The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has selected a preferred alternative for upgrading KY 801 between the MMRC industrial park and KY 158 in northern Rowan County.
The proposed project will address the highway’s current deficiencies and improve its overall safety, mobility and connectivity for the area’s increased development and traffic demands.
The project began last year when the Transportation Cabinet hired consultants to conduct engineering studies, analyze crash data, draft preliminary road plans, and build a website to inform the public. The agency then sent out news releases and used electronic message boards along KY 801 to advertise a public meeting.
At that December meeting, engineers proposed several alternatives – different designs and paths to build a new KY 801 within the project limits.
Each alternative closely followed the highway’s existing route from the south end to near Ellington Loop. From that point, there were three cross country options that relocate the KY 158 intersection to the east.
After careful consideration of all study data and feedback – including from meeting with local officials and from reviewing information and comments from the public – engineers selected a preferred alternative for roadway alignment and typical construction. This has allowed the project to move forward into advanced preliminary design.
Specific information, proposed highway designs, and maps of the preferred alignment can be found on the official KY 801 project web page at Kentucky801.com.
Right-of-way plans, which determine what land might have to be purchased to build the highway, have been developed but are still preliminary and subject to change. Once right-of-way plans are finalized, and environmental and other studies are completed, the Transportation Cabinet will contact landowners to discuss purchasing property.
It’s always the Transportation Cabinet’s goal to work with landowners and homeowners to avoid as many impacts as possible while upgrading roads to address local and regional transportation needs.
Again, for more information and documentation, please visit the project website at Kentucky801.com, which has now been updated by the Transportation Cabinet’s consulting engineers Palmer Engineering and HMB.
Or, to ask questions about the project as well as the right of way and construction processes, contact the Kentucky Department of Highways District 9 project manager, Blake Jones, P.E., in Flemingsburg at (606) 845-2551.