Why is This Important?
Corridor Significance
US 31W (Dixie Highway) serves as a backbone of transportation for our local economy. It supports local and regional traffic, local businesses and job centers, and serves as a primary route for many in our community. Unfortunately, the route is not without its challenges. Over the past several decades, the operating conditions and safety have deteriorated to a point where KYTC is looking at innovative ways to not only increase your safety, but also to make it easier to navigate. We are taking a data driven approach and utilizing current best practices and countermeasures to make certain that, once improved, US 31W will continue to work for future generations of people and businesses that rely on it. We already know that the pavement conditions for US 31W are causing significant issues for you, but there are also underlying safety issues that are worth taking a closer look.
Deteriorating Paving Conditions
The original two southbound lanes of the US 31W Corridor in Hardin County were originally constructed with concrete pavement in 1941. When the corridor was widened to four lanes in 1959, the original two northbound lanes were also constructed with concrete pavement while the two southbound lanes were overlaid with asphalt pavement. Over time, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has further overlaid the original concrete lanes in both directions to extend the life of the pavement, filled in the median, and widened to add a third lane in some locations. These additional lanes have been constructed completely with asphalt, leading to an inconsistent pavement design throughout. Currently, the four original concrete lanes sit anywhere from four to nine inches below the driving surface. Joints from the original concrete have propagated cracks up to the surface that require periodic maintenance and repairs.
As part of this US 31W corridor improvement project, KYTC is combining safety improvements with pavement rehabilitation to limit delays to the traveling public between St. John Road (KY1357) and Veterans Boulevard. The asphalt above the existing concrete pavement will be milled up to five inches deep and replaced with new, high strength, fiber-reinforced asphalt to reduce the propagation of cracks. Relief joints will be cut into the original concrete to minimize the effect of joints and cracks reflecting up through the new asphalt. Long-term, this pavement rehabilitation will decrease maintenance cost for the Cabinet while improving the ride quality for drivers.
Project Limits and Phasing
The upcoming project on US 31W runs from St. John Road to Crutz Lane in Elizabethtown. Significant highway safety improvments will be made throughout this entire section along with major asphalt pavement rehabilitation between St. John Road and Veterans Way. This project will be completed in three phases, from north to south, with each phase being completed prior to beginning the next in order to limit traffic impacts.
Additionally there are three similar, and recently completed, highway safety improvement projects in Radcliff along US 31W at the intersections of Rineyville-Big Springs Rd, Battle Training Rd and Blackjack Road.
Crashes along the Hardin County section of US 31W have a negative economic impact of roughly $6.7M annually
This includes emergency response, insurance, medical and property damage implications.
There have been 2,448 crashes between January 2013 and December 2017
9 were fatal, 413 were injury crashes, with the remainder being primarily property damage
There are 32 intersections along our section of US 31W, 24 of these intersections are in the top 10% of lowest performing intersections in KYTC District 4 with seven (7) of these being in the top 1%
That means that along the project limits, we are experiencing serious safety and travel time delays.
Every intersection creates opportunities for crashes and signal timing frustration.
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