The Versailles Grant Project and Report were completed in early January of 2002.  After a year of effort from Committee Members and active citizens, the results and findings are ready to be used in funding requests.  Remember, the continued support of the identified improvement projects is needed to make them a reality!  Thanks for all of your help and input.   Go to Project Final Report to download the report in its entirety.

This project and its recommended improvements are endorsed by Mayor Fred Siegelman, Woodford County Judge/Executive Joe D. Gormley, and Planning Commission Chairman Raymond Strand Kramer.  See what they had to say in their support letters!

Project Background
Urban planning efforts in Versailles have recently been given a boost with the award of a national grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).  The Community and Transportation System Plan (CTSP) for Southern Versailles is an innovative program and grant administered through the Versailles-Midway-Woodford County Planning Commission.  Funding for the project is provided through the Transportation, Community and System Preservation (TCSP) program of the FHWA.  (To see the actual grant request click here)

In receiving this grant, Woodford County and the City of Versailles have become nationally recognized for their efforts in seeking to balance transportation and community system needs.  Versailles was the only city in Kentucky to receive a TCSP Grant for the Year 2000.  With this award, planning officials and experts plan on taking another step towards making previous plans and studies a reality. 

The grant money will provide an opportunity to merge past ideas and goals with real projects that can be ranked and put on an agenda for construction.  Working with a Lexington consulting firm, Wilbur Smith Associates, the project Steering Committee plans to address some visual character issues that the community has deemed important, while also designing and redesigning roadways to alleviate congestion and provide better pedestrian travel routes.  Street trees, sidewalks, on-street parking, and making destinations more accessible by foot are all high priorities.  The project will seek to better connect streets so that motorists as well as pedestrians will be given improved route alternatives.  It will also work to limit auto access points along busy streets like Lexington Road.  Such methods will help to create the desired character, while at the same time improving travel efficiency.

The project ideas are heavily based on the recently completed city planning efforts that include the "Preserving Town and Country in the Woodford County Bluegrass" Plan, and the new urban code.  The goal will be to create streetscapes and road networks that not only fit with the existing plans as far as character and function, but also address auto congestion and circulation issues.  To date, the key project focus areas include Lexington Road and its surrounding streets, the Lexington Road/US 60 intersection, the Tyrone Pike/Clifton Road intersection, the USS 62/KY 33 Connector Corridor, and the Huntertown Road Corridor.   Safety considerations and character issues have driven the selection of these focus areas.