The continued growth of Ashland into the unincorporated areas just outside the city limits has reduced the city's population. Ashland has two zip codes, 41101 which is mainly within the city limits, and 41102 which serves part of the city and the surrounding unincorporated areas of the county. These two zip codes combined contain approximately 40,000 residents, which is more reflective of the Ashland community's size. In 1972, a proposal was floated to combine the governments of Boyd County, Ashland, and Catlettsburg. Commonly called ‘Unigov’ it failed 12,514 to 2,518 due to the polarity between the two cities. A commission to draft a charter to merge the three governments into a metro government was seated following a petition drive in 1988. The measure fared much better at the ballot box than the earlier Unigov effort. It was defeated by a 3 to 2 margin, although it carried the majority of the Ashland precincts. The aftermath of the initiative saw the elimination of the unpopular Ashland and Catlettsburg city stickers and cooperation in the extension of sewer lines into the unincorporated areas of Boyd County. Largely due to the sewer line expansions, growth was spurred along the US 60 shopping corridor between downtown and Interstate 64.