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Twin Road Projects Produce Headaches For Lexington Drivers

If you rely on New Circle Road near Leestown to get to work or school, transportation officials have just two pieces of advice for you: Leave early or look for alternate routes. The area is now grappling with two separate road widening projects.

SIRI may be answering a lot of traffic questions for New Circle drivers in the coming year.

Tuesday night marked the launch of a two-year project to add two lanes to New Circle between Leestown and Versailles Roads. That’s on top of more widening work along Leestown, which is slated for completion in about a year.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience, however, we need to make improvements not only because of the heavy traffic flow but also for safety too," Transportation Cabinet spokesperson Natasha Lacy says.

Still, the predictions of smoother and safer traffic conditions along the major Lexington corridors are cold comfort to many drivers caught in yet another backup on the way to or from work.

"Getting in and out of here is killing us. It adds sometime 30-40 minutes to the workday, " Leestown Road business owner Taylor Lyle tells WKYT.

The work on New Circle will primarily take place between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. throughout the week, though some construction will happen outside those hours. Lacy says conditions will change as the work progresses, but for now drivers would be wise to plan ahead.

Josh James fell in love with college radio at Western Kentucky University's student station, New Rock 92 (now Revolution 91.7). After working as a DJ and program director, he knew he wanted to come home to Lexington and try his hand in public radio.