Intersection to be reworked

Kenneth Hart/The Independent

Cannonsburg March 31, 2009 11:02 pm

— Workers with the Kentucky Department of Highways will be making a major alteration to one of Boyd County’s most heavily traveled intersections on Thursday.
The change essentially will double the left-turn capacity of the intersection, which should allow for more efficient traffic flow, officials said.
Allen Blair, a spokesman for the Department of Highways’ District 9 office in Flemingsburg, said the eastbound side of two-lane U.S. 60 portion of the U.S. 60-Ky. 180 intersection will be reconfigured to add a left-turn option to one of the turning lanes.
Currently, there are two eastbound turn lanes at the intersection — one for turning left onto U.S. 60 toward Ashland and one for either traveling straight onto Cannonsburg Road or turning right onto Ky. 180.
Under the new configuration, the lane closest to the double-yellow center line will still be a dedicated left-hand turn lane. However, motorists will now be able to use the other lane to turn left, to go straight or to turn right, Blair said.
Adding the left-turn option to the other lane is intended to reduce what’s known as “the queue length” at the intersection, Blair said. During busy periods, such as the morning and evening rush hours, traffic tends to back up there because of the number of drivers waiting to turn left, he said.
In fact, it’s not unusual for drivers to have to wait through two light changes to make a left when traffic is at its heaviest, Blair said.
“Our goal is to make traffic move through there much more efficiently, and, hopefully, that will improve safety at that intersection as well,” he said.
One thing motorists definitely need to be aware of, Blair said, is under the new setup, they will need to hold their lanes when turning left onto the four-lane portion of U.S. 60 toward Ashland.
Currently, a driver turning left has the option of pulling into either the left- or right-hand lane. Once the change is complete, motorists will be able to change lanes after turning only if the adjacent lane is clear, he said.
New traffic signals have already been installed at the intersection and will be activated on Thursday. There also will be new signage and lane markers to guide motorists, he said.
The work at the intersection is expected to take all day Thursday, so drivers might want to consider using alternate routes that day, Blair said.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.