Boone County is receiving funds to address the design portion of its Kentucky Route 237 lane extension project.
In October 2022, the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments awarded the county a Surface Transportation of Northern Kentucky grant to add turn lanes at various county roads.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will administer the federal funding on behalf of the council, enabling the county to receive $58,000 for design funding.
“The grant will fund 50% of the nearly $1.3 million project to build six turn lanes,” Boone County Assistant County Administrator/County Engineer Rob Franxman said during Tuesday’s regular Boone County Fiscal Court meeting. “The turn lanes will be constructed on Kentucky 237 at the intersections of county roads Conrad Lane, Cougar Path, Limaburg Road, Barbara Drive and Coral Drive.”
Made up of local governments, business organizations and community groups, OKI develops strategies to improve the quality of life and economic vitality of the region, officials said.
“Additional phases of funding will be authorized as the project progresses toward a construction date in fiscal year 2026,” Franxman said.
The project is needed, Hebron resident Sherrie Crawford said.
“Kentucky 237 is the main north-south route through central Boone County,” Crawford said. “Naturally there’s a lot of congestion. The roads that access residential, like Conrad Lane, always have some heavy backup. That’s the downside of so much growth.”
Once the agreement with the transportation cabinet is executed, the county anticipates selecting an engineering team from its list of approved consultants.
“They’ll do a study based on volumes on 237, find out what the peak hour queues are, what the typical backup is,” Franxman said. “The turn lane needs to be longer than that typical backup so that cars can essentially sneak past what’s backed up to go straight at the stop light.”
Queueing is the study of traffic behavior near a certain section where demand exceeds available capacity.
The work can’t begin soon enough for Hebron resident Greg Innis.
“There’s some sharp curves and narrow shoulders and lanes involved with all of these roads – tight spaces,” Innis said. “I wish there was a way to fast forward and get it done as soon as possible, because the more jams you have, the greater the risk of crashes.”