Dixie Highway conversion still draws concerns from residents

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 6 came out to Elsmere Tuesday night to present on a now-paused traffic conversion of a portion of Dixie Highway, which drew outcry from both local residents and elected leaders earlier this year.

One thing was clear at the meeting: Concerns persist, even if cabinet representatives emphasized the project was still up in the air.

“The decision to do this or not do this has not been made,” KYTC District 6 Chief Engineer Bob Yeager told attendees, who had expressed many of the same concerns that came up when the project first made waves in February.

The meeting was the first in a series of public info sessions about the conversion; meetings have also been scheduled in Florence and Erlanger later this spring and summer. The plan for the conversion struck a chord earlier this year after local (and some state) leaders from Elsmere, Erlanger and Florence took to social media to oppose the plan, which they characterized as being implemented without public knowledge or input.

“We didn’t consider it a secret,” said Yeager at an Erlanger City Council meeting in February. “We just didn’t tell anybody.”

The outcry led the cabinet to pause the project to allow for more public input.

“After we get all the input from the cities and the residents, we’ll get together with central office in Frankfort and make some kind of determination as to what the next steps are,” said Mike Bezold, project manager with the cabinet.

Bezold added that if the project were to occur, the cabinet would like to have it completed before winter. Finally, Bezold informed LINK nky that pothole repair on the corridor has already begun, and the road will be resurfaced, regardless of if the conversion takes place.

Dixie Highway, or US-25, is a federal road (that runs through multiple states) maintained by the commonwealth. The area in question falls between the intersections at Turfway Road and Commonwealth Avenue. The proposed reconfiguration affects three cities through which it runs, Florence, Erlanger and Elsmere, and the road serves as a primary thoroughfare through those cities.

The proposed reconfiguration would turn the road’s current structure of four lanes – two in each direction separated by yellow lines – to three lanes: one in each direction with a shared left-turn lane in the middle. Configurations like this have been dubbed road diets and are purportedly safer than older four-lane configurations.

Other proposed changes include the addition of a four-foot safety buffer between the sidewalk and the vehicle lanes, a resurfacing of the road between Turfway and Commonwealth, the installation of radar traffic detectors, drainage improvements, curb repairs and other quality-of-life improvements.

Placards at the meeting showed how TANK bus stops along the corridor would be affected by the change.

The cabinet hopes the reconfiguration will improve safety.

“You’ve heard us talk about safe streets for all … including pedestrians,” Yeager said. “I realize that we’re not going to improve congestion. That’s not the point of this. The point is to make that road safer.”

“Over the past five years, there have been 640 crashes within this corridor,” according to KYTC’s website. “This number is two times higher than comparable corridors across Kentucky. Following other roadway reconfigurations across the state, there has been a 19-47% reduction in crashes, reduced vehicle speed differential and improved mobility and access for all road users.”

LINK nky cross-referenced this figure with collision data from the Kentucky State Police, which collects data from local departments. From the beginning of January 2020 to the end of March 2026, there were 808 collisions on Dixie Highway in the area of the road reconfiguration, according to the Kentucky State Police. That includes fatal and non-fatal crashes. You can run the numbers yourself using the State Police’s data tool here.

Many of the residents at the meeting worried about the effect the conversion would have on traffic flow, congestion, emergency access and on the retail businesses along the corridor.

“I’m on the road all day long,” said Phil Wieland. “I just think it’s stupid. When traffic is on 75 backed up from an accident, this is backed up.”

“If there’s a way to make it bigger, that would be the way I would go,” said Larry Weis, whose wife owns a business on the corridor. “Make it bigger, not smaller.”

Jeff Niceley, a local business owner who’s running for Kenton county commissioner, was one of the few people at the meeting who seemed open to the conversion.

“I think something needs to be done,” Niceley said. “I don’t have any better ideas without widening the road.”

The cabinet will host similar open houses in late April and early May. Time and location information for those open houses is below. You can get more information about the project at the cabinet’s project webpage here.

• Florence open house: Thursday, April 23, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Florence Government Center on Ewing Boulevard
• Erlanger open house: Tuesday, May 5, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Erlanger City Building on Commonwealth Avenue.

You can view and download a tentative re-striping plan below.