Hey, we got a question from pauloliva on live chat asking about what's up with the construction on Richmond Road. I drive that stretch pretty regularly and it's been a mess for months now.

This is that thirteen million dollar Kentucky Transportation Cabinet project that's putting in what they call R-C-U-Ts, restricted crossing U-turns, along Richmond Road and Athens-Boonesboro Road south of Man o' War. The whole project is supposed to wrap up by summer twenty twenty-six, so we're getting close to the end thankfully.

R-C-U-T? That sounds complicated. What exactly does that mean for drivers?

Basically, it means left turns at major intersections get restricted and drivers have to turn right then make a U-turn at specially designed crossovers. Traffic from side streets that want to go left or straight through has to turn right and then use these new U-turns. Studies show these can reduce collision rates by as much as forty percent and fatal accidents by over fifty percent.

That makes sense. I've noticed some really dangerous spots along that stretch, especially around Yorkshire and Squires.

Exactly. Between twenty fifteen and twenty twenty, there were sixty-seven collisions just at the Richmond Road intersection with Yorkshire and Squires, with four involving serious injuries. The improvements cover intersections at Yorkshire and Squires, Ellerslie Park and Jacobson Park, Hays Boulevard, and the Brenda Cowan Elementary area. They're also building a new Jacobson Park entrance and a shared-use path.

Well, at least there's light at the end of the tunnel with that summer completion date.

Right, and in the meantime, they're doing single lane closures outbound from Lexington from five a.m. to three thirty p.m., and inbound from nine thirty a.m. when needed for the work.

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