Dear editor,
I am writing to you today about the proposed Kentucky (Highway) 53 improvements from Kentucky 22 at Ballardsville to Interstate 71, Project 05-8852 proposed for Oldham County. I encourage you to visit our Facebook page, Building a Better Ballardsville-Oldham County.
This project is really all about the county’s quest to develop the Oldham Reserve, ultimately improving semi-truck access from I-64 to Oldham Reserve. Oldham Reserve is a mixed-use development situated on a 1,000-acre campus. County leadership has been working to entice industry to come here for years with no luck.
Once the new Kentucky 53 is complete from I-64 to I-71, the entire trucking industry is going to use it as a shortcut. Trucking traffic is going to increase at least 10-fold.
We do not need this project as they are proposing. I believe they need to improve on the specific locations along the existing road where accidents are concentrated and analyze options such as traffic-calming devices and improving sight distance in these localized areas. This alone would go a long way towards improving safety on this road.
They need to also focus on the existing interstate highways around this area and continue improving them so as not to create a new one through our quaint, quiet, rural community. So much for the slogan “quietly amazing,’ chosen by our local government to represent the Oldham County community.
They need to focus on the five Es – engineering, education, enforcement, emergency medical services and evaluation, as outlined by the U.S. Department of Transportation. These approaches may include road safety audits, speed management, geometric design and safety performance measurement and evaluation, or various other strategies and combinations of strategies for the existing roadway.
Changing this road will only encourage a much higher concentration of semi-trucks to use this new “shortcut.”
None of the residents want this. This is totally being pushed by the local Oldham County government officials, who are supposed to be working for and looking out for us. It will be cutting right through the center of my farm, with 12 acres on one side of the road and 15 acres on the other side.
I have lots of deer on my farm, and this road will be going right through the middle of it, cutting my woods into two woods. It will decimate my herd. I raise honeybees, and now, I will have to cross this highway to get to my hives on the other side.
My wife and I got married back in 1983 and started out with nothing. My wife worked two and three part-time jobs to help put me through college. I worked part-time as well while going through college. We have worked our entire lives, putting sweat equity into our homes, saving, not doing things extravagant so that someday we would be able to purchase our dream farm. That day came, and we own this farm. We raise vegetables, chickens and honeybees. A couple years ago, we had 96 beehives on the property. I have since downsized to around 40, as it just became too much. However, once I retire in less than two years from my full-time job, I intend to start raising more hives.
This project isn’t necessary because we can improve the trouble spots of the existing infrastructure and achieve a very similar result. There is no reason to encourage more interstate traffic through our community.
This project isn’t cheap, they are spending millions of our tax dollars to build this two-mile route.
In regards to what KYTC is saying about the existing road, it includes:
• Extremely congested through Ballardsville.
I live in Ballardsville, and my house faces the road and is only 90 feet from the road. It does get busy during rush hours just like every other road, but it is clearly not extremely congested.
• Little to no existing shoulders.
This is true as with every other road in the area. Shoulders can be added to the existing road.
• Speed limits vary.
So what if speed limits very. This is a good thing.
• It has inadequate horizontal and vertical geometry.
For who? For a major highway, yes, but we don’t want or need a major highway going through our quaint town, there are plenty of them around us for folks to use for their interstate traveling. County government wants this as a direct path to Oldham Reserve.
• Sight distance for stopping is greatly out of range.
They are putting in a subdivision just to the north of my property in the middle of Ballardsville. The Kentucky Department of Transportation did a study at the opening of this subdivision and said that sight distance was more than adequate. They clearly talk out of both sides of their mouths.
• Single vehicle collisions made up the highest percentage of collisions, followed by rear-end collisions.
Both of these are from folks not paying attention, most likely on their cell phones. Road improvements won’t help with these types of accidents.
Sincerely,
Don Chesak
Crestwood