A bustling road serving Fayette and Jessamine County residents in line for a major upgrade

A busy thoroughfare that straddles the Fayette-Jessamine County line is up for reconstruction. It’s been a project under discussion for many years.

Brannon Road runs just over three miles from Harrodsburg Road to Nicholasville Road. It’s a two-lane connector that includes a stretch with mature trees just inches off the pavement. Chris Evilia is transportation planning manager for the Lexington Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. He talks about a couple of project features.

“I believe there is a roundabout planned at Clays Mill. That interchange. And then there is also a bridge over the railroad tracks that’s part of this project as well,” said Evilia.

Evilia said construction is expected to start in the spring. He said it’s likely to take two to three years to finish the almost $18 million project.

The three-mile roadway sees, on average, well over 7000 vehicles a day. Evilia said going from two to three or four lanes isn’t always best.

“Just adding lanes doesn’t necessarily solve the problem. We know that usually between five and ten years we’re right back to where we started from. And so we’re having to have a different conversation about what we do with these corridors. We certainly want to make them safe,” said Evilia.

Evilia said the current Brannon Road footprint probably goes back some 70 to 80 years. He said the state project also calls for bike and pedestrian features.

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