The Elkton City Council met in special session on Wednesday, October 30, 2013 to discuss several topics. One of the main topics was to hear a report about the proposed “Southwest Connector Route” in Elkton. Craig Morris, Pennyrile Area Development District, Regional Planning Coordinator, was in attendance to give the council an update on the proposed route and discuss how it will benefit the community and why it is being proposed.
One of Morris’ responsibilities as Regional Planning Coordinator is to help develop the regions transportation plan. Over the last year, he has also assisted the city of Elkton in updating the city’s Comprehensive Plan. The Comprehensive Plan is a guide to help future growth and development in a community. One of the projects proposed in the Transportation element of the Comprehensive Plan was a connector route from West Main Street (Business 68) to South Main Street (Hwy 181). Mr. Morris reiterated that the connector route is a proposed project for the state and would be fully funded and developed by the state. Also, any map is just a concept at this time to help get the project on the state’s transportation plan for future projects.
The proposed route was first presented as the “Davis Mill Road Connector.” However, it is now proposed as an extension of Elk Fork Road to South Main Street (Hwy 181) just south of the high school. At the end of Mr. Morris’ presentation, all were in agreement that the Elk Fork Road concept is better than previously presented and all voiced their support of the project.
Below is the report and concept map Mr. Morris presented the city council which describes why the route is being proposed and how it will benefit the community.
Project Overview
The Elkton Southwest Connector Route is being proposed to provide a better and alternate route around the Courthouse Square. If funded, the project would be a State route that would be 100 percent funded by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC). The project is currently not funded, but the Transportation Cabinet is in the process of reviewing proposed projects for its next funding cycle that will be determined in 2014.
The Connector Route is being proposed to have its northern termini at Business US 68, across from the US 68/Elk Fork Road intersection, just east of the Dairy Queen Restaurant, and its southern termini at KY 181 approximately ¼ mile south of the Todd County High School.
One of the major problems with the downtown square is that it was designed in the 1800’s for stagecoaches and wagons. The square does not have the turning radius needed for modern semi-trucks, and the Courthouse Square is the only Elkton route that trucks have to access KY 181 south, which leads to US 70 and I-24. The KY 181 (south) route provides access to the cities of Clarksville and Nashville, which is the City of Elkton’s regional commercial center and closest interstate access point. The problem is that once semi-trucks make it onto the square, they have problems making the turn off the square without crossing over the centerline and creating a problem with on-coming traffic approaching the square. Sometimes trucks have to stop on the square and wait for all vehicles feeding into the entrance of the square to move out of the way before the trucks have the room to make the turn off the square. Not only does this slow/stop traffic around the square and create a congestion problem and safety hazard, but not having an adequate truck route hurts industrial and commercial business recruitment possibilities. It also creates a problem moving large farm machinery from the south side of the City to the north side of Elkton.
The proposed Connector Route would provide a direct route from the US 68/80 4-lane highway to the south using Elk Fork Street, then crossing Business US 68, onto the proposed Connector Route to KY 181 just south of the Todd County High School. This route would also provide better school bus access to the High School for buses coming from the west, and a faster route for fire and ambulance emergency service to access areas west of Elkton.
It would also provide additional infrastructure along a highly developable corridor that is close enough to the city to provide water and sewer services sometime in the future, and possibly generate some commercial sites should the adjoining property owners decide to sell land along the new route.
The Elkton Planning Commission recently listed this Southwest Connector Route as the number one most important project they feel should be constructed.
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