Kentucky Transportation Cabinet officials on Tuesday gave the long-awaited report on the outer loop survey that closed in July. The survey amassed approximately 2,400 respondents, and officials reported that 62% were in favor of a “no build” of any portion of the outer loop and the “connector routes.”
The report captured the public opinion of the feasibility for either the entirety of an outer loop around the city, with the main priority of alleviating traffic congestion and reducing the crashes on US 60. Even if the outer loop in the entirety was turned down, there was the option of utilizing parts of the outer loop to act as connectors between main routes out of the city.
KYTC announced they found that the outer loop was not feasible in late July due to overwhelming opposition. Since then, they have been looking through the responses to get a more in-depth answer on why
Of the 2,400 surveyors, 44% lived in the study area. Senior Transportation Engineer for HMB Professional Engineers Lindsay Walker said that when the respondents were asked what their tie to the farmland in consideration was, a range of answers were provided.
“They say arms, land, impact, farm, family, our land, homes,” Walker said. “There was a lot of concern about that. … So we wanted to try to reassure people that this was by no means an absolute line on a map — it was just exploring potential options and connectivity.”
With the knowledge that 62% of respondents were against the building of any portion of the outer loop, Walker noted that there were 38% of respondents that selected some portion of the outer loop would be feasible.
Henderson encouraged those in the 38% to become more vocal if they feel it is important to them.
“I’m pleading with those people if this is important to you become loud and vocal about it so that we know which segments to work on,” she said. “The recommendation of the city was that the outer loop in its entirety was not a priority at this time. That doesn’t mean to say that traffic doesn’t decrease in Daviess County/Owensboro in the future.”
Henderson said they aren’t saying the outer loop is “never an option” — rather if the traffic does continue to increase they may look to portions or the entirety being built in the future.
Henderson also said questions from the public was turning into an “interrogation.” Henderson iterated that the recommendation the cabinet came to was what the majority wanted, however she doesn’t know what else [the cabinet and elected officials] can do at this point.
Walker said that they plan to compile the information found from the survey into a more concise format and distribute it to MPO by mid-October.
