Lexington receives nearly $22 Million for road safety

Senator Mitch McConnell granted the city nearly $22 million to improve New Circle Road

Lexington, Ky (WTVQ):  Senator Mitch McConnell granted the city nearly $22 million to improve New Circle Road. According to Mayor Linda Gorton, one of the biggest problem areas is on North New Circle Road between Newtown Pike and Bryan Station road.

“Have the highest number of fatalities and crashes between the years of 2015 and 2021,” Gorton said.

The goal of this grant is to help improve the safety for pedestrians and drivers. Gorton says some of the improvements include street lights and new signals. This is one of the biggest grants Lexington has ever gotten.

“Some of the places that this will affect, don’t have sidewalks they don’t have curbs and gutters I mean it’s the whole thing,” Gorton said.

Gorton says the road was built a long time ago and the standards aren’t what they are today. Jackie Oney has traveled this road for at least 40 years

“It does get pretty congested at times especially around 5 o’clock when everybody’s getting off work, that’s when it’s really rough,” he said.

Oney says he’s seen it get worse in the last 10 years.

“It’s gotten so much busier and a lot of the young kids coming up learning how to drive it makes it more hectic,” said Oney.

And for the future, “I think if they can maybe widen it a little bit and give more space to vehicles it might bring down some of the accidents,” Oney said.

This is a three part project the timeline is not yet confirmed.