US 68 is plagued with severe congestion and high accident rates caused by closely spaced traffic signals, heavy turning movements, and weaving operations between intersections. Currently more than 35,000 vehicles travel this section of Harrodsburg Road daily.

 

The existing roadway currently has two through lanes and single left turn lanes at the New Circle interchange. The project is physically constrained by the existing right-of-way and by the New Circle Road bridge piers. A detailed traffic analysis and been performed for this project to determine the best widening solution possible given the constraints. The original options for widening the roadway were to add an additional through lane in both directions on Harrodsburg Road or add another left turn lane to service the traffic wishing to enter New Circle Road. ENTRAN and KYTC have determined converting the current conventional diamond interchange into a Double Crossover Diamond Interchange (DCD), sometimes referred to as a diverging diamond interchange (DDI), is the best option to increase capacity and reduce crash rates.