LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Crews will begin working Wednesday on the next section of medians on Dixie Highway.
The $35 million New Dixie Highway Project includes building concrete medians in 15 sections along the road as part of the efforts to improve safety and traffic flow. The first section from I-264 to Kendall Lane was completed last week. The next section will be between Greenwood Road and Wells Drive.
Click here to see renderings of all the medians.
The plans include building raised concrete medians with left turn lanes at lighted intersections and designated U-turn points in between. It is expected to help improve the safety of drivers turning onto and off of the highway.
“The safety component is you have less conflict points with people turning in between intersections, cutting across the roadway,” said Andrea Clifford, a spokeswoman for District 5 of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
Currently, drivers can make left turns at any point along Dixie Highway in the center turn lane. Clifford said getting rid of that will not prevent any access to businesses. She said the design is shown to improve traffic patterns.
“The efficiency is you don’t have to get behind someone who is waiting to turn left if there’s no space in the center turn lane,” Clifford said. “They’ll just continue down to the next intersection and make U-turns there. And that’s proven to be more efficient with the traffic flow.”
Building the medians is considered one of the most dangerous parts of the entire Dixie Highway project.
"It's dangerous for those workers," Clifford said. "There's a big safety factor there. You've got people out there working in a small, narrow space, with traffic going by, and sometimes those motorists aren't always paying attention to the roadway."
There will be lane closures for the interior lanes in both direction for each section crews work on. KYTC plans to have all the medians done by the end of the year. Then the final step, repaving the highway, will happen next year.
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