Jessamine Journal Articles - RE: Brannon Road Updates
NOTE: The articles on this page are in chronolocgical order from NEWEST to OLDEST with the newest articles posted at the top. ALSO NOTE: The contents of these articles are the property of the copyright owner, not Crosswoods Neighborhood Association.
Photo Credit: catnap72
Kicked down the road plan: Funds for Jessamine highway projects stalled in Frankfort
Posted: Friday, March 18, 2016 10:38 am
By Rosalind Essig [email protected]
CLICK HERE to read this latest update on the Brannon Road Project
Every community across Kentucky is waiting and watching to see the final shape Gov. Matt Bevin’s budget will take. The governor’s budget proposes cuts in everything from education to economic development. It also includes possible changes to the state’s road plan could hit home in Jessamine County, delaying some major projects.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s (KYTC) six-year highway plan outlines the near future of road projects in the state, listing planned starting years and funding for different stages of projects. In January, Bevin presented his budget and the recommended a new six-year plan.
Of the 11 Jessamine County projects on the proposed road plan, six show funding starting later than in the 2014 plan. Two projects do not appear in the 2016 plan: According to KYTC District 7 information officer Natasha Lacy, one was removed due to underfunding — turn lanes at both high schools — and one that is in litigation — the extension of East Brannon Road.
The Jessamine County Transportation Task Force has been studying the plan in its most recent meetings. Nancy Stone, who chairs the group, said they’re strategizing ways to ensure importance is given to local projects while facing the reality that the state’s belt is being tightened.
“We’re sitting here looking at what’s happened (in the budget) with the understanding that there’s a very limited amount of money,” she said.
The task force is made up of representatives from the cities and county, the transportation cabinet, the Lexington Area Metro Planning Organization, and other organizations with “a vested interest in transportation” locally. Stone said the group is developing talking points and plans to communicate the county’s needs to legislators.
Jessamine’s State Sen. Tom Buford (R-Nicholasville) described the plan as a “moving target,” but noted that the road fund has a history of being over budget by an estimated 50 percent.
“The six-year road plan is a plan from Disney World,” he said. “We ought to call it the ‘20-year plan.’”
Buford said “everything is working against the road fund” right now. Revenue from the gas tax is dropping alongside falling gas prices; people are being conscious of their transportation choices, by driving less and driving fuel-efficient vehicles; and reduced use of highways for commercial transportation in the still-slow economy, along with increased use of rail for commercial transport, have all contributed to the road fund’s woes, Buford said.
In Nicholasville, Wilmore and the county as a whole, those woes could become tangible by delaying long-term projects that are expected to effect the economy, traffic flow and safety of the area.
The oft-talked-about eastern bypass for U.S. 27 and the closely related I-75 connector are significant projects, both in terms of impact and funding. Meanwhile, bridge replacements and the redesign of the Y-intersection at U.S. 68 and Ky. 29 in Wilmore are relatively low-cost — about $10 million combined — but are significant for the safety of the people who use that infrastructure every day.
All eyes are on Frankfort in the coming weeks to see if the recommended road plan becomes the final road plan, which would mean pushing back some of these local projects.
Y INTERSECTION
The reconstruction of the intersection of U.S. 68 and Ky. 29 north of Wilmore is one of the county task force’s priority projects, Stone said.
“There are a lot of different issues that are taken into consideration when a road is funded ... but we think that the Y (intersection) in Wilmore is a major problem in terms of safety,” Lacy said.
The Y intersection has both a troubled history of dangerous collisions and failure to get to a construction phase.
That pattern could continue with the 2016 recommended plan, which puts the project four to five years behind on all stages, with construction pushed back to 2021 from 2016. The project is budgeted for $1.13 million more in right-of-way acquisition costs than it was in 2014, bringing the projected cost up to $6.23 million.
District 7 project manager Ananias Calvin III said the Y intersection is “ready right now to go ahead and start the right-of-way part.” However, the 2016 plan proposes to push the already behind schedule right-of-way acquisition to 2018.
“I don’t think it was because of any opposition that we had from the public ... it has to do with probably funding,” Calvin said.
The district sends their priorities to Frankfort and that’s where the final decision is made, Calvin said. When the new road plan comes out, lawmakers reprioritize funds and will pull funds from projects all around the state if something major like the Brent Spence Bridge in northern Kentucky comes up. That is how a project like the Y intersection can get delayed in spite of being federally funded, he explained.
Wilmore mayor Harold Rainwater said he is going to contact Bevin to try to prevent the delays from becoming a permanent part of the plan for the Y intersection.
“We’re going to appeal to the governor to move that back forward, and we’re writing a letter today,” Rainwater said Monday.
Contacting legislators and lobbying is unusual for Wilmore, said utilities and public works director Dave Carlstedt.
“Wilmore’s not a very political animal ... but this project is so important to the traveling public in and around Wilmore,” he said.
Carlstedt, who also serves on the local transportation task force, said the goal is “to make Gov. Bevin understand that this is still the biggest project in and around Wilmore.”
While Wilmore and the task force are working to make their voices heard, many projects are stuck in a waiting game while the House and Senate work on the plan.
“We’re all waiting to see what the new plan’s going to be ... I think we should know a bit more next month,” Calvin said.
BYPASS AND CONNECTOR
“I think if it hit 2018 it would be a miracle,” Buford said of the eastern bypass.
Buford isn’t feeling optimistic ground will be broken for the project in the next couple years, despite the fact the project was ready to be bid out this spring and the recommended road plan is showing construction of the first section of the first phase in 2016.
“I don’t see that moving forward in this budget cycle,” he said. “I think we’re going to be at a stand still for a while.”
The construction of the second phase is slated to take place in 2017, two years behind the date scheduled in the 2014 plan. The second phase is also budgeted for $22.5 million in the recommended road plan — $9.26 million more than the previous plan. Construction of the first phase is expected to total $53 million, but that money is not currently available for the project, according to the recommended plan.
State Rep. Russ Meyer (D-Nicholasville) said the bypass project is “teed up” and ready to go — and he’s hopeful it will move forward when the budget is finished.
“Phase 1 of the eastern bypass, which we’ve been working on in our community since the mid-90s ... with it being all federal funds and it’s sitting there in an authorized account. I think it’s time to move forward with that project,” he said.
Where the community has invested in infrastructure in preparation for the bypass, in addition to building the comprehensive plan with the existence of a bypass in mind, and where the right of way has already been purchased, Meyer said it would be unfair to the people who had to relocate and the community as a whole not to move forward with the project.
“They had to purchase quite a bit of property, and an thev’ve purchased homes and torn them down ... People have had to relocate from their homes in the right-of-way acquisition,” he said.
Without the bypass, Buford said building a road linking Nicholasville to I-75 is not really possible. On top of that, he said he hasn’t seen “a great deal of interest here in Frankfort to get on with that.”
The I-75 connector, which doesn’t have construction falling within the timeline of the six-year plan, shows the $13 million for the right-of-way and utilities stages being pushed back by four and five years to 2022.
TWO BRANNON PROJECTS
Brannon Road has projects in the works on both the east and west side of U.S. 27.
The project to expand West Brannon Road and improve roadway geometrics has an unchanged $24.5 million price tag between the two road plans. The dollar amount may be the same, but the right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation stages would be pushed back three years to 2019, and construction would be pushed back two years to 2021.
The West Brannon Road project is another situation in which the right-of-way plans are close or completed, but the project is being delayed.
“We’re going to have right-of-way plans ready, but I don’t know if we’ll have right-of-way funding,” said Joshua Samples, KYTC District 7 project manager.
There is also a project to extend East Brannon Road to Tates Creek Road that doesn’t show up in the 2016 plan because it was let in November, Meyer said. However, the $22.38 million project is currently in litigation over the acquisition of property for the right-of-way, according to Lacy.
When the project gets legs again, the connectivity of Brannon Road “is going to be big,” Meyer said.
“It’s going to help with the traffic situation when the Summit goes in in Fayette (County). That road’s going to play a big part in how traffic moves through the Man-O-War/U.S. 27 intersection,” he said. “... it’s going to impact more than just the Brannon Crossing development and Nicholasville. It’s going to be a central KY impact.”
“The road plan is just as political as anything you’ve ever seen down here,” Buford said.
State Rep. Kim King (R-Harrodsburg) said late Tuesday that budget negotiations would be starting up again in the early hours of Wednesday, the day the House was planning to take it up on the floor.
Meyer said Wednesday morning that he had not yet received a copy, but that he was told the funds for the eastern bypass were being put back into the road plan. King said she included the Y intersection in her transportation request, but that there was “not a lot to report” as the work on the budget was wrapping up.
The local transportation task force understands there will have to be cuts at some point, Stone said, but their goal is to let the legislature know “what our top priorities are.” She said the members are working on putting together talking points and writing letters to communicate to the state level “that we know there is a problem and that we have a problem, too.”
“Financing for roads is in dire straights right now, so we just have to do the best that we can,” she said.
The task force’s priority projects are focused on safety and they’re throwing their support behind the Y intersection reconstruction and the West Brannon Road expansion because of that. Stone said that residents should get in touch with legislators if a project is important to them. It takes more participation from the community than people realize, she added.
“It takes a lot of people speaking on behalf of a project ... to get done,” Stone said.
Posted: Friday, March 18, 2016 10:38 am
By Rosalind Essig [email protected]
CLICK HERE to read this latest update on the Brannon Road Project
Every community across Kentucky is waiting and watching to see the final shape Gov. Matt Bevin’s budget will take. The governor’s budget proposes cuts in everything from education to economic development. It also includes possible changes to the state’s road plan could hit home in Jessamine County, delaying some major projects.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s (KYTC) six-year highway plan outlines the near future of road projects in the state, listing planned starting years and funding for different stages of projects. In January, Bevin presented his budget and the recommended a new six-year plan.
Of the 11 Jessamine County projects on the proposed road plan, six show funding starting later than in the 2014 plan. Two projects do not appear in the 2016 plan: According to KYTC District 7 information officer Natasha Lacy, one was removed due to underfunding — turn lanes at both high schools — and one that is in litigation — the extension of East Brannon Road.
The Jessamine County Transportation Task Force has been studying the plan in its most recent meetings. Nancy Stone, who chairs the group, said they’re strategizing ways to ensure importance is given to local projects while facing the reality that the state’s belt is being tightened.
“We’re sitting here looking at what’s happened (in the budget) with the understanding that there’s a very limited amount of money,” she said.
The task force is made up of representatives from the cities and county, the transportation cabinet, the Lexington Area Metro Planning Organization, and other organizations with “a vested interest in transportation” locally. Stone said the group is developing talking points and plans to communicate the county’s needs to legislators.
Jessamine’s State Sen. Tom Buford (R-Nicholasville) described the plan as a “moving target,” but noted that the road fund has a history of being over budget by an estimated 50 percent.
“The six-year road plan is a plan from Disney World,” he said. “We ought to call it the ‘20-year plan.’”
Buford said “everything is working against the road fund” right now. Revenue from the gas tax is dropping alongside falling gas prices; people are being conscious of their transportation choices, by driving less and driving fuel-efficient vehicles; and reduced use of highways for commercial transportation in the still-slow economy, along with increased use of rail for commercial transport, have all contributed to the road fund’s woes, Buford said.
In Nicholasville, Wilmore and the county as a whole, those woes could become tangible by delaying long-term projects that are expected to effect the economy, traffic flow and safety of the area.
The oft-talked-about eastern bypass for U.S. 27 and the closely related I-75 connector are significant projects, both in terms of impact and funding. Meanwhile, bridge replacements and the redesign of the Y-intersection at U.S. 68 and Ky. 29 in Wilmore are relatively low-cost — about $10 million combined — but are significant for the safety of the people who use that infrastructure every day.
All eyes are on Frankfort in the coming weeks to see if the recommended road plan becomes the final road plan, which would mean pushing back some of these local projects.
Y INTERSECTION
The reconstruction of the intersection of U.S. 68 and Ky. 29 north of Wilmore is one of the county task force’s priority projects, Stone said.
“There are a lot of different issues that are taken into consideration when a road is funded ... but we think that the Y (intersection) in Wilmore is a major problem in terms of safety,” Lacy said.
The Y intersection has both a troubled history of dangerous collisions and failure to get to a construction phase.
That pattern could continue with the 2016 recommended plan, which puts the project four to five years behind on all stages, with construction pushed back to 2021 from 2016. The project is budgeted for $1.13 million more in right-of-way acquisition costs than it was in 2014, bringing the projected cost up to $6.23 million.
District 7 project manager Ananias Calvin III said the Y intersection is “ready right now to go ahead and start the right-of-way part.” However, the 2016 plan proposes to push the already behind schedule right-of-way acquisition to 2018.
“I don’t think it was because of any opposition that we had from the public ... it has to do with probably funding,” Calvin said.
The district sends their priorities to Frankfort and that’s where the final decision is made, Calvin said. When the new road plan comes out, lawmakers reprioritize funds and will pull funds from projects all around the state if something major like the Brent Spence Bridge in northern Kentucky comes up. That is how a project like the Y intersection can get delayed in spite of being federally funded, he explained.
Wilmore mayor Harold Rainwater said he is going to contact Bevin to try to prevent the delays from becoming a permanent part of the plan for the Y intersection.
“We’re going to appeal to the governor to move that back forward, and we’re writing a letter today,” Rainwater said Monday.
Contacting legislators and lobbying is unusual for Wilmore, said utilities and public works director Dave Carlstedt.
“Wilmore’s not a very political animal ... but this project is so important to the traveling public in and around Wilmore,” he said.
Carlstedt, who also serves on the local transportation task force, said the goal is “to make Gov. Bevin understand that this is still the biggest project in and around Wilmore.”
While Wilmore and the task force are working to make their voices heard, many projects are stuck in a waiting game while the House and Senate work on the plan.
“We’re all waiting to see what the new plan’s going to be ... I think we should know a bit more next month,” Calvin said.
BYPASS AND CONNECTOR
“I think if it hit 2018 it would be a miracle,” Buford said of the eastern bypass.
Buford isn’t feeling optimistic ground will be broken for the project in the next couple years, despite the fact the project was ready to be bid out this spring and the recommended road plan is showing construction of the first section of the first phase in 2016.
“I don’t see that moving forward in this budget cycle,” he said. “I think we’re going to be at a stand still for a while.”
The construction of the second phase is slated to take place in 2017, two years behind the date scheduled in the 2014 plan. The second phase is also budgeted for $22.5 million in the recommended road plan — $9.26 million more than the previous plan. Construction of the first phase is expected to total $53 million, but that money is not currently available for the project, according to the recommended plan.
State Rep. Russ Meyer (D-Nicholasville) said the bypass project is “teed up” and ready to go — and he’s hopeful it will move forward when the budget is finished.
“Phase 1 of the eastern bypass, which we’ve been working on in our community since the mid-90s ... with it being all federal funds and it’s sitting there in an authorized account. I think it’s time to move forward with that project,” he said.
Where the community has invested in infrastructure in preparation for the bypass, in addition to building the comprehensive plan with the existence of a bypass in mind, and where the right of way has already been purchased, Meyer said it would be unfair to the people who had to relocate and the community as a whole not to move forward with the project.
“They had to purchase quite a bit of property, and an thev’ve purchased homes and torn them down ... People have had to relocate from their homes in the right-of-way acquisition,” he said.
Without the bypass, Buford said building a road linking Nicholasville to I-75 is not really possible. On top of that, he said he hasn’t seen “a great deal of interest here in Frankfort to get on with that.”
The I-75 connector, which doesn’t have construction falling within the timeline of the six-year plan, shows the $13 million for the right-of-way and utilities stages being pushed back by four and five years to 2022.
TWO BRANNON PROJECTS
Brannon Road has projects in the works on both the east and west side of U.S. 27.
The project to expand West Brannon Road and improve roadway geometrics has an unchanged $24.5 million price tag between the two road plans. The dollar amount may be the same, but the right-of-way acquisition and utility relocation stages would be pushed back three years to 2019, and construction would be pushed back two years to 2021.
The West Brannon Road project is another situation in which the right-of-way plans are close or completed, but the project is being delayed.
“We’re going to have right-of-way plans ready, but I don’t know if we’ll have right-of-way funding,” said Joshua Samples, KYTC District 7 project manager.
There is also a project to extend East Brannon Road to Tates Creek Road that doesn’t show up in the 2016 plan because it was let in November, Meyer said. However, the $22.38 million project is currently in litigation over the acquisition of property for the right-of-way, according to Lacy.
When the project gets legs again, the connectivity of Brannon Road “is going to be big,” Meyer said.
“It’s going to help with the traffic situation when the Summit goes in in Fayette (County). That road’s going to play a big part in how traffic moves through the Man-O-War/U.S. 27 intersection,” he said. “... it’s going to impact more than just the Brannon Crossing development and Nicholasville. It’s going to be a central KY impact.”
“The road plan is just as political as anything you’ve ever seen down here,” Buford said.
State Rep. Kim King (R-Harrodsburg) said late Tuesday that budget negotiations would be starting up again in the early hours of Wednesday, the day the House was planning to take it up on the floor.
Meyer said Wednesday morning that he had not yet received a copy, but that he was told the funds for the eastern bypass were being put back into the road plan. King said she included the Y intersection in her transportation request, but that there was “not a lot to report” as the work on the budget was wrapping up.
The local transportation task force understands there will have to be cuts at some point, Stone said, but their goal is to let the legislature know “what our top priorities are.” She said the members are working on putting together talking points and writing letters to communicate to the state level “that we know there is a problem and that we have a problem, too.”
“Financing for roads is in dire straights right now, so we just have to do the best that we can,” she said.
The task force’s priority projects are focused on safety and they’re throwing their support behind the Y intersection reconstruction and the West Brannon Road expansion because of that. Stone said that residents should get in touch with legislators if a project is important to them. It takes more participation from the community than people realize, she added.
“It takes a lot of people speaking on behalf of a project ... to get done,” Stone said.
Tom Kimmerer stood next to a large bur oak on the Robinson farm Monday. (Jessamine Journal Photo)
Growing concern: Homeowners looking out for ‘venerable trees’, historic habitat with road expansion looming
By Rosalind Essig • [email protected]
Posted: Thursday, March 10, 2016 5:11 pm
CLICK HERE to read this latest update on Brannon Road Safety and Improvements project.
It might have been providence for a farm called Providence, when Sarah Robinson Cowden met scientist and conservationist Tom Kimmerer.
Not long after finding out that the expansion of the western portion of Brannon Road would come onto her family's historic farm, Cowden spoke to Kimmerer at a book event in Lexington. Kimmerer studies the "venerable trees" of central Kentucky and the unique landscape they have grown out of for hundreds of years — and Cowden invited him to come look at the trees at her Jessamine County farm.
What Kimmerer found was more significant than the Robinson family realized: The trees they were concerned about weren't just old, they were 300-500 years old, and the soil has been undisturbed for thousands of years.
"What's an important point is we didn't realize until we started this work together how ancient this landscape was," Kimmerer said. "The fact is that the road project is not just encroaching on a farm with some nice trees, but it's encroaching on a site of immense historical importance."
Kimmerer, who founded the nonprofit organization Venerable Trees and wrote a book by the same name, became "completely fascinated" by the Robinson farm "for reasons that have little to do with the transportation department."
In addition to the historic house, recorded in 1785, and buildings on the property, the farm is home to a permanent spring that is the headwaters of the South Elkhorn River. It is also home to the "rarest ecosystem in North America," Kimmerer said: woodland pasture.
The woodland pasture habitat is open and grassy with large trees, and was created by intermittent, heavy grazing. Kimmerer said the bison would graze heavily in an area and then leave for decades, allowing the trees to come in. The result was a landscape that settlers could bring their own grazing animals into - sheep and cattle - without doing much more than put in a fence.
Kimmerer was able to determine that the soil in the the woodland pasture area on the Robinson farm had never been tilled and, because there were no glaciers in the area, that the soil and landscape are the same now as they were thousands of years ago.
The Bluegrass region and the Nashville Basin region are the only places in North America where woodland pastures can be found, Kimmerer said. The ecosystem also exists in Europe, where it is more widely studied and conserved. So, much of what scientists know about American woodland pastures comes from studying their European counterparts.
Jessamine County is home to a relatively large amount of woodland pasture area, including Ramsey Farm and at Chaumiere du Prairies, but they continue to dwindle in number.
"They're disappearing very quickly, partly due to development — that's probably the major factor in Jessamine County, as it is in Fayette County," said Kimmerer, whose organization works with individual landowners to conserve woodland pastures and the ancient trees that grow in them.
Transportation plan
Current owner of the farm, Ann Robinson, and Cowden, her daughter, said they weren't worried about the original plans for the Brannon Road expansion that the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet made available at a public meeting in June of 2014. The project aims to widen and change the alignment of the road to improve safety and accommodate a forecasted increase in traffic.
The alignments proposed in 2014 didn't show the construction coming onto the Robinson farm and Cowden said they were relieved to see that. But after not hearing any updates on the project for about a year, Robinson suggested they call KYTC and that was when the family found out that the plans for the road had been changed.
Project manager Joshua Samples said KYTC was not initially considering going onto the Robinson farm because it is a historic property, but decided to take a look at the alternate alignments again because of comments received at the public meeting and the number of property owners it would impact on the other side of the road. Samples said the alternates that don't go onto the Robinson farm would cause one household to relocate and several other front yards to be affected.
"We just revisited the decision and worked up an alignment that maintained the historic nature of the property, but did get on the property for portions of it," he said.
Samples said purchasing the property for the right of way from the Robinson farm would probably cost less than purchasing residential property on the other side of the road, but that the transportation cabinet had not done any of those calculations yet. He said one factor that did involve cost, however, was that engineers had to choose an alignment on one side or the other of the existing road, because following its original path would be too costly.
The Robinson family has been communicating their concerns to the transportation cabinet and Samples said the engineers are working on making the plans avoid a tree, which was the only thing remaining delaying the right-of-way plans. He said they're "trying to limit the impact of the trees" and are following the regulations regarding historic properties.
Kimmerer argues there's no way for the road to come onto the property without getting close to a very large bur oak — one of the five species native to central Kentucky that are capable of living several hundred years — and destroying several other ancient trees. The other four species are chinkapin oak, Shumard oak, blue ash, and kingnut or shellbark hickory.
"I don't think that there's any chance that this woodland pasture would survive, even the trees down there at the bottom would be affected," he said referring to trees that would be far enough away from the project to avoid a direct impact, but would feel the runoff from the road.
After surveying on the other side of the road, Kimmerer said he did not find any ancient trees or woodland pasture areas that would be damaged.
KYTC environmental coordinator Becky Barrick explained that it's a balancing act to minimize the different possible impacts of a road project. Engineers have to minimize the environmental impact or impact on a historic area, while also taking safety into account and minimizing the impact on residents, such as relocation. She said the people in her office do a good job.
"There's just all these different ways we have to look at the project to come up with the best end result," she said.
Barrick said KYTC is currently doing environmental studies on the area, which look at endangered species, soil and archeology. The project's current alignment has already received the blessing of the State Historic Preservation Office to take a strip of the property, something that is allowed for historic properties if it doesn't impact the "characteristics, activities, features and attributes" of the property. In addition to the studies required for the plans to be approved, she said the engineers try to avoid farmland and any tree-cutting when possible.
What happens next for the Brannon Road project and the Robinson farm depends in part on what the studies find, Barrick said. If something protected is found on the strip of land the transportation cabinet needs for the right of way, they will try to avoid it. If avoiding the alignment is not possible, she said KYTC has ways to mitigate the impact, such as removing artifacts and storing them for future study.
Additionally, Gov. Matt Bevin's recommended highway plan — which will still require approval from the General Assembly to be final — pushes the right of way and construction phases of the project back to 2019 and 2021. So, while Samples said the right of way plans are close to completion, it's uncertain as to when the project would have the funding to move forward.
Protecting the land
Robinson's husband's family built the farm and house, and she felt their style of farming lent itself to preserving the land. Some of the areas that make up the woodland pasture on the property are not tillable, so raising livestock on those fields was the practical thing to do. Though she never had a sense of how old or significant the trees might be, but she always admired the beauty of that part of the farm.
"It was always my favorite field on the farm. Somehow I just loved it up there. I tried to take picnics up and take the children up — and we'd have picnics up there and everything," she said.
Cowden said her father "had just a true love for the land" and taught his family to have pride in the farm and the house.
"My father always told us, he was a believer that you always need to have land," she said.
By Rosalind Essig • [email protected]
Posted: Thursday, March 10, 2016 5:11 pm
CLICK HERE to read this latest update on Brannon Road Safety and Improvements project.
It might have been providence for a farm called Providence, when Sarah Robinson Cowden met scientist and conservationist Tom Kimmerer.
Not long after finding out that the expansion of the western portion of Brannon Road would come onto her family's historic farm, Cowden spoke to Kimmerer at a book event in Lexington. Kimmerer studies the "venerable trees" of central Kentucky and the unique landscape they have grown out of for hundreds of years — and Cowden invited him to come look at the trees at her Jessamine County farm.
What Kimmerer found was more significant than the Robinson family realized: The trees they were concerned about weren't just old, they were 300-500 years old, and the soil has been undisturbed for thousands of years.
"What's an important point is we didn't realize until we started this work together how ancient this landscape was," Kimmerer said. "The fact is that the road project is not just encroaching on a farm with some nice trees, but it's encroaching on a site of immense historical importance."
Kimmerer, who founded the nonprofit organization Venerable Trees and wrote a book by the same name, became "completely fascinated" by the Robinson farm "for reasons that have little to do with the transportation department."
In addition to the historic house, recorded in 1785, and buildings on the property, the farm is home to a permanent spring that is the headwaters of the South Elkhorn River. It is also home to the "rarest ecosystem in North America," Kimmerer said: woodland pasture.
The woodland pasture habitat is open and grassy with large trees, and was created by intermittent, heavy grazing. Kimmerer said the bison would graze heavily in an area and then leave for decades, allowing the trees to come in. The result was a landscape that settlers could bring their own grazing animals into - sheep and cattle - without doing much more than put in a fence.
Kimmerer was able to determine that the soil in the the woodland pasture area on the Robinson farm had never been tilled and, because there were no glaciers in the area, that the soil and landscape are the same now as they were thousands of years ago.
The Bluegrass region and the Nashville Basin region are the only places in North America where woodland pastures can be found, Kimmerer said. The ecosystem also exists in Europe, where it is more widely studied and conserved. So, much of what scientists know about American woodland pastures comes from studying their European counterparts.
Jessamine County is home to a relatively large amount of woodland pasture area, including Ramsey Farm and at Chaumiere du Prairies, but they continue to dwindle in number.
"They're disappearing very quickly, partly due to development — that's probably the major factor in Jessamine County, as it is in Fayette County," said Kimmerer, whose organization works with individual landowners to conserve woodland pastures and the ancient trees that grow in them.
Transportation plan
Current owner of the farm, Ann Robinson, and Cowden, her daughter, said they weren't worried about the original plans for the Brannon Road expansion that the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet made available at a public meeting in June of 2014. The project aims to widen and change the alignment of the road to improve safety and accommodate a forecasted increase in traffic.
The alignments proposed in 2014 didn't show the construction coming onto the Robinson farm and Cowden said they were relieved to see that. But after not hearing any updates on the project for about a year, Robinson suggested they call KYTC and that was when the family found out that the plans for the road had been changed.
Project manager Joshua Samples said KYTC was not initially considering going onto the Robinson farm because it is a historic property, but decided to take a look at the alternate alignments again because of comments received at the public meeting and the number of property owners it would impact on the other side of the road. Samples said the alternates that don't go onto the Robinson farm would cause one household to relocate and several other front yards to be affected.
"We just revisited the decision and worked up an alignment that maintained the historic nature of the property, but did get on the property for portions of it," he said.
Samples said purchasing the property for the right of way from the Robinson farm would probably cost less than purchasing residential property on the other side of the road, but that the transportation cabinet had not done any of those calculations yet. He said one factor that did involve cost, however, was that engineers had to choose an alignment on one side or the other of the existing road, because following its original path would be too costly.
The Robinson family has been communicating their concerns to the transportation cabinet and Samples said the engineers are working on making the plans avoid a tree, which was the only thing remaining delaying the right-of-way plans. He said they're "trying to limit the impact of the trees" and are following the regulations regarding historic properties.
Kimmerer argues there's no way for the road to come onto the property without getting close to a very large bur oak — one of the five species native to central Kentucky that are capable of living several hundred years — and destroying several other ancient trees. The other four species are chinkapin oak, Shumard oak, blue ash, and kingnut or shellbark hickory.
"I don't think that there's any chance that this woodland pasture would survive, even the trees down there at the bottom would be affected," he said referring to trees that would be far enough away from the project to avoid a direct impact, but would feel the runoff from the road.
After surveying on the other side of the road, Kimmerer said he did not find any ancient trees or woodland pasture areas that would be damaged.
KYTC environmental coordinator Becky Barrick explained that it's a balancing act to minimize the different possible impacts of a road project. Engineers have to minimize the environmental impact or impact on a historic area, while also taking safety into account and minimizing the impact on residents, such as relocation. She said the people in her office do a good job.
"There's just all these different ways we have to look at the project to come up with the best end result," she said.
Barrick said KYTC is currently doing environmental studies on the area, which look at endangered species, soil and archeology. The project's current alignment has already received the blessing of the State Historic Preservation Office to take a strip of the property, something that is allowed for historic properties if it doesn't impact the "characteristics, activities, features and attributes" of the property. In addition to the studies required for the plans to be approved, she said the engineers try to avoid farmland and any tree-cutting when possible.
What happens next for the Brannon Road project and the Robinson farm depends in part on what the studies find, Barrick said. If something protected is found on the strip of land the transportation cabinet needs for the right of way, they will try to avoid it. If avoiding the alignment is not possible, she said KYTC has ways to mitigate the impact, such as removing artifacts and storing them for future study.
Additionally, Gov. Matt Bevin's recommended highway plan — which will still require approval from the General Assembly to be final — pushes the right of way and construction phases of the project back to 2019 and 2021. So, while Samples said the right of way plans are close to completion, it's uncertain as to when the project would have the funding to move forward.
Protecting the land
Robinson's husband's family built the farm and house, and she felt their style of farming lent itself to preserving the land. Some of the areas that make up the woodland pasture on the property are not tillable, so raising livestock on those fields was the practical thing to do. Though she never had a sense of how old or significant the trees might be, but she always admired the beauty of that part of the farm.
"It was always my favorite field on the farm. Somehow I just loved it up there. I tried to take picnics up and take the children up — and we'd have picnics up there and everything," she said.
Cowden said her father "had just a true love for the land" and taught his family to have pride in the farm and the house.
"My father always told us, he was a believer that you always need to have land," she said.
Community residents discuss proposals for Brannon road at public meeting
Posted: Wednesday, June 4, 2014 11:41 am
By Rosalind Essig
[email protected]
CLICK HERE to read this article on the Jessamine Journal website
Residents of Jessamine and Fayette counties examined detailed images of the proposed changes to Brannon Road on Tuesday at a public meeting at Southland Christian Church.
The second large public meeting on the project, this was the last chance for drivers and residents to give their input on the major decisions about the design of the improved road, said Rob Sprague, design section supervisor. There will be one more meeting after this, Sprague said, but it will only be addressing small details of the right-of-way plan.
The right-of-way phase, in which property will be purchased for the project and temporary easements will be set up, is slated to begin in 2016, followed by a phase relocating utilities in 2016 and the construction phase beginning in 2019.
Residents and commuters affected by the state of Brannon road conversed during the meeting, pointing to the displayed images of the alternate plans that were created to address the traffic needs of the area and safety concerns about the road.
“The trees come right out to the edge there — there’s no shoulder,” said Ray Hodge, who was concerned about the “hazardous situation” this caused for drivers on Brannon Road, himself included.
There were 263 accidents on Brannon Road between 2003 and 2013, according to the transportation cabinet. And traffic is projected to increase from 5,900 vehicles per day in 2012 to 14,000 vehicles per day in 2040.
“It is a country road that needs to be safer ... but not a major road,” Linda Langley said as she discussed the alternates with a design engineer.
Langley, who has driven or lived on Brannon Road for about 30 years, expressed concerns about increased traffic, safety and the “nature” of the community. As a resident, she felt that enlarging the road rather than simply addressing safety concerns would draw increased traffic and “turn (the neighborhood) into an entirely different environment.”
“They need to make the road safer,” Langley said, “It’s going to draw tons of traffic. It doesn’t make sense that it wouldn’t.”
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and EA Partners, the consultant company on the project, created the designs based on the need for Brannon Road to handle increases in traffic through 2040. Casey Smith, a design engineer on the project, said the size of the road in the proposals is a result of traffic forecasts based on factors such as potential development, traffic trends and origin and destination trends.
Brannon Road resident MaryMajella Morgan attended the meeting and has followed the progress of the project. Morgan was also concerned about how a larger road would make getting in and out of her small neighborhood more difficult and wondered whether a larger road would impact “the integrity of the ruralness of (the neighborhood).”
“It’s a great area because you feel so rural, but you’re like five minutes from Fayette Mall,” Morgan said. “And I’d like to keep it that way. But I understand the need for changes.”
Morgan also noted that it would be nice and safer to have sidewalks added along the road. Meeting attendees were given a survey to complete, on which they could contribute their preferences about sidewalks and bike paths along Brannon Road, as well as their preferences for the different alternatives along the sections of the designs. The transportation cabinet believes public input would be “critical” to the project.
More information about the project and images of the alternates will be available on the Facebook page “Brannon Road: Improvement and Safety Project.”
Posted: Wednesday, June 4, 2014 11:41 am
By Rosalind Essig
[email protected]
CLICK HERE to read this article on the Jessamine Journal website
Residents of Jessamine and Fayette counties examined detailed images of the proposed changes to Brannon Road on Tuesday at a public meeting at Southland Christian Church.
The second large public meeting on the project, this was the last chance for drivers and residents to give their input on the major decisions about the design of the improved road, said Rob Sprague, design section supervisor. There will be one more meeting after this, Sprague said, but it will only be addressing small details of the right-of-way plan.
The right-of-way phase, in which property will be purchased for the project and temporary easements will be set up, is slated to begin in 2016, followed by a phase relocating utilities in 2016 and the construction phase beginning in 2019.
Residents and commuters affected by the state of Brannon road conversed during the meeting, pointing to the displayed images of the alternate plans that were created to address the traffic needs of the area and safety concerns about the road.
“The trees come right out to the edge there — there’s no shoulder,” said Ray Hodge, who was concerned about the “hazardous situation” this caused for drivers on Brannon Road, himself included.
There were 263 accidents on Brannon Road between 2003 and 2013, according to the transportation cabinet. And traffic is projected to increase from 5,900 vehicles per day in 2012 to 14,000 vehicles per day in 2040.
“It is a country road that needs to be safer ... but not a major road,” Linda Langley said as she discussed the alternates with a design engineer.
Langley, who has driven or lived on Brannon Road for about 30 years, expressed concerns about increased traffic, safety and the “nature” of the community. As a resident, she felt that enlarging the road rather than simply addressing safety concerns would draw increased traffic and “turn (the neighborhood) into an entirely different environment.”
“They need to make the road safer,” Langley said, “It’s going to draw tons of traffic. It doesn’t make sense that it wouldn’t.”
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and EA Partners, the consultant company on the project, created the designs based on the need for Brannon Road to handle increases in traffic through 2040. Casey Smith, a design engineer on the project, said the size of the road in the proposals is a result of traffic forecasts based on factors such as potential development, traffic trends and origin and destination trends.
Brannon Road resident MaryMajella Morgan attended the meeting and has followed the progress of the project. Morgan was also concerned about how a larger road would make getting in and out of her small neighborhood more difficult and wondered whether a larger road would impact “the integrity of the ruralness of (the neighborhood).”
“It’s a great area because you feel so rural, but you’re like five minutes from Fayette Mall,” Morgan said. “And I’d like to keep it that way. But I understand the need for changes.”
Morgan also noted that it would be nice and safer to have sidewalks added along the road. Meeting attendees were given a survey to complete, on which they could contribute their preferences about sidewalks and bike paths along Brannon Road, as well as their preferences for the different alternatives along the sections of the designs. The transportation cabinet believes public input would be “critical” to the project.
More information about the project and images of the alternates will be available on the Facebook page “Brannon Road: Improvement and Safety Project.”
State seeks more input on changes to Brannon Road
By Jonathan Kleppinger [email protected] | Posted: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 1:13 pm
CLICK HERE to read the story from the Jessamine Journal website.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is seeking more public input as plans move forward for safety improvements to Brannon Road in northern Jessamine County.
The cabinet and design consultant EA Partners are hosting a public meeting Tuesday, June 3, from 5-7 p.m. at Southland Christian Church in Building F. The church is located at 5001 Harrodsburg Road, just south of Brannon Road.
Safety concerns about the 3.2-mile road had been the catalyst for improvements; the transportation cabinet says there were 263 crashes on Brannon Road between 2003 and 2013, including 102 crashes with fixed objects such as trees on the side of the road.
A public meeting last year served to gather input from residents about possibilities and concerns; this year, the cabinet will have proposed alternates on display with representatives available to answer questions. There will be no formal presentation.
The alternates vary in alignment and width, transportation engineer Joshua Samples said. Samples said the cabinet narrowed down the typical design — the cross-section of the road that includes the number of lanes — after input from the 2013 meeting.
“Anything we do is going to more than what’s out there, because it’s pretty narrow,” Samples said. “We’re looking at something that will be wider than what’s out there.”
Apart from safety issues involving speed, road width and road-side hazards, residents at the public meeting last year were concerned about the effect on their property, Samples said.
The funds for right-of-way and utilities acquisition are in the 2016 fiscal year of the state’s six-year road plan, and Samples said the cabinet was pretty close to that schedule and could start right-of-way plans in late 2015.
“We had pretty good attendance last time, so I expect we’ll have pretty good attendance this time, too,” Samples said.
By Jonathan Kleppinger [email protected] | Posted: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 1:13 pm
CLICK HERE to read the story from the Jessamine Journal website.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet is seeking more public input as plans move forward for safety improvements to Brannon Road in northern Jessamine County.
The cabinet and design consultant EA Partners are hosting a public meeting Tuesday, June 3, from 5-7 p.m. at Southland Christian Church in Building F. The church is located at 5001 Harrodsburg Road, just south of Brannon Road.
Safety concerns about the 3.2-mile road had been the catalyst for improvements; the transportation cabinet says there were 263 crashes on Brannon Road between 2003 and 2013, including 102 crashes with fixed objects such as trees on the side of the road.
A public meeting last year served to gather input from residents about possibilities and concerns; this year, the cabinet will have proposed alternates on display with representatives available to answer questions. There will be no formal presentation.
The alternates vary in alignment and width, transportation engineer Joshua Samples said. Samples said the cabinet narrowed down the typical design — the cross-section of the road that includes the number of lanes — after input from the 2013 meeting.
“Anything we do is going to more than what’s out there, because it’s pretty narrow,” Samples said. “We’re looking at something that will be wider than what’s out there.”
Apart from safety issues involving speed, road width and road-side hazards, residents at the public meeting last year were concerned about the effect on their property, Samples said.
The funds for right-of-way and utilities acquisition are in the 2016 fiscal year of the state’s six-year road plan, and Samples said the cabinet was pretty close to that schedule and could start right-of-way plans in late 2015.
“We had pretty good attendance last time, so I expect we’ll have pretty good attendance this time, too,” Samples said.
Transportation cabinet officials receive public feedback regarding Brannon Road in Jessamine County
By Mike Moore
[email protected]
3:15 p.m. EDT, June 24, 2013
CLICK HERE to read the story from the Jessamine Journal website.
Nearly 200 residents turned out last Thursday to kick the tires on possible safety improvements for Brannon Road in a public meeting held by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet at Southland Christian Church.
Most everyone agreed safety improvements on the 3.2-mile roadway was needed, but many were curious about potential plans that could infringe upon their property.
“It depends on how it turns out and what they’re going to do,” said Brannon Road resident Steven McCollum. “If they’re going to do a 3-lane, that might be OK. If it’s a four-lane, it’s really going to mess up my yard and so forth.”
David Fultz, associate pastor at Church of the Savior, located at 1301 Brannon Road, said his church’s congregation is growing, and he hopes that turn lanes would be included in possible improvements.
“We need some turn lanes, and one of our problems is the amount of traffic on Brannon Road, and it backs up,” Fultz said. “Turn lanes would help us, and clearing the hill that is in front of us would be nice, too. It would give us better visibility, especially to the west. The visibility is bad to the west.”
John Samples, transportation engineer with the transportation cabinet, said the purpose of Thursday’s public meeting was fact-finding in nature. He also presented statistics about the road.
“We’ve had a significant amount of crashes, and a significant amount of injuries over the years,” Sampler said.
Between 2003 and 2013, there have been 263 crashes on Brannon Road, including 102 crashes with fixed objects such as trees on the side of the road.
“I think that is something that we can all agree can be addressed and should be addressed at this point,” Samples said.
Jessamine County Sheriff Kevin Corman said according to data from the Kentucky State Police (KSP), crashes on Brannon Road have decreased each of the past three years with 36 in 2010, 28 in 2011 and 24 in 2012. Through the first six months of 2013, there have been 10 crashes. KSP tracks crash information for all law enforcement agencies in the state, Corman said.
Corman said his numbers conflict with the transportation cabinet’s figures, and surmised that crashes at the intersections of U.S. 68 and U.S. 27 and Brannon Road were factored into the state’s numbers.
“I think some of their numbers factor in wrecks at intersections at both ends of the road,” Corman said. “You really can’t factor those in to the road.”
Corman said he feels the reason for declining numbers are drivers being more cautious and knowing the quirks of the road. Regarding the proposed safety improvements, Corman said he was all for it.
“I am in favor of improvements, but I think that the improvements could be minimal; shoulders would help more than anything else,” he said.
Brannon resident Tim Hazlette, a retired KSP trooper, said the stretch of road between Clays Mill Extension and U.S. 27 needs to be the focus of the improvements.
“You don’t have any shoulders, and your margin of error is almost zero; if you make a mistake, you’ve got no recovery time,” Hazlette said. “I’m not for cutting trees back to 75 feet off the blacktop, but there are some that sit right on the edge of the road, so your margin of error is limited.”
According to the transportation cabinet, Brannon Road has seen a 60 percent vehicle per day (VPD) usage increase from 2005 and 2010, which is the latest data collected. In 2005, traffic volume was at 2,860 VPD; in 2010, that number increased to 5,080 VPD.
The VPD, coupled with the crash numbers placed the project in the high priority in 2012 in the six-year plan, Samples said.
Jessamine County Magistrate Terry Meckstroth said the project is much needed, and he hopes the transportation cabinet takes residents’ concerns into consideration.
“Brannon Road needs safety improvements,” Meckstroth said. “The main changes necessary are adequate shoulders, widening of the road, and providing emergency access with consideration of the residents.”
During the two-hour public meeting, transportation cabinet officials spoke to residents and each attendee was given a questionnaire to fill out outlining their concerns.
Over the next several months, transportation cabinet officials will review the questionnaires and begin to develop alternates’ designs. Officials anticipate another public meeting to be scheduled in early 2014 to present the alternates to the public for their opinions.
“We know that something needs to be done, but at this point, we have not made any decisions,” Samples said. “We will take all that into account and try to come up with something that everybody will be happy with.”
By Mike Moore
[email protected]
3:15 p.m. EDT, June 24, 2013
CLICK HERE to read the story from the Jessamine Journal website.
Nearly 200 residents turned out last Thursday to kick the tires on possible safety improvements for Brannon Road in a public meeting held by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet at Southland Christian Church.
Most everyone agreed safety improvements on the 3.2-mile roadway was needed, but many were curious about potential plans that could infringe upon their property.
“It depends on how it turns out and what they’re going to do,” said Brannon Road resident Steven McCollum. “If they’re going to do a 3-lane, that might be OK. If it’s a four-lane, it’s really going to mess up my yard and so forth.”
David Fultz, associate pastor at Church of the Savior, located at 1301 Brannon Road, said his church’s congregation is growing, and he hopes that turn lanes would be included in possible improvements.
“We need some turn lanes, and one of our problems is the amount of traffic on Brannon Road, and it backs up,” Fultz said. “Turn lanes would help us, and clearing the hill that is in front of us would be nice, too. It would give us better visibility, especially to the west. The visibility is bad to the west.”
John Samples, transportation engineer with the transportation cabinet, said the purpose of Thursday’s public meeting was fact-finding in nature. He also presented statistics about the road.
“We’ve had a significant amount of crashes, and a significant amount of injuries over the years,” Sampler said.
Between 2003 and 2013, there have been 263 crashes on Brannon Road, including 102 crashes with fixed objects such as trees on the side of the road.
“I think that is something that we can all agree can be addressed and should be addressed at this point,” Samples said.
Jessamine County Sheriff Kevin Corman said according to data from the Kentucky State Police (KSP), crashes on Brannon Road have decreased each of the past three years with 36 in 2010, 28 in 2011 and 24 in 2012. Through the first six months of 2013, there have been 10 crashes. KSP tracks crash information for all law enforcement agencies in the state, Corman said.
Corman said his numbers conflict with the transportation cabinet’s figures, and surmised that crashes at the intersections of U.S. 68 and U.S. 27 and Brannon Road were factored into the state’s numbers.
“I think some of their numbers factor in wrecks at intersections at both ends of the road,” Corman said. “You really can’t factor those in to the road.”
Corman said he feels the reason for declining numbers are drivers being more cautious and knowing the quirks of the road. Regarding the proposed safety improvements, Corman said he was all for it.
“I am in favor of improvements, but I think that the improvements could be minimal; shoulders would help more than anything else,” he said.
Brannon resident Tim Hazlette, a retired KSP trooper, said the stretch of road between Clays Mill Extension and U.S. 27 needs to be the focus of the improvements.
“You don’t have any shoulders, and your margin of error is almost zero; if you make a mistake, you’ve got no recovery time,” Hazlette said. “I’m not for cutting trees back to 75 feet off the blacktop, but there are some that sit right on the edge of the road, so your margin of error is limited.”
According to the transportation cabinet, Brannon Road has seen a 60 percent vehicle per day (VPD) usage increase from 2005 and 2010, which is the latest data collected. In 2005, traffic volume was at 2,860 VPD; in 2010, that number increased to 5,080 VPD.
The VPD, coupled with the crash numbers placed the project in the high priority in 2012 in the six-year plan, Samples said.
Jessamine County Magistrate Terry Meckstroth said the project is much needed, and he hopes the transportation cabinet takes residents’ concerns into consideration.
“Brannon Road needs safety improvements,” Meckstroth said. “The main changes necessary are adequate shoulders, widening of the road, and providing emergency access with consideration of the residents.”
During the two-hour public meeting, transportation cabinet officials spoke to residents and each attendee was given a questionnaire to fill out outlining their concerns.
Over the next several months, transportation cabinet officials will review the questionnaires and begin to develop alternates’ designs. Officials anticipate another public meeting to be scheduled in early 2014 to present the alternates to the public for their opinions.
“We know that something needs to be done, but at this point, we have not made any decisions,” Samples said. “We will take all that into account and try to come up with something that everybody will be happy with.”
State looks at possible Brannon Road improvements
By Mike Moore
[email protected]
4:23 PM EST, January 31, 2013
CLICK HERE to read the story from the Jessamine Journal website.
Brannon Road, which connects U.S. 27 at Brannon Crossing and U.S. 68 near Southland Christian Church, is being studied for possible safety improvements, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced Monday.The cabinet has begun the project design and environmental study, according to a media advisory.Project manager Joshua Samples said the cabinet is focused on the safety of the road.
“Some of the things we will be looking at is improving the geometry, widening the pavement and the shoulders a little bit, and the elimination of roadside hazards,” Samples said. “Some of (the hazards) are entrances that are in blind spots, trees, quick drop-offs that are in the area that are bad.”
The move to improve the heavily traveled stretch of road was music to the ears of Jessamine County Fire District Chief Mike Rupard.
“There’s several different spots all along Brannon Road where we’ve worked numerous accidents,” Rupard said. “It’s too narrow.
Another problem comes from a lot of the shoulder work that has taken place over the years, and it’s added blacktop on it, and the drop-off is the biggest issue. Where it’s so narrow, (commuters) will drop off and overcorrect and shoot across and either sideswipe or hit head-on another vehicle or cross the road and hit trees.”
Presently, throughout different locations on Brannon Road, there are white X’s on the side of the road that Samples said are for aeriel survey purposes.
“It helps them clearly mark ground lines, and it helps them identify the actual locations of the pavement,” Samples said.
A traffic count for the road is being conducted, and Samples said it should be finished in February.
Before any decisions are made regarding improvements, a public meeting will be set up in either April or May to receive feedback and ideas from residents, Samples said.
“We want to try to get everybody’s concerns before we get started on anything,” he said. “We want to get ideas from everyone out there who drives on the road; we want to know what they see as problems (with the road).”
Samples stressed the project is in the very beginning stages.
“In our six-year plan, I don’t think we have anything besides the design schedule,” he said. “Usually the full design to get to the right-of-way phase takes a couple years.”
Authorization for the Brannon Road project was received in September 2012, and surveying activities have already begun. This phase of the design process is expected to continue through April 2014.
“We get a plan and get information from the area development district, from local governments and officials, and then our maintenance guys and planning guys,” Samples said. “Then we come up with a list of about 30 or 40 projects that are ranked (by priority), and this was one of the ones that was ranked fairly high.”
By Mike Moore
[email protected]
4:23 PM EST, January 31, 2013
CLICK HERE to read the story from the Jessamine Journal website.
Brannon Road, which connects U.S. 27 at Brannon Crossing and U.S. 68 near Southland Christian Church, is being studied for possible safety improvements, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced Monday.The cabinet has begun the project design and environmental study, according to a media advisory.Project manager Joshua Samples said the cabinet is focused on the safety of the road.
“Some of the things we will be looking at is improving the geometry, widening the pavement and the shoulders a little bit, and the elimination of roadside hazards,” Samples said. “Some of (the hazards) are entrances that are in blind spots, trees, quick drop-offs that are in the area that are bad.”
The move to improve the heavily traveled stretch of road was music to the ears of Jessamine County Fire District Chief Mike Rupard.
“There’s several different spots all along Brannon Road where we’ve worked numerous accidents,” Rupard said. “It’s too narrow.
Another problem comes from a lot of the shoulder work that has taken place over the years, and it’s added blacktop on it, and the drop-off is the biggest issue. Where it’s so narrow, (commuters) will drop off and overcorrect and shoot across and either sideswipe or hit head-on another vehicle or cross the road and hit trees.”
Presently, throughout different locations on Brannon Road, there are white X’s on the side of the road that Samples said are for aeriel survey purposes.
“It helps them clearly mark ground lines, and it helps them identify the actual locations of the pavement,” Samples said.
A traffic count for the road is being conducted, and Samples said it should be finished in February.
Before any decisions are made regarding improvements, a public meeting will be set up in either April or May to receive feedback and ideas from residents, Samples said.
“We want to try to get everybody’s concerns before we get started on anything,” he said. “We want to get ideas from everyone out there who drives on the road; we want to know what they see as problems (with the road).”
Samples stressed the project is in the very beginning stages.
“In our six-year plan, I don’t think we have anything besides the design schedule,” he said. “Usually the full design to get to the right-of-way phase takes a couple years.”
Authorization for the Brannon Road project was received in September 2012, and surveying activities have already begun. This phase of the design process is expected to continue through April 2014.
“We get a plan and get information from the area development district, from local governments and officials, and then our maintenance guys and planning guys,” Samples said. “Then we come up with a list of about 30 or 40 projects that are ranked (by priority), and this was one of the ones that was ranked fairly high.”