Roads in Lexington, Kentucky
The roads of Lexington, Kentucky include Interstate 64 and Interstate 75, as their junction is near the city. There are five U.S. highways serving the city. A beltway surrounds central Lexington, while numerous state routes and connector roads fill in the transportation gap. The zero milestone [1] for Lexington is the intersection of East and West Main Streets and North and South Limestone Streets. A camel sculpture dating to 1926 marks the point for the AAA.
Interstate Highways
Interstate 64 runs east to Huntington and west to Louisville.
Interstate 75 routes north to Cincinnati and south to Knoxville.
Note: Lexington's urban services boundary is adjacent to the junction of I-64 and I-75. The city's downtown, however, is not served by any controlled-access facilities and traffic congestion during rush-hour along the arterial roadways is a relatively significant problem.
U.S. Highways
US 25 is known otherwise as Georgetown Road, Main Street, and Richmond Road.
US 27 is also known as Paris Pike, Broadway, Bolivar Street, South Upper Street, South Limestone, and Nicholasville Road.
US 60 is also known as Versailles Road, High and Maxwell Streets, Vine Street/Main Street, Midland Avenue, and Winchester Road.
US 68 enters as Harrodsburg Road before becoming Broadway and leaving as Paris Pike. Its intersection at New Circle Road has been redesigned as a "double diamond" to alleviate traffic congestion and reduce accidents.
US 421 is also known as the Leestown Road from the west, then Main Street/Vine Street and finally Richmond Road. It is currently (2014) being widened from its intersection with New Circle Road northwest several miles out of Lexington.
Kentucky state highways
KY 4, known locally as New Circle Road, acts as a beltway around central Lexington. Three-fourths of the highway is limited-access, whereas the remainder is an urban principal arterial.
KY 418, routed along Athens-Boonesboro Road, is a four- and two-lane highway in southeast Lexington that traverses into Clark County.
KY 922, also known as Newtown Pike, is an important highway in north Lexington that connects with I-75 and traverses into Scott County.
KY 1425, formerly known as Bryant Road, is the segment of Man o' War Boulevard east of I-75.
KY 1723 is also known as Forbes Road.
KY 1927 (also known as Liberty Road and Todds Road) serves as a connector from central Lexington to the southern suburbs. Portions of both roads are being widened[2] from two lanes to multiple lanes with curbs and sidewalks. Todds Road eventually leads to the southwestern part of Clark County junctioning with KY 1923 (Combs Ferry Road).
KY 1974 is known for most of its length as Tates Creek Road with other sections known as High Street, Euclid Avenue, and Avenue of Champions, runs from the University of Kentucky campus to rural southeast Lexington.
City/County Routes
- Citation Boulevard is a four-lane divided highway that will act as part of a northern arc from US 421 (Leestown Road) to KY 353 (Russell Cave Road).
- Clays Mill Road is a former state route now under city control. Design work for a new interchange on New Circle Road were planned beginning in the early 1980s, however, residential opposition nixed the project before the construction phase.[3] Construction on the $4 million diamond interchange was to begin in 1986.[4] The state of Kentucky had agreed to improve Clays Mill Road from Man o' War Boulevard to Pasadena Drive, and later agreed to improve the road from Pasadena Drive to Harrodsburg Road and from the Jessamine County line to Man o' War Boulevard.[3] The project would call for four-lanes north of New Circle and five-lanes to the south.[4]
- Hays Boulevard is a four-lane divided highway with bike lanes and widewalks that connects KY 418 (Athens-Boonesboro Road) to KY 1927 (Todds Road).
- Man o' War Boulevard acts as a southern beltway, however, it is a four-lane urban principal arterial with curbs and sidewalks. This was constructed with state funds but is under city control.
- Polo Club Boulevard is a two and four-lane route that will connect KY 1927 (Todds Road) to KY 1425 to the east of Interstate 75 and Man o' War Boulevard. It is partially completed, with the remaining segments under construction.
Unbuilt
The East-West Expressway was a primary feature of the Wilbur Smith Plan of 1962. The interstate-quality highway would have connected the western fringe of downtown to the eastern edge, and have been located between High and Maxwell Streets.[5] The plan also included a widened 2nd Street, which would have been a six-lane thoroughfare north of the central business district. Another proposal included a freeway in the Vine Street corridor after the removal of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway tracks.[6] The design alternatives included a depressed, at-grade, and elevated highway. Each proposal was discarded as impractical, as each plan included insufficient ramp access, blockage of downtown traffic, and a necessity to renovate adjoining buildings to raise the floor levels.
References
- ↑ Zero Milestone Sculpture
- ↑ "Liberty/Todds Road Improvement Project". 12/8/2008. Retrieved 8/7/2013. Check date values in:
|access-date=, |date=(help) - 1 2 Honeycutt, Valarie. "LEXINGTON TO GET $24 MILLION FOR ROADS STATE TO HELP CITY LAUNCH MORE THAN A DOZEN PROJECTS." Lexington Herald-Leader, 5 Sept. 1986. 10 Jan. 2007.
- 1 2 Davis, Merlene. "SEVERAL PROJECTS HELPING TO EASE AREA'S TRAFFIC WOES." Lexington Herald-Leader, 27 Jan. 1985. 10 Jan. 2007.
- ↑ Design Plan for Downtown Lexington, Kentucky. City County Planning Commission. 1966.
- ↑ The Lexington Downtown Plan. Lexington and Fayette County, Kentucky Planning Commission. 1966.
External links
- Official website of Lexington Area Metropolitan Planning Organization
- Official website of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
