Two high-profile Lexington road projects are nearing completion, and one of them is set to open next week.
A project to rebuild the interchange between New Circle and Leestown roads will be complete Monday.
In the next several weeks, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will also finish its work to reconfigure intersections along Richmond and Athens-Boonesboro roads.
The Leestown project will be Lexington's second double crossover diamond intersection.
Brooklyn McIntosh, public information officer for KYTC District 7, said a similar interchange at New Circle and Harrodsburg roads reduced crashes by 63% in its first two years.
“So the double crossover diamond, it provides increased safety by (switching) traffic to the other side of the highway to reduce conflicts where traffic crosses paths,” she said. “It also improves the traffic flow too by reducing the number of traffic signal phases.”
On Richmond Road, some standard four-way intersections are being converted to R-cuts, or reduced-conflict U-turns. Drivers on side streets will need to follow a different pattern, McIntosh said.
“They first turn right, and then they use a designated median crossover to make a U-turn,” she said.
McIntosh said the R-cuts also reduce conflicts and lower the number of traffic light phases.
A shared-use bicycle and pedestrian path is part of the project.
Drivers will also notice a different intersection at Old Richmond Road, or U.S. 25. That project will wrap up by December.
The Leestown Road interchange is part of a larger project to widen New Circle from Newtown Pike to Versailles Road. McIntosh said it will be complete next summer.
Another widening project on Newtown Pike is set to wrap up around the same time.
Richmond Road and Athens-Boonsboro Road form a major conduit from Interstate 75 to downtown Lexington. Newtown Pike and the northwest portion of New Circle Road connect I-75 and Interstate 64 to Keeneland, Blue Grass Airport and the Bluegrass Parkway.
An R-cut intersection already exists on Athens-Boonsboro Road near the I-75 interchange.
