Clark
2011-03-16 02:04:34 UTC
http://www.sentinelnews.com/content/new-signs-times-i-64
There’s a bit of a civil war breaking out in eastern Shelby County,
and the first shot wasn’t even heard.
This is about Waddy and Peytona – or is it Peytona and Waddy? –
neighbors along KY 395, which crosses Interstate 64 about 10 miles
east of Shelbyville.
You may not have noticed, but if you travel eastbound on I-64, new
signs placed there by the state now list the exit for “Peytona/Waddy”
rather than giving Waddy the top billing it has had since the exit
opened in the late 1950s.
Does this matter to anyone? Apparently.
Andrea Clifford, public information officer for the Transportation
Cabinet’s District 5, said during the past two weeks, she has been
“peppered” with media questions about why the sign was changed.
“I don’t understand it, especially since the sign was put up last
summer,” she said. “I got another E-mail about it last night, and I
thought, ‘O.K. is this that big a deal?’”
Brian Raizor, fire chief of the East 60 Fire Department, located in
Peytona, said he was contacted by Shelby County Magistrate Tony
Carriss asking him his opinion on the matter.
“I told him I don’t think it’s a big deal,” he said. “I never pay any
attention to it anyway; I know where I’m going.”
The matter has generated some Facebook attention, where people have
commented about Waddy being “subordinated.”
Clifford said it’s not the cabinet’s intention to be disrespectful to
Waddy’s larger population, which is estimated at around 4,000, though
2010 census figures are not yet in for Kentucky.
“The standards for highway signs have changed,” she said, adding the
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices dictates that exit signs
should display from top to bottom, the closest destinations to the
left and to the right, in that order.
“The sign on eastbound I-64 is Peytona Waddy because Peytona is to the
left and Waddy is to the right when one has reached the top of the
exit ramp,” she said. “Vice versa for westbound I-64. It has nothing
to do with population or proximity to the intestate.”
Clifford said the new signs were installed at Exit 43, because of the
interstate widening project there.
“Due to the fact that many of the signs were in very poor physical
condition, it was decided to add replacing them into the contract,”
she said, adding the cost of the signs was $73,000.
Raizor said his fire station is located in the heart of Peytona, but
he has not heard much about the issue.
“I’ve heard people talking about it, but I haven’t heard anybody say
they’re upset about the signs being good, bad or ugly,” he said with a
laugh. “I guess maybe some of the Waddy people could be more upset
than the Peytona people, because, after all, we have been moved up a
bit.”
Waddy Fire Chief Darrell Brown said it doesn’t matter to him what the
sign says.
“I understand why they did it, and it doesn’t make a bit of difference
to me,” he said. “But if you could hear the old timers down at the
store in the mornings, well, they’re just upset because they don’t
like changes, I guess.”
Angela Gains, an employee at Love’s Travel Shop in Waddy, said it
shouldn’t make a difference anyway because the sign on the other side
of the interstate gives Waddy first billing.
“Me, I live in Waddy, and I don’t think anybody around here cares,”
she said. “I sure don’t.”
There’s a bit of a civil war breaking out in eastern Shelby County,
and the first shot wasn’t even heard.
This is about Waddy and Peytona – or is it Peytona and Waddy? –
neighbors along KY 395, which crosses Interstate 64 about 10 miles
east of Shelbyville.
You may not have noticed, but if you travel eastbound on I-64, new
signs placed there by the state now list the exit for “Peytona/Waddy”
rather than giving Waddy the top billing it has had since the exit
opened in the late 1950s.
Does this matter to anyone? Apparently.
Andrea Clifford, public information officer for the Transportation
Cabinet’s District 5, said during the past two weeks, she has been
“peppered” with media questions about why the sign was changed.
“I don’t understand it, especially since the sign was put up last
summer,” she said. “I got another E-mail about it last night, and I
thought, ‘O.K. is this that big a deal?’”
Brian Raizor, fire chief of the East 60 Fire Department, located in
Peytona, said he was contacted by Shelby County Magistrate Tony
Carriss asking him his opinion on the matter.
“I told him I don’t think it’s a big deal,” he said. “I never pay any
attention to it anyway; I know where I’m going.”
The matter has generated some Facebook attention, where people have
commented about Waddy being “subordinated.”
Clifford said it’s not the cabinet’s intention to be disrespectful to
Waddy’s larger population, which is estimated at around 4,000, though
2010 census figures are not yet in for Kentucky.
“The standards for highway signs have changed,” she said, adding the
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices dictates that exit signs
should display from top to bottom, the closest destinations to the
left and to the right, in that order.
“The sign on eastbound I-64 is Peytona Waddy because Peytona is to the
left and Waddy is to the right when one has reached the top of the
exit ramp,” she said. “Vice versa for westbound I-64. It has nothing
to do with population or proximity to the intestate.”
Clifford said the new signs were installed at Exit 43, because of the
interstate widening project there.
“Due to the fact that many of the signs were in very poor physical
condition, it was decided to add replacing them into the contract,”
she said, adding the cost of the signs was $73,000.
Raizor said his fire station is located in the heart of Peytona, but
he has not heard much about the issue.
“I’ve heard people talking about it, but I haven’t heard anybody say
they’re upset about the signs being good, bad or ugly,” he said with a
laugh. “I guess maybe some of the Waddy people could be more upset
than the Peytona people, because, after all, we have been moved up a
bit.”
Waddy Fire Chief Darrell Brown said it doesn’t matter to him what the
sign says.
“I understand why they did it, and it doesn’t make a bit of difference
to me,” he said. “But if you could hear the old timers down at the
store in the mornings, well, they’re just upset because they don’t
like changes, I guess.”
Angela Gains, an employee at Love’s Travel Shop in Waddy, said it
shouldn’t make a difference anyway because the sign on the other side
of the interstate gives Waddy first billing.
“Me, I live in Waddy, and I don’t think anybody around here cares,”
she said. “I sure don’t.”