LEXINGTON, Ky. — A $40,000 investment will improve traffic and pedestrian safety on roadways by two Fayette County school campuses — Liberty Elementary School and Lexington Universal Academy. On Wednesday, Lt. Gov. Jacqueline Coleman presented a ceremonial check for $40,000 from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC), representing the funds that will go toward the project.

Gov. Andy Beshear announced earlier this year plans to invest $23 million in improving highway safety near schools. KYTC is using state funding allocated in the 2020 Highway Plan to complete 70 school safety improvement projects in 44 counties, a full list of which can be found online.

“As a teacher and as a school parent, the safety of our Kentucky schoolchildren is never out of my thoughts,” Coleman said. “This ceremonial check represents more than new equipment. It represents a high priority of Gov. Beshear and all of us on Team Kentucky — making streets and roads safer around our schools.”

Liberty Elementary and Lexington Universal Academy are located on Liberty Road and Nicholasville Road (U.S. 27), respectively, which are two of the busiest routes in Lexington.

An overhead school flasher will be installed on Nicholasville at Lexington Universal to give additional warning to vehicles that they are approaching the school entrance, a release from the governor's office said. When the lights are flashing, the speed limit is 45 mph.

At Liberty Elementary, KYTC engineers will "review school zone devices already in use to determine how they can be enhanced during a planned reconstruction of Liberty Road," the release said.

The plan is to widen a section of Liberty Road to five lanes with four through-lanes and a center turn lane, a sidewalk on one side of the road and a shared-use path on the other. Currently, Liberty Road is two lanes without sidewalks in the planned project area.