WINCHESTER, Ky. (LEX 18) — The city of Winchester was awarded a $22,000 grant this summer to explore improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists along Boone Avenue.
"Boone Avenue is a pretty wide street and it's relatively straight so what are some of things we find on a wide and straight street, high speeds," said Planning Director Bob Jeffries.
Jeffries says with a wide street comes opportunities to add safety features, especially around the intersections of College Street and Boone Avenue, and Belmont and Boone Avenue.
He says Boone Avenue is technically residential, but with all of the big trucks and semis rolling through, it feels commercial.
In a recent community meeting, several areas of improvement were brought up, including painted crosswalks, more landscaping, reducing the speed limit and adding bike lanes.
"We have a lot of different incomes that live on Boone Avenue, we have people that have access to automobiles, people that can only walk or bike, and we want to make sure it's a safe environment," said Jeffries. "It's not just for the rich and it's just not for the poor."
Boone Avenue is also known as Highway 627 which means whatever improvements come out of the trial and error period this summer will have to be implemented by the state highway department in collaboration with the city.
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