Add another project to the long list of obstacles that Henderson drivers need to avoid.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet announced Monday morning that it will begin paving the U.S. 41-Strip during nighttime hours. The Strip is a state-maintained roadway.
The release from the cabinet said the project should be done by the end of July.
The paving will occur from 6 p.m.-7 a.m., according to the release. The state transportation cabinet said motorists should expect lane closures during that timeframe.
Drivers should also be aware of some daytime lane restrictions, beginning Tuesday, July 8, and Wednesday, July 9, near the 16.3-mile marker at Long John Silver’s, said KYTC’s release.
City of Henderson officials say the paving comes as a surprise. Assistant City Manager Buzzy Newman said the last time he spoke with state transportation officials he was told that the paving would occur in October.
He said he only learned that paving on the strip would occur last week when he was notified by the paving company.
Additionally, Mayor Brad Staton said that in his last contact with state transportation officials he was told the paving wouldn’t occur until after the new year.
Currently on the Strip, KYTC is constructing RCUTS, which are designed to make left hand turns coming off of Stratman Road and Wolf Hills Road onto U.S. 41 safer. According to a March article in the Hendersonian, the RCUTS are scheduled to be completed in mid-October.
Matt Hughes, a spokesperson for KYTC district 2, said this project will pave the RCUTS.
Additionally, Hughes said KYTC officials hadn’t set an official date for the paving, though they had looked at paving later in the year. Other projects, however, got delayed and to keep the flow of work continuous, they decided to do the paving, Hughes said.
In addition to the work on the Strip, Henderson motorists are also currently dealing with continuing work on Wathen Lane, continuing work of the I-69 Ohio River Crossing project that includes the reconstruction of the Airline Road bridge and roundabout work on U.S. 60-East, reconstruction of the Clay Street bridge and the installation of water mains in the East End, which has closed some roads in that neighborhood.
It was also announced Monday that U.S. 41 between Ky. 351 and U.S. 60 would have one lane closures this week for paving on that stretch of road.
Mindy Peterson, a spokesperson for I-69 Ohio River Crossing, said that paving includes areas where there is currently traffic and also roadway that has yet to open to traffic. It includes the U.S. 41 interchange and U.S. 41 from roughly Van Wyk Road to south of U.S. 60, Peterson said. The paving will occur from about 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., she said.
Newman said the amount of road work currently occurring in Henderson is unprecedented. He said the city hasn’t seen this amount of road construction from both the city and state contractors for quite some time, mentioning the last major work done by the state in Henderson as the construction of the Second Street overpass in the late 1970s.
This article has been updated with information from a state transportation official.
