The Pawpaw Parody: motorists rejoice as mayor cuts ribbon on New Circle/Liberty Rd. Bypass

Drivers in the Liberty Road area honked and cheered loudly from their cars Thursday as Mayor Linda Gorton and city leaders cut the ribbon on the brand new Liberty/New Circle Road bypass.

“Our traffic engineers did a little study and found the dividers that were previously placed on Liberty Road between Auto Zone and Speedway were impeding traffic flow by 37%,” Gorton said, “with these new options available, traffic will be flowing better than ever.”

Motorists pulling out of Speedway now enjoy a protected left turn lane onto Liberty, and a special U-turn only lane expansion is planned for the intersection early next year.

Lexington Police are reporting a 368% increase in collisions at the intersection compared to this month last year, but that is reported to be a lesser monthly increase than the first day the Harrodsburg Road Double Black Diamond was open to the public.