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"KY 4" redirects here. For the congressional district, see Kentucky's 4th congressional district. For the former Route 4, see Kentucky Route 4 (1930s).
New Circle Road is the common name of Kentucky Route 4, a Kentucky state highway that serves as an inner beltway around Lexington, which is part of the consolidated city-county government with Fayette County. The state designates the start and finish of the road at its interchange with Nicholasville Road on the city's south side. Exit numbering increases as one travels clockwise. Roughly three-fourths of the highway is limited-access, with all movements controlled at 10 interchanges. The remainder is an urban principal arterial highway with a heavy mix of driveway entrances and intersections with one single-point urban interchange at US 60 (Winchester Road). The dividing line between the limited-access segment and the urban arterial highway is US 25 (Richmond and Georgetown Road) north and east of the city.
[edit] HistoryNew Circle Road, not named after an older Circle Road in Lexington, was constructed in segments from 1950 to 1967[2] as a circumferential bypass. The first segment to be built, from KY 922 (Newtown Pike) to US 25 (Richmond Road)/US 421, was constructed as a two-lane route in 1952.[3] The first portion to open was constructed by the city of Lexington. It included at-grade intersections at Palumbo Drive, KY 1927 (Liberty Road), KY 57 (Bryan Avenue), Old Paris Pike, US 27/US 68, and at KY 353 (Russell Cave Road), with one interchange at US 60 (Winchester Road). This segment of the road is also known as the Northern Belt Line or the US 25 By-pass. [4] To help finance the construction of the highway, driveway access was sold to nearby horse farm owners who hoped to cash in on the highway's future traffic counts for their own ventures.[5] This was because the highway was, at the time, "way out in the country" and permits for access were easy to obtain. Traffic soon congested, however, so New Circle Road was widened to four-lanes in 1958.[3] In 1966, a study began on more improvements to the original stretch of New Circle Road due to "extremely congested conditions." One of the improvements suggested as another bypass east of New Circle but was ruled out as being "too expensive and disruptive." As an interim solution, frontage roads were constructed along a few portions of New Circle, and longer turning lanes were constructed. The remainder of the highway around Lexington was constructed to urban freeway standards with interchanges at US 25 (Richmond Road)/US 421, KY 1974 (Tates Creek Road), US 27 (Nicholasville Road), US 68 (Harrodsburg Road), US 60 (Versailles Road), KY 1681 (Old Frankfort Pike), US 421 (Leestown Road), US 25 (Georgetown Road) and at KY 922 (Newtown Pike). The interchange with Alumni Drive was constructed in late 1984 at a cost of $2 million with the extension of what was then Mount Tabor Road southeastward towards Man o' War Boulevard.[6] [edit] Winchester Road/US 60 Interchange ReconstructionThe interchange with US 60 (Winchester Road), built in 1961, was sorely out-of-date by the 1980s. Tight 15 mph (24 km/h) ramps and a narrow underpass with no acceleration or deceleration lanes made this a dangerous pseudo-cloverleaf interchange. Trucks, too tall for the substandard overpass height clearance, would frequently damage the bridge girders. Work started in the late 1990s to convert this outdated exit into a single-point urban interchange (SPUI). There are two left turn lanes on each ramp, and those are controlled by a single traffic light instead of two. Longer ramps for merging onto New Circle Road were added. In the fall of 2000, the new Winchester Road interchange opened to traffic at a cost of $8.1 million.[7] [edit] Reconstructing New Circle RoadAn early study, part of the "Urban County Government's Year 2000 Transportation Plan", stated that New Circle should be widened to six-lanes by the year 2000.[3] There was no available funding for the project that would cost $31 million. In 1987, the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government recommended a solution to the 6.1-mile (9.8 km) section of New Circle Road from Georgetown Road/US 25 to Richmond Road/US 25/US 421. New Circle Road in the northeastern quadrant of Lexington has high traffic volumes, numerous accidents and traffic delays as motorists face numerous commercial access points, congested intersections, poor traffic signal progressions, and a very low level of service made worse during peak hours. None of these recommendations by the urban government were implemented however.[5] By 1997, a section of New Circle from Tates Creek Road to Nicholasville Road was averaging more than 60,000 vehicles per day, up from 17,000 30 years ago and an increase of 256%.[2] The section from Alumni Drive to Tates Creek Road saw an 155% increase, and the stretch from Harrodsburg Road to Versailles Road saw a 512% increase. A study was initiated at a cost of $2.6 million on widening a 13-mile (21 km) stretch from Georgetown Road to Richmond Road around the western and southern reaches of the city. The traffic volume is so large that "officials could justify widening the road to as many as five lanes in each direction." In 1999, a study of the 14-mile (23 km) fully controlled access portion of New Circle Road was completed for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. The study focused on an eight and ten-lane alternative. The eight-lane alternative was recommended at a cost of $218 million but no funds have been allocated for that portion of New Circle Road as of this date. That study did not include recommendations for New Circle Road between Georgetown Road/US 25 to Richmond Road/US 25/US 421 other than proposed improvements for the interchanges at Georgetown Road/US 25 and Richmond Road/US 25/US 421. In August 1999, the Kentucky Transportation Center at the University of Kentucky College of Engineering completed Research Report KTC-99-55, "Conversion of New Circle Road to a limited Access Facility". The study compared the addition of one lane in each direction with the use of median U-turns and restricted left-turn strategies at selected intersections from Newtown Pike/KY 922 to Richmond Road/US 25/US 421. This was presented to the Lexington Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and is considered to have been the stimulus for the development of the New Circle Road Northeast improvement study that began on December 1 of 1999. [8] Four alternatives for the segment from Newtown Pike/KY 922 to Richmond Road/US 25/US 421 were presented and a fifth was introduced later after combining several key ideas that the residents voiced their approval of at several public meetings: [8]
[edit] Recent construction projectsA cable barrier system was installed along the median of the unsignalized portion of New Circle Road between the Richmond Road and Old Frankfort Pike Interchanges, which is a distance of just over eight miles (13 km). The $2.4 million project was started in the spring of 2007 and completed in the summer of 2007. The first of many projects to improve the commercialized section of New Circle Road began in the summer of 2007. It included access management improvements, median construction, shoulder repair, turn lane extensions, and resurfacing from the intersection with Newtown Pike to the intersection with Industry Road. The $3.8 million project was completed in the fall of 2007. [edit] Exit listThe entire route is in Lexington, Fayette County.
[edit] See also[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
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