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ALIGNMENT CHOSEN FOR KY 146 SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS
Design to begin for realigning roadway in Henry County
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (November 27, 2012) – After several months of preliminary design work, environmental analysis and public involvement, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has chosen an alignment for improving safety on KY 146 in Henry County. From the three alternates that were shown to the public at a meeting in April 2012, the project team selected Alternate 3 (view alternates). Engineers can now move forward with detailed design for realigning a 7.6 mile section of roadway between KY 153 in Pendleton and US 421 in New Castle.
The project began in the fall of 2010 with representatives from KYTC and GRW Inc., consultant engineering firm, meeting with a local advisory committee to obtain input about safety concerns along the KY 146 corridor. This committee included local business owners, farmers, residents, law enforcement officers, county school staff and elected officials. Engineers used the input from this group along with data regarding traffic volumes, crash history, the floodplain and utilities to develop two alternates for roadway improvements.
These alternates were presented to the advisory committee in September 2011. Based on feedback from this meeting, Alternate 3 was developed. This alignment closely follows the existing roadway while providing for improvements to sight distances and sharp curves. This alternate is the same as Alternate 1, but the alignment was moved to the south side of the existing roadway between MP 4.5 and Broko Lane to reduce property impacts.
Alternate 3 also retains the safety improvements that were made to KY 146 in 2006 near the entrance to Safety Kleen. The total cost to build this alignment is estimated at $23.5 million, which includes design, right-of-way acquisition, utility relocation and construction.
“The project team agreed on Alternate 3 because it was favored by the public, it has the least amount of property impacts and the least utility impacts,” said Matt Bullock, Chief District Engineer for the Department of Highways Louisville District. “This alignment meets all of the geometric requirements for safety and will cost less to construct than the other alternates.”
This information was provided to the advisory committee on November 7 during a meeting at the Henry County Fair Grounds. Those in attendance supported the decision to proceed with Alternate 3.
To facilitate funding availability, the project has been broken into two segments. The first segment extends from KY 153 in Pendleton to Lost Creek, a distance of 4.7 miles. This segment is prioritized to be built first due to the high number of crashes in the area. The second segment extends from Lost Creek to US 421 in New Castle.
The next steps for this project include working on the final design of Segment 1 in 2013 with right-of-way acquisition scheduled to begin in the spring of 2014. Utility relocation is anticipated for the spring of 2015 followed by construction in 2016. Work on Segment 2 will be performed concurrently with Segment 1, but each phase will begin about one year later.
KY 146 was originally built in the 1930’s. The roadway carries an average of 4200 vehicles per day.
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