Lexington, KY - In my conversations with Southside voters over the past few months, many folks wanted to know about the status of the project to widen Clays Mill Road from Harrodsburg Road to Twain Ridge Drive. For years, the Kentucky Department of Transportation (DOT) has planned to address the increasingly difficult traffic situation on Clays Mill Road. This long-term project is finally becoming a reality, with funding provided by the Kentucky DOT, and with bidding and project supervision being provided by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (LFUCG).
The problem is that Clays Mill Road has no center lane, and cars turning onto a side street can cause serious traffic backups. Clays Mill Road is also one of Lexington's major education corridors and carries a large amount of traffic to and from Lafayette High School, Lexington Catholic High School, Clays Mill Elementary, Mary Queen of the Holy Rosary School and Jessie M. Clark Middle School. Wellington Elementary on Keithshire Way will also add to existing traffic problems when it opens in the fall of 2011. Finally, the asphalt on Clays Mill Road has begun to crumble and buckle from heavy traffic and from drainage problems, and this increases the amount of frustration that drivers experience when they travel Clays Mill Road.
After years of wrangling with state funding problems, and the time-consuming process of relocating utilities, construction on the first phase of Clays Mill Road is about ready to begin. When complete, Clays Mill Road will have two lanes for traffic, a center turn lane, sidewalks, bike lanes, and improved lane markings and signage. The project will cost tens of millions of dollars, and construction will be completed in four phases.
Section 2A, between Higbee Mill Road and Keithshire Way, will be the first phase of Clays Mill Road to be widened. The cost of the work is estimated at $4,160,000, and work is expected to be completed in late 2011. The three other segments of the Clays Mill project are Section 2B from Twain Ridge Drive to Higbee Mill Road (cost estimated at $5,148,000), Section 2C from Keithshire Way to New Circle Road (cost estimated at $4,689,558), and Section 1 from New Circle Road to Harrodsburg Road (cost estimated at $12,741,000).
Funding to widen Sections 2A, 2B and 2C has been reserved in the Kentucky DOT's Six Year Transportation Plan. However, Section 1 of the project - between Harrodsburg Road and New Circle Road - has not yet been included in either the Kentucky DOT's Six Year Plan or the Metropolitan Planning Organization's (MPO) Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) for Fayette County, presumably due to its 2-mile length and $13 million cost.
While all of this is going on, LFUCG's Department of Public Works will be making ongoing repairs to portions of Clays Mill Road to improve road conditions until the permanent work can be completed. Clays Mill Road has been long neglected, and LFUCG will need to shore up various sections of the road during the many years it will take to complete the widening project.
Clays Mill Road is a vital transportation corridor through Lexington's Southside neighborhoods. While it will take years to complete all of the work needed to restore Clays Mill Road, I am more and more hopeful that the Kentucky Department of Transportation will find the funding needed to complete all phases of the Clays Mill Road project in the coming years. I certainly know a great many drivers and homeowners who will be pleased to see the widening of Clays Mill Road finally completed.