Help may be coming soon for

beleaguered motorists who have to navigate the County Line/McDonough/McElroy

Road intersection

All other options exhausted,

Fayette County commissioners have decided to bite the bullet and pay for

improvements to the intersection.

"It looks like [the state

Department of Transportation] is not going to move further than they have

for a foreseeable amount of time," said Lee Hearn, county public

works director.

Commissioners in July told

Hearn to explore federal funding options after learning that the state

DOT could come up with only $370,000 for the project, which is expected

to cost more than $800,000.

"He basically said they're

out of money," said commission Chairman Greg Dunn during the July

meeting, following a previous meeting with DOT Commissioner Tom Coleman.

Federal money for such projects

also is nonexistent, Hearn told the commission last week.

The intersection is clogged

and dangerous partly because two roads dead end into McDonough Road County

Line and McElroy within a short distance. Things got better for County

Line travelers when the county installed a three-way stop last year, but

the change had the opposite effect on McDonough Road, creating waits of

15 or minutes for many motorists.

That situation has been relieved

slightly by building a right-turn-only lane going from McDonough to County

Line, but the final solution, Hearn said, is to align McElroy and County

Line so that there's only one intersection.

The project also includes cutting

down the hill that motorists encounter on McDonough Road, to improve sight

distance, and installing turn lanes and a traffic light.

Money is the only obstacle,

and state DOT officials had promised to provide the needed funds last

year, because McDonough Road is slated to become a state highway.

But with billions of dollars

of priority road projects and public transportation projects suddenly

jumping to the front burner in a new three-year transportation plan, there's

just not enough money there to complete the McDonough Road project, Dunn

said he was told.

Commissioners agreed to accept

the $370,000 offered by the state, and let the project out for bid with

plans to use local funds to finish it.

Projected costs include $724,000

for construction and $100,000 for utility relocation. Based on previous

discussions, the county had included the project in its budget for this

year, but not quite enough money. About $85,000 will have to come from

contingency funds.

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