LEXINGTON, KY. (LEX NEWS) — A $13 million construction project along Richmond Road is redesigning busy intersections to reduce serious crashes — and state transportation officials say drivers will see the full picture once work wraps up this December.
Drivers along Richmond Road and Ellerslie Park Blvd. have spent months navigating construction cones, detours, and changing traffic patterns as part of the project. Some have questioned whether the new configuration is actually making the corridor safer.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's District 7 Public Information Officer Brooklyn McIntosh said the project was designed with safety in mind.
"This project was determined to be necessary in part because of increasing, uh, crash rates and growing traffic volumes in that area, but the design is intended to reduce the risk and, uh, severe crashes by reducing those conflict points."
A key feature of the redesign is the use of RCUTs — Reduced Conflict U-Turns.
"We implemented the RCUTs, and RCUT stands for reduced conflict U-turn, and how it works is that motorists from a side street first will turn right and then use a designated median crossover to make a U-turn, and some U-turn locations are going to be signalized as well to help manage traffic flow," McIntosh said.
When asked what she would tell people concerned about whether the intersection will be safe once the project is done, McIntosh addressed those worries directly.
"Many serious intersection crashes are angle and left turn crashes, and our cuts reduce the number of locations where vehicles cross paths or conflict points, and this design allows motorists to focus on one direction of traffic at a time," McIntosh said.
The $13 million project began in May of last year and is expected to wrap up by December 1. McIntosh said the section from Coys Lane to Brenda Cowan Elementary School is anticipated to be complete by October 9.
For more information on the project, click here.
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