A nearly $1 million highway improvement project is underway in Warren County to enhance safety and accessibility through Gov. Andy Beshear’s education-first and safety commitment to Kentuckians. The project at Bristow Elementary School on U.S. Highway 31-W includes a new Restricted Crossing U-Turn to serve the school and surrounding neighborhoods.
“Protecting children is our highest priority as we work to ensure all of our students, parents, teachers and staff have a safe way to travel to and from school,” Gov. Beshear said. “We are excited that project has started and that it includes an innovative solution to safeguard Kentuckians.”
Work on the U.S. 31-W RCUT began several days ago, and motorists will notice lane closures between Lauren Avery Drive (mile point 19) and Kentucky Highway 526/Mt. Olive Road (mile point 6.3). Construction is expected to be near completion by the time school resumes in early August.
In 2021, Gov. Beshear announced plans to invest $24.5 million to improve highway safety near schools and protect families by funding more than 60 highway safety projects across 43 counties. The safety projects range from new turn lanes and crosswalks to improved intersections, pavement markings and signage. To date, 38 projects have been completed, with another 14 under contract for construction.
Once complete, the new RCUT intersection will serve the Bristow Elementary School entrance as well as Kelly Road and East Heights Avenue by routing traffic using only right turns and U-turns.
“Team Kentucky and the Transportation Cabinet are dedicated to meeting our promise to provide safe and efficient travel routes to work and school for everyone in the commonwealth,” KYTC Secretary Jim Gray said. “Our team is dedicated to seeing this SAFERoad Solution and other safety projects like it completed at schools across our 120 counties.”
RCUTs eliminate traffic crossing at right angles to each other and allows motorists to focus only on one direction of oncoming traffic at a time, making the intersection safer and easier to navigate.
Improvement in efficiency is another added benefit as RCUTs have fewer traffic lights and stops when compared with a standard intersection, resulting in shorter wait times for motorists. Each direction of an RCUT operates independently by creating two one-way streets to de-congest the flow of traffic which improves capacity.
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