The Mercer County Bypass provides an alternative route east of Harrodsburg, while simultaneously opening-up new land for housing, retail and industry development to serve the future growth.

Measure	Pre project	Post project	Change	% Change
Personal Income Per Capita	0	0	0	N/A
Economic Distress	0	0	0	N/A
Number of Jobs	677.20	3,467	2,789.80	4.12%
Business Sales (in $M's)	0	0	0	N/A
Tax Revenue (in $M's)	0	0	0	N/A
Population	0	0	0	N/A
Property Value (median house value)	0	0	0	N/A
Density (ppl/sq mi)	0	0	0	N/A

Measure	Pre project	Post project	Change	% Change
Personal Income Per Capita	26,583	35,476	8,893	0.33%
Economic Distress	0.93	1.28	0.35	0.38%
Number of Jobs	9,211	10,717	1,506	0.16%
Business Sales (in $M's)	0	1,646	0	N/A
Tax Revenue (in $M's)	0	0	0	N/A
Population	19,261	21,644	2,383	0.12%
Property Value (median house value)	0	140,424	0	N/A
Density (ppl/sq mi)	63	86	23	0.37%

Measure	Pre project	Post project	Change	% Change
Personal Income Per Capita	27,644	41,570	13,926	0.50%
Economic Distress	1.09	1.27	0.18	0.17%
Number of Jobs	1,915,370	2,290,790	375,420	0.20%
Business Sales (in $M's)	0	430,705	0	N/A
Tax Revenue (in $M's)	0	0	0	N/A
Population	3,722,328	4,204,440	482,112	0.13%
Property Value (median house value)	0	145,284	0	N/A
Density (ppl/sq mi)	80	101	21	0.26%

Measure	Direct	Indirect	Total
Jobs	0.00	0.00	0.00
Income (in $M's)	0.00	0.00	0.00
Output (in $M's)	0.00	0.00	0.00

Mercer Co. KY, US-127 Bypass

1.0 Synopsis

The Mercer County Bypass provides an alternative route to US 127 east of the congested center of Harrodsburg, KY. The bypass provided access to undeveloped land for future housing, retail and industrial development. To date, lack of water and sewer facilities along the bypass has constrained land development and economic growth. While the City and the County are partnering to provide supporting infrastructure, many residents still believe a western bypass would have better served the transportation and economic development associated with a new hospital, school and other industry occurring west of the city center. The bypass has successfully attracted traffic from a limestone quarry, effectively diverting trucks from the city center. State highway officials are currently evaluating an alignment for a connecting inner-west bypass that would connect to the existing Mercer County Bypass.

2.0 Background

2.1 Location & Transportation Connections

Harrodsburg in Mercer County, KY is situated approximately 35 miles southwest of Lexington, KY and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, KY. Located in the Blue Grass Area Development District of KY, Harrodsburg falls under the jurisdiction of the State Highway District 7. The Mercer County Bypass reroutes US 127, a major north-south route for through traffic in Central Kentucky, around the city of Harrodsburg. US 127 enters Kentucky from Tennessee at Static and passes through Albany, Jamestown, Russell Springs, Liberty, Danville, Harrodsburg, Lawrenceburg, Frankfort, Owenton, and Glencoe before crossing into Ohio at the C&0 Bridge in Covington.

2.2 Community Character & Project Context

Harrodsburg is the oldest permanent English settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains. Located in the Bluegrass Region of Central Kentucky, Harrodsburg is the Mercer County seat and has a land area of 250 square miles with a gently rolling to hilly topography.

New and/or expanded land uses along major thoroughfares inhibit many US and State highways from facilitating through traffic, especially large trucks. This was a key factor driving the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's interest in building a bypass around Harrodsburg. The US 127 dual service in Harrodsburg worked reasonably well given moderate traffic volumes and scattered development, but resulted in increased congestion and delays as development concentrated downtown and traffic volumes increased. A railroad crossing with approximately 27-daily trains further interfered with through traffic.

3.0 Project Description & Motives

The bypass was built to address four major objectives. First, recognizing that land development and traffic was spreading out, local community leaders lobbied for an alternate bypass route to serve the through traffic. Second, a grade separated interchange was needed to avoid the congestion associated with trains operating on the Southern Railway. Third, officials wished to tie the bypass into the Industrial Park on the north-end of Harrodsburg. Lastly, to the project would eliminate many of the commute trips from the Central Business District.

The constructed inner-eastern bypass alternative was one of four alternatives. The others include an inner-western bypass, as well as an outer-eastern and outer-western bypass. While the outer bypass alternatives were seen as future development scenarios to accommodate long-term growth, the two inner bypass alternatives were seen as present-day alternatives to address the city-center congestion issues. The intent was to build one of the inner-alternatives first and to build the other 10-20 years later. Currently, the KYTC is evaluating development of the western bypass loop. As planned in the original analyses, the eastern bypass is planned to tie into the eastern existing bypass section. The US-127 Bypass concept was studied in the early 1980's, which led to an "Advanced Planning Report" in March 1991. Originally estimated at $14.0 million in 1990, the 4.9 mile bypass ultimately cost $18.7 million by its completion, and opened in 2001.

4.0 Project Impacts

4.1 Transportation Impacts

4.2 Demographic, Economic & Land Use Impacts

With little development along the eastern bypass, no notable land-use changes have yet occurred because of the project. Conversely, the pre-bypass development west of town has continued. A primary reason commercial development has been constrained along the inner-east bypass is due to the lack of corresponding water and sewer facilities. The County and City have partnered to expand water and sewer facilities for a portion (roughly a quarter) of the eastern bypass length, which will serve a major new restaurant/theatre complex that is nearing completion.

Comparative bypass facilities built with appropriate water/sewer facilities include Jessamine County in Nicholasville, KY and another in Danville, VA. Both of these apparently have witnessed notable development. For these reasons, development is anticipated to occur rapidly as the water and sewer facilities are developed along the inner-eastern bypass.

Moreover, the future inner-west bypass continues to be viewed as essential to address western city congestion associated with the trains and to access the hospital. As this inner bypass is completed, development opportunities created by the ability to move from one side of the city to the other are anticipated.

5.0 Non-Transportation Factors

The lack of sufficient sewer and water infrastructure has prevented residential, commercial and industrial development from occurring along the Mercer County Bypass. Until this infrastructure is in place, the bypass is not likely to have measurable economic development impacts.

6.0 Resources

6.1 Citations

“Project Planning Report, US 127 Bypass – Harrodsburg”; KY Transportation Cabinet, Department of Highways, Division of Planning, March 1991
“Analysis of the Economic Clusters in the Bluegrass Area Development District, 2009”; The Bluegrass Area Development District (BGADD)
http://www.kentuckyroads.com/us_127/
http://www.bgadd.org/
http://www.mercerchamber.com/directory_browse/businessindustry.htm
http://www.transportation.ky.gov/D7/default.asp
http://maps.google.com/maps

6.2 Interviews

Organization

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet -Highway District #7

Bluegrass Area Development District

Footnotes

Case Study Developed by Wilbur Smith Associates

Project: Mercer Co. KY, US-127 Bypass

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