Work is scheduled to begin this week on a $3.5 million highway safety project along U.S. 60 that will see the addition of Restricted Crossing U-Turns (RCUT) at Wright’s Landing Road and Hawes Boulevard.
Scotty’s Contracting & Stone, LLC is expected to begin the project on March 18. The contractor will begin milling and paving operations along the westbound median of the highway at 6:30 a.m., which will result in lane restrictions on the westbound side of U.S. 60 through the project area. Lane restrictions will be in place from Monday at 6:30 a.m. until Friday at 3 p.m. There are no planned restrictions over the weekend.
The project is scheduled to be completed by mid-November 2025.
Between March 1, 2020, and March 1, 2025, a total of 52 crashes were recorded at the intersections of Wright’s Landing Road and Hawes Boulevard with U.S. 60, including 16 injuries and four fatalities, according to KYTC.
Rather than disrupting or slowing traffic flow along the primary route, as would happen with a traffic signal, RCUTs are specifically designed to allow vehicles on that roadway to continue unimpeded. Vehicles exiting Wright’s Landing Road and Hawes Boulevard onto U.S. 60 and heading west, however, will follow a different traffic pattern.
Instead of going straight across the highway, which forces drivers to cross three to four lanes of oncoming traffic at a 90-degree angle, all drivers will now turn right, heading east. Vehicles will then utilize a newly constructed U-turn lane and merge with traffic on U.S. 60.
RCUTs are being incorporated more often in highway projects today to promote a freer and safer traffic flow, KYTC officials said. A review of a RCUT installed by KYTC on U.S. 68 in Trigg County recently showed a 64.5% decrease in total crashes since the RCUT was completed and a 71% decrease in injuries – exceeding benefits found in a national study, which showed RCUTs reduced crashes by 54% on average.
You can learn more about RCUTs, including watching a video detailing their design, here.
