Crunch time near for Paint Lick

Highway 52 expansion hitting home

We weren’t sure how long it would take-maybe another 5-10 years. We knew eventually the proposed extension of KY 52 from Lancaster to I-75 would eventually mean some changes for our village. It was possible, we reasoned, with the State and Federal budgets crunch that it could be delayed indefinitely.

A.O. Calico gets the bad news: he will lose his home.

Now we know that it is much closer than we realized. Our village has 2-3 years to embrace the changes and do all we can to insure a positive transition into the future with all its possibilities and opportunities. But it will mean some painful emotions for many and not just the old timers.

The realization that progress soon will sweep away personal history was stark for A.O. Calico, a retired farmer who used to work at the Tobacco Warehouse. Calico was largely silent as his neighbor, Jeff Hume, showed him on a map how the right-of-way for the new highway cuts through the middle of his home, where he has lived for the past 40-plus years. Calico previously believed the road would cut close to his home but not so close that he would have to move.
“It makes me kind of half sick,” Calico said quietly, then remained in front of the map, looking for a while.
Hume, who lives across the street from Calico, said the swath of land that will be purchased by the government for the new road barely missed his own property.
“It’s coming right up on my back door,” he said.
Hume said while it’s an unappetizing process right now, he would rather see it be done than not at this point. Semi-trucks travel Paint Lick’s tiny highway all the time, expecting the entire stretch to be as wide and flat as the western portion near Lancaster.

Read entire article at The Danville Advocate-Messenger

Tags: future, Kentucky, paint Lick