Anyone who has waited at the crossing on Main Street while a freight train sits motionless across the tracks knows the sound: engines idling, brakes releasing somewhere down the line, cars backed up past the ballpark with no way around. It has happened often enough in Science Hill that it stopped being a nuisance and became a legal matter. Kentucky law caps how long a train can block a crossing at five minutes. Norfolk Southern has been cited past that limit more than once, and in a Pulaski District Court case the company entered a conditional guilty plea to eleven separate misdemeanor citations for letting its trains sit too long across local crossings.
That history is worth knowing before you evaluate the news coming out of town this fall, because the bridge now under construction on KY 635 was never a nice-to-have. It exists because the problem it fixes had already been documented in court.
Why the State Finally Acted
The replacement of the KY 635 grade crossing was named as one of three Pulaski County projects included in the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's recommended highway plan, the result of a scoping study that ran through 2018 and 2019. Planners walked through nine separate route alternatives with names like Blue, Yellow, and Green, each one weighed against how many homes it would displace, how steep the grade would run, and whether it would still give emergency vehicles a way through if the at-grade crossing stayed blocked. Residents pushed back on options that would have required relocating Science Hill Church or routing extra traffic past the elementary school. The alternative that eventually moved forward crosses the tracks in a cut section to keep the grade manageable and ties back into KY 635 near Science Hill Ball Park.
Construction on that plan began in April 2025. Weddle Enterprises won the $7.5 million contract. For a city with a 2020 census population of 657, that works out to more than $11,000 in bridge construction for every resident on the books, a scale of public investment that a lot of towns this size never see for a single road project.
What's Closed, What Isn't
The construction zone sits on the north end of Main Street, and KYTC closed that stretch to build the new crossing. Everything south of the work zone, including the strip of businesses on U.S. 27 and the turn onto KY 1247, has stayed open through the project. If your errands run through the south side of town, you likely haven't noticed much change beyond the equipment staged near the tracks.
A quick rundown of where things stand:
- Closed: The north end of KY 635 (Main Street) through the active construction zone
- Open: The U.S. 27 corridor, including the Dollar General, Speedy Tacos, Downtown Pizza, and Subway
- Open: KY 1247 and the route past Science Hill Milling Company
- Affected: Three houses at the closed north end of Main Street, with no alternate route out if a train were to stop for an extended period during construction
The Three Houses Mayor Hall Is Still Watching
Mayor Mike Hall, who has led Science Hill since 2019, has been publicly supportive of the project's progress, telling the Commonwealth Journal last year that the bridge was "something we've needed for a long time, and everybody's glad to see it get started." But he's also been specific about the one open concern the closure created. Three houses sit on the closed section of Main Street, and if a train were to stop across the tracks for two or three hours during this construction phase, those households would have no way out. Hall said he's talked with the affected families directly and has considered raising the issue with the state highway department, though he hasn't identified a fix if it happens before the bridge opens.
It's a small detail, but it says something about how this project has been run. The state didn't just draw a route and start digging. Nine years after the first scoping meetings, the mayor is still tracking the human-scale consequences of a multimillion-dollar fix in real time.
Why July Came and Went
The original target was completion by July 2026. As of mid-September, that date has slipped with no replacement on the calendar. According to Amber Hale, spokesperson for KYTC's District 8 office, heavy rain in June and July delayed the arrival of a rail crew needed for a key phase of construction, pushing the whole schedule back. Hale told the paper there's currently no official opening date, only that work is continuing.
For residents, that means the fall driving pattern looks the same as it has since April 2025: the north end stays closed, the detour through the south side stays necessary, and the timeline for relief remains open-ended. If you're planning around a specific reopening date for holiday travel or school pickup routes, the honest answer right now is that nobody, including the state, has one to give you.
The Rest of Town Isn't Waiting on the Bridge
Science Hill's momentum this year hasn't been limited to Main Street. Ridgenet Network Group, a homegrown manufacturer of upfitted emergency vehicles and radio communication equipment, is expanding its Science Hill operations with a $1.2 million investment that's expected to create 20 new full-time jobs, backed by a state incentive agreement through the Kentucky Business Investment program. Governor Andy Beshear highlighted the expansion alongside Pulaski County Judge/Executive Marshall Todd, and Mayor Hall credited the company for its impact on the community. It's the kind of announcement that doesn't get much attention outside economic development circles, but for a town under 700 people, 20 new jobs is not a small number.
Meanwhile the daily rhythm most residents actually live by hasn't changed. Speedy Tacos, tucked into the strip on U.S. 27, still runs its self-serve chips and salsa bar through lunch. Science Hill Milling Company, a family-run feed and farm supply mill established in 1967, is still open on KY 635 south of the construction zone. The Dairy Mart on KY 1247, the cash-only walk-up stand that's been a warm-weather fixture for burgers, hot dogs, and milkshakes, runs April through September, so if you've got a craving, this is close to the last window before it closes for the season. None of it depends on when the bridge opens. It depends on whether you're willing to work around the north end for a while longer.
That's really the shape of Science Hill right now. A legal problem nine years in the making is finally being fixed with real state money, the fix is running behind, and everyone from the mayor to the family running the mill is going about business while it finishes.
Whenever KYTC sets a new date for the KY 635 bridge, we'll be watching for it, the same way we keep an eye on everything else that shapes daily life in this corner of Pulaski County. If you want to talk about what's happening in Science Hill beyond this one project, reach out to the Millie Weaver Team anytime.
