotten killed,” said Hobbs.
Employees from the road department did respond and have done some work to block off the road. Large warning signs have been placed to keep travelers from continuing toward the site.
Workers have also been busy and visible in the area.
Large piles of rock have been positioned on both sides of the collapsed road to block drivers from making a perilous mistake.
The damage is serious and the remaining edgings of the collapsed road are apparently still vulnerable. Workers have even marked off a curved perimeter with red dashes of paint that signify probable further collapsing.
People that live in the Brownies Creek community will have their daily transportation challenged and detoured. The re-routing that local residents will have to take will take about 15 extra minutes to get out to wherever they need to go.
The road collapsed at mile marker 7.
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