History
New Circle Road, Lexington, was constructed in several segments from 1950 to 1967 as a circumferential bypass. The first segment to be built, from KY 922 (Newtown Pike) to US 25 (Richmond Road)/US 421, was constructed by the city of Lexington in 1952 as two-lane connector road. The original section included at-grade intersections at Palumbo Drive, KY 1927 (Liberty Road), KY 57 (Bryan Avenue), Old Paris Pike, US 27/US 68, and at KY 353 (Russell Cave Road), with one interchange at US 60 (Winchester Road). This segment of the road is also known as the Northern Belt Line or the US 25 By-pass.
To help finance the construction of the original 1952 portion, driveway access was sold to property owners along the route, .. At the time of construction, this area was mostly rural and surrounded by horse farms, as Lexington had not began to sprawl that far out yet.
After the opening, this section experienced rapid growth and the need to widen it to four lanes from two became evident. In 1958, maintenance was taken over by the state and construction began on the widening to four lanes as it became US 25 Bypass. In 1966, a study began on more improvements to the original stretch of New Circle Road due to "extremely congested conditions." One of the improvements suggested as another bypass east of New Circle but was ruled out as being "too expensive and disruptive." As an interim solution, frontage roads were constructed along a few portions of New Circle, and longer turning lanes were constructed.
The remainder of the highway around Lexington was constructed to near-urban freeway standards with controlled access. Construction of interchanges at US 25 (Richmond Road)/US 421, KY 1974 (Tates Creek Road), US 27 (Nicholasville Road), US 68 (Harrodsburg Road), US 60 (Versailles Road), KY 1681 (Old Frankfort Pike), US 421 (Leestown Road), US 25 (Georgetown Road) and at KY 922 (Newtown Pike). The interchange with Alumni Drive was constructed in late 1984 at a cost of $2 million with the extension of what was then Mount Tabor Road southeastward towards Man o' War Boulevard.
Read more about this topic: New Circle Road
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