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Paducah Commissioners to Vote on Broadway/Jefferson Two-Way Conversion Study

Matt Markgraf/WKMS

The Paducah City Commission is in the process of hiring an engineering firm to study the conversion of Broadway and Jefferson streets back to two-way traffic.

If approved, HDR Engineering will begin studying the two streets for conversion between Fountain Avenue and Water Street.

City of Paducah planning director Steve Ervin says if the project moves forward, conversion will include removing some traffic signals and replacing them with stop signs.

“I believe there’s nine of them," Ervin said. "Doing warrant studies on each one of those signals to see if they’re needed, necessary, and then the possibility of removal of those signals in the future.”

Credit Map data: 2016 Google
The yellow lines indicate the streets that could be converted to two-way traffic.

He says bike lanes will also be added to Broadway and Jefferson as part of the plan.

“We want to have a vibrant downtown where people, they stop at a stop sign, they look at businesses, they look at pedestrians," Ervin said. "There’s mobility and bicycle movement downtown, so all this is a coordinated effort.”

Ervin said the bike lanes will eventually connect to the Greenway Trail and into Noble Park for a 9-mile bike loop.

Commissioners will vote on an ordinance September 6 approving the $63,000 contract with HDR. Ervin says there’s no timetable yet on when the conversion could actually begin or be completed. The plan was suggested by "Walkable City" author Jeff Speck when he visited in 2014.

John Null is the host and creator of Left of the Dial. From 2013-2016, he also served as a reporter in the WKMS newsroom.
Nicole Erwin is a Murray native and started working at WKMS during her time at Murray State University as a Psychology undergraduate student. Nicole left her job as a PTL dispatcher to join the newsroom after she was hired by former News Director Bryan Bartlett. Since, Nicole has completed a Masters in Sustainable Development from Monash University in Melbourne, Australia where she lived for 2 1/2 years.
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