City of Lexington, Courtesy graphic
LEXINGTON — The long planned Lexington East Viaduct project will begin work on April 1, there are five planned stages of work for the structure.
The first phase will include work on the storm sewer, grading and paving of Road A and Road B. During this phase, only Road A and B will be closed to traffic and access to businesses and thru traffic will remain along Road 435 and Walnut St.
New private driveways will be constructed along Highway 30 and Road 755 to provide access to business and residents during future phases.
Construction is anticipated to last around 35 days.
Phase two consists of three parts, to ensure that access to business can be maintained.
Work on Phase 2A will begin along the south portion of Road 435 starting around 300 feet south of Road A and 200 feet north of Road A.
Construction will consist of removing the existing pavement, installing storm sewer, grading and construction of new pavement.
Work on this phase will require the closure of the intersection Road 435 and Road A. This work is expected to start in late April.
During the closure, only local traffic will be allowed on Road 435 and all thru traffic will be detoured.
Once Phase 2A is completed, the intersection will be open to traffic and work will start on Phases 2B and 2C with continued closure of Road 435 for thru traffic.
Roads a and B will be open to traffic before work begins on these phases. All work of phase two is expected to be completed by mid-June.
Toward the end, but concurrent with phase two, work will begin along Highway 30 as part of phase three.
This will include the removal of the shoulder, grading and widening of the paving to allow for a future turn lane. Highway 30 will remain open to thru traffic during this time.
Work should begin early June and be completed by the end of the month.
Phase four will likely overlap with phase three and consist of removal and closure of Road 755.
The work will include grading, storm sewer and paving. Work will start mid-June and last until mid-July.
Toward the end of this phase, the intersection of Roads 435 and 755 will be closed and reconstructed. New access to residences and businesses off Highway 30 and Road 755 will have already been constructed.
During this closure, traffic will be detoured away from the intersection. Road 755 will be permanently closed during this phase.
Work on phase five is expected to start toward the end of July 2024 and will last until October 2025.
During this phase work will be completed along Road 435 from around 600 feet north of Road A up to Road 755. Work will include pavement removal, storm sewer, grading, bridge construction, roadway lighting and paving.
During this closure, businesses will obtain access from the newly constructed parts of Road 435 or from Walnut St. Road 435 will be closed to thru traffic and detoured along Roads 754 and 756 west to Highway 283 and Taft St.
There will also be intermittent interruptions along Highway 30 during this time and traffic will be detoured accordingly.
Work on planning the viaduct project goes back several years.
Back in 2013 the City of Lexington held a public meeting in November for the proposed project, three possible concepts were presented. Concept C, which featured the viaduct to the east of Road 435 was eliminated at this meeting. During a joint City of Lexington and Dawson County meeting, Concept B, a version which had the viaduct to the west of 435 was eliminated, leaving Concept A.
Concept A is the preferred alternative, and it shows the viaduct being built on county road 435. This concept would have to be facilitated by several changes in how the area is accessed.
First of all, the railroad crossing at 435, Highway 30 and the UPRR, the crossing at Road 436, a mile east would also be closed.
Walnut St., which flanks the railroad and Highway 30 to the south, would be closed at the 435 intersections.
To the north the intersection of Road 755 and 435 would be improved to handle the increased traffic flow.
Road 755 would no longer continue straight east, its existing intersection with Highway 30 would be closed and a new connection with Highway 30 would be built, with the appropriate intersection.
A turn lane would be added to Highway 30, where 755’s new connection would be.
Two new roads would be built to help facilitate the viaduct, new road “A” would extend west from 435, south of the viaduct. New road “B” would run north and south from Walnut St. to new road “A” to direct traffic on Walnut to access the viaduct and vice versa.
The proposed project would not be constructed under traffic, and it would require detouring Highway 30 and local traffic, according to FHA information.
For local traffic, they will be, “utilizing county road 756 and Taft St. north of Highway 30 and Highway 283 and East. Walnut St. or County Road 754 south of Highway 30,” according to the FHA. Lane said the local detour would be around 6.9 miles long.
