A lengthy discussion over a proposed road-swap between Lexington and the State Transportation Department continued Tuesday at City Hall.
The eventual decision could affect plans for expansion of the Lexington Convention Center and construction of a much talked about downtown park.
The future of the Jefferson Street Viaduct could be determined through a road-swap agreement.
Proponents of the convention center expansion and development of the Town Branch Park want to see the bridge demolished. Lexington Director of Engineering Doug Burton says bringing down the viaduct advances both projects.
“It’s essentially both because the expansion and the park meet effectively just at the east side of the bridge. So, it makes it difficult for either one to happen if the viaduct is there,” said Burton.
Under the proposal, Lexington would assume ownership of about 14 miles of new roadway while the state would take over 17 miles currently maintained by the local government.
One facet of the swap, months in negotiation, would have Lexington take over ownership of Parkers Mill Road from Versailles Road to Man O War Boulevard.
Council Member Amanda Mays Bledsoe supports the switch.
“People are now using Parkers Mill more and more cause they simply are trying to get off Harrodsburg Road. So, the volume on the road is becoming more intense all the time,” explained Mays Bledsoe. “And it doesn’t have the capacity and it certainly doesn’t have the time or devotion of our state partners to want to fix it.”
That fix could include widening the stretch of Parkers Mill Road.
Members of Main Street Baptist Church attended the meeting to express concerns about how the project along with development of a downtown park would affect church parking.
The Environmental Quality and Public Works Committee took no action on the matter.
