The Model City and Urban Renewal Program changed Pikeville forever, and its most extensive and expensive element, the Cut-Thru, was arguably the most transformative small-town revitalization project in the country. The project took 14 years, involved blasting 23 million cubic yards of rock and moving 18 million cubic yards of dirt, included about 20 federal and state agencies, and cost $80 million, the equivalent of more than $557 million in 2024. It created a channel 1300 feet wide, 3700 feet long, and 523 feet deep, into which railroad tracks were relocated, the river was diverted from flowing around downtown Pikeville, and corridors of US 23, US 119, US 460, and KY 80 were combined into one four-lane highway. The Cut-Thru opened access to or created 390 acres of flat land, nearly doubling the town’s usable property, all of it free from the threat of flooding.