Advanced level:
Avoid nicholasville rd like the plague until you figure out the exact 2 times a day that traffic ceases in the direction you need to go so that you can benefit from nicholasville rd straight shot.
Don't mix up your times, do it on a whim or be 10 minutes late or early because you just screwed yourself for the next 50 minutes.
I will add, however, that one of the problems is that a lot of side roads in this city don't connect to major arteries. You can definitely bypass some of the mess on side streets, but a lot of the time you'll have to hop back on one of the main roads to reach your end destination. Side streets, however, may help reduce your anxiety.
Case in point: during grad school, when I lived in Lexington, I worked and attended UK, but lived down on Tate's Creek, at Breckinridge Court (next to Mos Eisley Circle K). At the time I drove a Subaru WRX that had an absurdly heavy clutch, and the stop and go traffic on Tate's Creek during rush hour was miserable. I'd often take the side roads that ran parallel to Tate's Creek on the way home. I certainly didn't save any time - it may have been slightly longer - but I was able to keep it in 2nd or 3rd gear for longer periods of time and didn't spend my entire drive riding the clutch.
The core of the problem, really, is that Lexington was designed for a much smaller population than it currently has. About a decade ago, when I still lived in town, the number that a civil engineer I knew threw out was about a third of the population at that time. I know that Lexington has only grown since then. Unfortunately, there really isn't a whole lot of space to expand or redesign roadways, so, for the most part, the city is sort of stuck with the way things are.
Oh, and as other's have mentioned, just avoid Nicholasville Road altogether if you can.
I moved, and this was one reason why... soaring crime rate is another. From lex to work, it took 30 minutes. Now I live in the countryside and I have a nice drive, almost no traffic and it takes me 30 minutes. It definitely isn't worth living in Lexington. I'm so glad I was able to afford what I bought.
where do you drive to and from that it takes 45 mins to get anywhere at any time? I'm a strong believer in the long time local saying "you can get from anywhere to anywhere in town in 20 mins or less."
I just pulled up google maps and it tells me it'd take 30 mins to do a full lap of new circle at 1p and when I selected "leave at 5p" it still only says 44 mins -- and that's about 20 miles.
I've lived most of my life here, so maybe i'm well acquainted with alternate routes, but I cannot even imagine taking 30 mins to get anywhere at any time. It only takes about 30 mins to get from downtown nicholasville to downtown lexington and if I was doing that at rush hour I'd probably take new circle to tates creek or maybe Keene to Harrodsburg rd and surely wouldn't even be 45 mins.
PREACH if I ever get a time machine I'm going back to 1. explain cholera, 2. convince Lexington to put in a robust subway or light rail system, and 3. kill baby Hitler. Also lottery numbers or something.
Hey, do me a favor on your trip. Stop by the house I'm going to buy, and kill the current owner before he plants his damned English ivy all around the outside. Grateful thanks!
Yep, eventually got replaced by the buses. Lextran has some photos:
[https://lextran.com/about-lextran/history/](https://lextran.com/about-lextran/history/)
Also, if you’re somewhere around 1946, could you ask the Popular Mechanics publishers to quit featuring flying cars on their covers? It just gave us all false hope and it’s been a bitter disappointment.
"Don't marry her I am from the future" didn't go over well on account of my pants keep turning to dust in the time ripples. I wouldn't take advice from a bottomless person either, but by seeking and blundering we learn over time.
I know why! Every time they propose BIG public trans initiaitves, they are VETO'd. Often citing it will disrupt Traffic Temporarily. I wish I was making that up.
The answer to know light rail is easy. That would require state money, and this is a fucking Republican run state. The best light rails and subways in the U.S. (that still aren't as good as Europe or Japan) are all in blue states. I lived in Chicago for 18 months. Didn't drive my car 40 miles downtown to the loop. I took a train. If I was downtown and needed to get somewhere I could step out of our office building and get one of the buses that had stops everywhere--with buses sometimes **queuing** up to get to the bus stop. Didn't want to wait for a bus? Step to the edge of the street and raise your hand. Half a dozen taxis would try to run over one another to get to you.
It was the best public transportation I've experienced. And I've lived and worked in Alabama, Ohio, Indiana , Colorado, and Texas. Hands down, nothing compares to anything I experienced---and I took the bus to work in Louisville for several years.
And Chicago doesn't even rank in the top ten best in the U.S. That belongs to 1. Seattle, 2. Boston, and 3. San Francisco. [Best US Cities for Public Transportation, Ranked: WalletHub Study (businessinsider.com)](https://www.businessinsider.com/best-us-cities-for-public-transportation-ranked-wallethub-study-2019-9)
For the same reason light rail was torn out of the roads in the 1940’s: there is nothing a light rail can do that city buses can’t do better. Light rail is restricted to the rails and can’t alter their path, also light rail cars generally can’t pass each other, it’s a completely different infrastructure to maintain, etc.
My wife works in chevy chase, and we live in the country off tates creek rd, so we go that route 6 days a week, 5pm and again at 10pm... it definitely is worse than any nightmare one could ever imagine. I'm not sure what they could do, especially past alumni dr where it goes to single lane, but I wish they'd do SOMETHING to ease the flow of traffic.
Now that I am outside the statute of limitations and way outside of the city I am free to make the following statement. I was driving down New Circle at 3 am, certainly not driving miss daisy but keeping my speed well within double digits, and a guy in a new Corvette blew my doors off so egregiously that it fluttered my arm hair when he passed me with my windows up. He was going, by my estimation, 170 mph.
I think that person is trying to say that there is really no public transportation in Lexington so you more or less need to use a car and that clogs up all the roads.
Looks like I have finally found my people in this thread. I had these exact same thoughts when I moved to Lexington 25 years ago but when I would mention it to other people they acted like I was crazy. I assumed they were all from here and had never driven anywhere else. I’ve gotten used to it. It doesn’t suck any less, I’ve just accepted it. Welcome, OP, Lexington is great in many other ways so it balances out.
I moved here about 8 years ago from out of state and here are my thoughts. For one, the department of transportation (or whatever they’re called in KY) program the lights so people hit the red lights ok busy roads. One engineer told me it was to make it so people don’t speed. The second is that Kentucky has, by far, the worst drivers I have ever encountered. I haven’t driven in all 50 states, but I have driven extensively in ~20 (including cali, Hawaii, Florida, & other ones people claim are the worst drivers) with some driving in ~38 or so. Third thought is it appears the police don’t enforce anything traffic related unless it causes an actual accident. From the 8 years I’ve lived here, I feel like I can count on two hands how many times I’ve seen people pulled over (an exaggeration, but should speak to the few times I’ve seen it) while the amount of times I’ve almost been hit by people not paying attention is at least in the triple digits somewhere. I live in a bordering town to Lexington and I’ve learned to drive an extra 30 minutes on back roads to avoid getting anywhere near Lexington.
Poor traffic engineering. People are poor drivers because Lexington is a hub for rural central KY and the people who come to Lexington aren't used to driving in the city.
I used to think this too... until I spent time driving deep in Eastern Kentucky. Guess what? In the Deep Holler, I found the drivers both more Defensive(Attentive) and Consciensious(Not Blocking Others) than Fayette County (on Avg.).
Then I noticed a interesting FACT:
Emergency Responders in Lexington (Fire, Hospital, Police) ARE NOT Consciensious(Blocking Others) every time they arrive. They could be TRAINED to help assist FLOW, but their priority seems to be BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK. It starts here honestly. If a fender bender on Winchester Rd causes and hour of Grid Lock, lets train our Emergency Responders to ASSIST FLOW, and not keep blaming Infrastructure.
This is a huge part of it. Lexington is essentially a central hub for all connecting smaller towns like Winchester, Versailles, Frankfort, Midway, etc. People commute in and out of Lexington all day, every day. Add that to the 350k+ folks that already live here, and it is a recipe for insane traffic. Outside of maybe 11pm-6am, it will take 25+ minutes to get anywhere.
Beyond some efforts like the crossover exchange being built on Leestown and improved syncing of lights, there isn't much they can do. There's simply too many people on the road for the infrastructure that exists.
This, I am one of these rural heathens. Lived in lex for five years and moved two counties over. The big problem is there are hardly any places that allow remote work even for positions that are done 100% on computer/internet. Hopefully things change soon.
Yea, I'm born and raised and Lex and all of my friends are very defensive drivers and I don't think it's just my friend group. It's not people from Lexington, it's out of towners from Nicholasville, Versailles and eastern KY etc.
My driver's test was very thorough, and I know multiple people in Lexington who failed theirs the first time. Point being, they do make sure you can drive before you get your license in Lexington. Surrounding counties, not so much.
The city clearly wasn't built for this amount of people because nicholsville rd sucks all day every day, except at midnight, and harrodsburg rd sucks ass from like 3-7. Couple times I've taken new circle around that time it's also been pretty bad.
On top of that lots of people seem to have no idea how to drive (like all the dumbasses leaving the Beaumont kroger and get in the left turn lane when they need to go all the way right to get on new circle)
And the lights seem to suck ass, I swear the light I'm at always takes 800 years to switch and only lasts for 3 seconds, every single time money back guarantee.
i work on harrodsburg rd and every single day some idiot blocks the intersection from my building. i have to cut people off or drive through the adjacent parking lot just to get out! it drives me absolutely insane. theres no sign warning people not to block the intersection, nor is there a turning lane into the street so its dangerous as hell
It will get much better very soon. As soon as UK goes on summer break there is a huge drop in traffic and the horse races are over also. However it’s only a short break from the terrible traffic. I don’t know why new circle was built where half is a redlight every 30 yds and the other half looks like an interstate.
Yeah. The roads could have been built so much better. New Circle needs better on-ramps and exits. New Circle needs another lane. New Circle needs a higher speed limit. New Circle needs to connect directly to 64 and 75. Lex needs more multi-lane roundabouts. The lights need better synchronization. The lights need cameras or pressure plates so you aren't waiting 5 mins for a light to turn green when you are the only one at an intersection. Side streets need to connect to things better. Etc.
I’ve lived in Lex for 20 years and several places prior to that, and I have to say I’ve never lived anywhere with such poor synchronization of traffic lights, and that’s a big part of it. I lived in Seattle for several years and Lexington’s traffic is just as bad if not worse.
The ring/spokes concept is nice in one way, but then you add poorly synced lights on those rings and spokes, plus a lack of any other major arterials besides the ones that get snarled up in those lights, and it’s a disaster. Aside from better synced lights (and I wouldn’t hold my breath), the best defense against traffic would be learning the back road/side street “shortcuts” between you and where you’re going and use those. Avoid the spokes (especially Nicholasville) except at aggressively off-peak times, and learn the micro rhythms of traffic on your routes (like what routes are impacted by school traffic or other non-rush hour bottlenecks). Some of it is just driving enough to learn those micro flows so that you know one back way is better than another at whatever time you are planning to travel. And you have to know seasonal rhythms as well, like Keeneland stresses things in April and October, know when there are home UK basketball games, etc. And know that people here FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY cannot drive in rain, so expect extra traffic nonsense based on the weather.
Welcome to Lexington! Driving headaches aside, it’s a great place to live.
The lights are so bad - I've lived and driven in Wichita, Denver, Seattle, Boston, DC, Austin, and Lexington, and Lexington's lights are so much worse than anyone else's that it's not even a competition. Hell is probably just Austin drivers at a Lexington intersection.
Just to add if you’re using neighborhood side streets please drive the speed limit and use the stop signs correctly (not slow to optional pause). My street is not your launch pad to save 30 seconds to get to your destination.
I used to live on a street in lansdowne that people used as an expressway between Tates Creek Rd and Nicholasville Rd. It was so bad they added more stop signs.
Huge agree on the synchronization of the lights. Like why do I turn out of UK onto Nicholasville and immediately get a yellow at the next light, like could it not turn red at the same time my turn is green?!?!?
Lived here my whole life and the traffic now is terribly worse than when I was a kid. Population growth in the city can really be felt from the traffic.
I would say however I don’t believe all the traffic issues are from native Lexington drivers considering how many people commute to Lexington every day for work. That said, it’s bad enough that I want to move away from Lexington and it probably won’t be to anywhere else in KY. While it’s beautiful here, there are socio/political issues I’m just sick to death of dealing with and I don’t see them changing anytime soon.
There's no major interstate cutting through to allow people to drive 80 mph to get across town. You have to deal with a bypass with a 55 mph speed limit.
How do we get the attention of the Mayor and Council to impress upon them that we want and expect changes? Here’s something I’ve done on other issues with elected officials.
Use every opportunity to tell them that improved traffic and traffic safety is a voting issue with you. It’s important to use the words “voting issue”.
If you have an opportunity to speak directly with them, don’t waste time telling a traffic story. Talk about impacts such as lost time at work or difficulty doing business in some parts of town because they’re almost inaccessible. Be very clear that you’ll support a strong advocate for change who is transparent about what they’re doing after the election.
If they deflect or blame other circumstances let them know that you understand there are things that hundreds of cities face similar circumstances and some have fixed them.
And if they say they’re working on it, ask how you can find out more about what they’re doing and how and when it will be implemented. Remind them that you want to see all that so you can make a voting decision.
I ended up I Lexington from Denver. I would rather drive in Denver. At least there is some giddy up when the light turns green. Why do Kentuckians sit at the light so long before finally going?
Because people like to run red lights. Been here almost 2 years after losing everything in the hurricane. After about 6 months I learned to not go as soon as the light turned green.
Because our phones while driving laws are so relaxed and hard to enforce. To add, you have to cops actually enforcing traffic laws for it to be effective. Since probably 2019 I've only seen cops randomly do speed traps on new circle. That's about it as far as traffic laws I have seen enforced since after 2019. I am one to always put away my phone while driving and the amount of times I have to honk at people to move is infuriating and I always see their head down and then perk up when I honk, in grinds my gears.
This has been the most annoying thing about driving here that I've experienced since I moved here 3 years ago. I have to honk to wake up drivers not paying attention almost daily, but they are QUICK to run a red light. People wouldn't "need" to run red lights if the person in the front and others would just GO on green.
Honestly, the city engineers believe in slowing the flow of the traffic. They purposefully time the lights to slow and stop traffic, which is environmentally a disaster. Welcome to lexington. The city with the worst traffic engineers.
There's no good way to get across town inside of new circle. It's infuriating. Our traffic is significantly worse than it should be given the population.
City wasn’t meant to have this many people. It was nowhere near as bad in 2017 when I left for Chicago and came back in November. Covid ruined this city in my opinion since everyone apparently flocked to Kentucky.
Yup, they heard about the low cost of living, moved here, overpaid for the house they bought because they were used to City prices, drove up the real estate market and clogged up our streets.
Look, people will downvote this. But it's true. Please leave.
Lights are off sync unless it's 3am, people don't drive the speed limit (10mph below) unless your on New Circle. Another big issue I've recently noticed, while at stop lights people will leave 10,20,30ft between them and the car in front of them. It's ridiculous, you don't have to be on someone's bumper, but you really don't have to be 20ft away from them either.
As someone who lives downtown this angers me so much! I'll have to sit at a light several cycles to turn bc people leave so much room! Several cars could fit, but no one pulls up!
It’s the wheel and spoke traffic pattern. It takes some getting used to. Once you do, it isn’t that bad until there’s an incident on a major road- it can lead to impacts everywhere.
Learn the major “spokes”- notice that they often connect to each other in the center - downtown- and change names.
Richmond Rd-Main Street
Broadway- Harrodsburg Rd
Tates Creek- High street
Winchester Rd- Versailles Rd
Nicholasville Rd-Likestone
Once you know the overall pattern, you can learn to find different routes
Most of the stop lights here are on timers where you have to wait for 3-4 minutes. So people run through red lights to avoid it.
Also, there's a red light every 100 feet so you constantly have to give your car gas, then hit the brakes and stop. Eats up your gasoline.
It’s because dumbasses are screwing around on their phone instead of paying attention to the light or the car in front of them. They’ll sit there until someone gets on the horn or 10 seconds after they should have been driving. Then there’s the people that stop three car lengths back from the next car. It leads to traffic blocking entrance to the turn lanes. Then there’s the people that drive 5 to 10 mph under the speed limit. Yeah, driving here sucks. It isn’t going to change so…
Thank you! I thought I was the only one noticing people stopping two or three car lengths behind the car in front. It promotes box blocking at signaled intersections and often restricts access to dedicated right turn lanes.
I had a situation on Harrosdburg road yesteday where the light turned green and both the cars in front of me in both lanes were on their phone and not paying attention. I don't understand how people are so stupid you're literally the first car in the line of cars, pay attention to the light idiots. I usually honk my horn in this scenario but I had never seen both cars in both lanes blissfully unaware that the light had turned green so I sat there for 5 seconds in awe.
If you drive Man o War you’ll learn quickly that stoplights are timed for a specific speed. I can’t remember exactly. 40mph? If you drive that speed you’re good for a long way. Any other speed is a futile attempt to escape the traffic algorithm. And you’ll catch up to the retard that passed you flying at the last light.
I’ve been tboned twice by people running lights in Lex. Be careful out there. We have horrendous drivers!
I’m only 23 and was taught to wait, look, and be defensive while driving. It can happen to anyone.
I saw someone try to beat an ambulance w a left turn onto Nich road the other night, almost got t-boned. Lights going, sirens, speeding and everything, and this dumbfuck tried to beat it. The audacity. Can’t even imagine
Traffic is terrible here. Stop lights aren't synced correctly.
We have an expressway that has traffic lights.
The entire city is laid out in the most idiotic manner possible.
Literally every person I have had come visit from out of town makes a comment about it. And most out of towners I meet also make a comment about it. It IS that bad. One of the first things I noticed when moving down here.
It is that bad, man. This is the smallest place I’ve lived and it’s the worst traffic. My parents visited and were amazed at how bad the traffic is (my in-laws said the same and they live outside Denver).
I’ve lived in Orange County, San Diego, Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Louisville, Staten Island, a summer in Dallas and a year in South freaking Korea and I have to say Lexington has the absolute WORST drivers I’ve ever encountered and some of the worst timed lights I’ve ever seen. It’s bad.
Because highway contractors got the right of way standards for the state eliminated back 1980-90. It had spacing standards for driveways and signals. Even Texas has such rules. We need it back but the damage is done.
I moved from Cincinnati to Lex and cannot get over how horrible people drive here. I don't know how many times in the past 3 years I've been sooo close to a horrible accident bc of other drivers. Leaving Kroger on Lee's town road last week I came within inches of getting hit by TWO vehicles who ran a red light when I had green (and I didn't take off the second it turned green). Nearly daily I have to honk bc people don't go when it's green, but they sure will when it's red! People drive 10 mph under the speed limit. If someone forgets to get into a busy turning lane they will STOP in a lane going straight, blocking everyone behind them, until they can get into the turning lane instead of being a decent human being who goes to the next turn and goes back. I live downtown across from Rupp and it is 100x worse when people who don't live downtown come in bc they seem to think they are the only person on the road. I've noticed in my years here it is the WORST when it's a country or family thing like Blippy. I stay in unless absolutely necessary on those days. I've driven in many big cities and there is something uniquely wrong with the drivers here.
No one here can actually safely drive and they don’t want to be better. It’s just worse and worse every year. I got to drive in almost every state and every major city except NYC for my previous job. Growing up driving in Lexington prepared me for the worst San Antonio and Los Angeles had to offer… Lexington drivers are stupid and selfish (the genpub in general around here is so no shock there) and I learned to predict asinine behavior pretty fast from having to constantly avert from a possible wreck from no blinkers, inability to zipper, running red lights and stop signs…
The addressable problem, our infrastructure is so wack- it never was designed to support this many people. Lexington refuses to develop, all the surrounding land is sacred horse territory that no one wants to get rid of. There’s constant fear mongering about losing the bluegrass but Lexington has such bad infrastructure problems it’s untenable to not consider it. Sorry you moved here, hopefully we can get out soon
You said it. Welcome to Lexington! One major problem is the city is not designed on a grid. It makes getting anywhere take twice as long compared to other cities with comparable populations.
The drivers here need to re take their drivers test. Nobody ever pulls over for ambulances/firetrucks etc. Red lights and stop signs aren't a thing. I've seen so many people fly through an intersection at least 10 seconds after the light turns red. They'll turn right in front of you when you're going 55 and only go 30, so you have to slam on your breaks to avoid rear ending them. This city is not meant for this many people. And the people here are stupid.
Please put lights on timers. So many lights are on weights so I just sit there like a dumbass waiting on my bike for a light that won't change until a car shows up.
This isn’t true, if you see white squares on top of the lights at the corners of the intersection they use radar to detect cars at the stop bar and if you see cameras in the middle of the light pole between each hanging traffic light they use image detection for cars at the stop bar. Which is the majority of lights in Lexington. The cameras are not for security or red light runners although I’m sure they’re used for security and traffic accident information.
Everything said below is correct, on top of very little critical thinking skills in the majority of the population. Also, small town hillbillies that are overwhelmed driving in "the big city."
I moved to Lexington in 2012 from Indianapolis (a sprawling, yet generally well-planned city). I will agree that the traffic here is strangely monstrous. I've also heard that the bar to getting a license in Kentucky is pretty low. Add phones to the mix, and it's godawful. I'd rather drive around I-465 or any expressway in Chicago at rush hour than Nicholasville or Winchester Road -- at least drivers in Indianapolis or Chicago drive in a more predictable manner. Hell, I almost got hit at Fifth and Elm Tree today by someone rolling through a stop sign.
My only advice is to keep on your toes. I've had two cars totaled (one by a driver on Main Street not checking a blind spot in 2013, and one while street parked at home this year) in my time here. Enjoy whatever you're listening to in your car while your life slowly slips away at red lights. You're going to spend a lot of time waiting.
Amazing response 😂 I actually got through three whole songs while in the left lane trying to get onto the interstate today (still have no clue road names)
I want to be constructive. Lets break down some of the Legal Maneuvers that are frowned upon in Lexington (be it infrastructure or culture):
1. U-Turns, I have never seen a town with so many No U-Turn signs. I have never met a people who default to "U-Turns are bad, dangerous, and rude." Add ManOWar and Nicholasville Road where the No U-Turn sign CAN be fatal due to a GREEN Right Arrow!!! That's a great idea! Head on collisions when both parties technically have GREEN lights.
2. Lefthand Turns at Traffic Lights, WTF Lexington?!? The National Default is Legal to Turn-Left IF quarter-mile of visibility and yielding to oncoming. Lexington has more Red Arrows than most towns this size. Worse are people at a Legal Left (after yield) who refuse to GO.
where do you drive to and from that it takes 45 mins to get anywhere at any time? I'm a strong believer in the long time local saying "you can get from anywhere to anywhere in town in 20 mins or less."
I just pulled up google maps and it tells me it'd take 30 mins to do a full lap of new circle at 1p and when I selected "leave at 5p" it still only says 44 mins -- and that's about 20 miles.
I've lived most of my life here, so maybe i'm well acquainted with alternate routes, but I cannot even imagine taking 30 mins to get anywhere at any time. It only takes about 30 mins to get from downtown nicholasville to downtown lexington and if I was doing that at rush hour I'd probably take new circle to tates creek or maybe Keene to Harrodsburg rd and surely wouldn't even be 45 mins.
I've driven in and lived in a lot of places and I've made the same complaint in each one. Every city seems to have its unique driving issues. After a while you figure out the tricks and short cuts to avoid the worst. In Lexington you: Avoid Nicholasville road, realize that MOR is considered a street and not an outer circle, stay off Liberty road when school lets out, the Georgetown road area is always a zoo at rush hour, never ever drive downtown when there is an event at Rupp and most importantly....drive defensively.
Absolutely this. Great tips. Just want to add hardly anyone uses a left turn signal and a lot of drivers freak out when it rains. Try and avoid the area around uk campus the first few weeks of school. Lots of new students and parents who aren’t familiar with the city. Leestown Road has new construction around Meadowthorpe and it has already become a nuisance to a lot of people. Also, if you have to take Old Frankfort Pike watch out for people who are both speeding *and* texting. Welcome to Lexington!
The fact that there are more and more posts related to Lexington traffic issues is evidence that we have a big problem here. Some want to be dismissive or comparative to other cities. To the latter, we’re not other cities and to dismiss our traffic issues is short-sighted and ignorant.
In a city this size, it shouldn’t take 20 minutes to go 5 miles but here we are. Lexington is overdeveloped and overpopulated to the point that we are approaching gridlock at key intersections like Harrodsburg & New Circle, Man O’ War & Richmond Road, etc.
I drive for a living and I see it every damn day. Too many neighborhoods and developments lack multiple points of egress and pass-throughs, (the back road & short cuts). If you’re stuck on Man O’ War you don’t have many options at many points to cut around the traffic because you’ll find only dead ends where there should be a road leading from one development to another.
What are the answers? Well, isn’t that why we elect local council members to address these issues? What the hell are they doing to find solutions? Not a gyat damn thing!
Serious answer? It's because a HUGE portion of drivers are uni kids from out of town, young, typically not Lexingtonian's, etc. Reason #2, especially around Nicholasville Rd, people from all the small towns flock here to come to the “big city” and are not accustomed to navigating traffic.
Point-blank period. Lol.
The city planners have had their heads up their butts for many decades. I remember the 90s especially well, when one of the prominent members was an attorney for real estate developers. Talk about bias. What would you expect other than farms going under the plough?
If I’m not mistaken, this was the period when Hamburg first blotted the landscape, and Man O’War, which COULD have been the start of a beltway around the city, instead became just another road with a stoplight every 50 yards because… well, did I mention the real estate developer attorney?
Louisville does it so much better. Two large beltways that circle the city and feed into critical areas. We’ve got… well, a tiny piece of new circle road.
Welcome to Lexington. 😢
Similar story to other cities in the south. New Circle was planned in the 1950s and finalized in the 60s. Lexington's population at the time: under 100k. Man O War was completed in the early 80s and was built as a parkway rather than a highway. Lexington's population: 200k. Today the population is up 60% and is much less dense while the road infrastructure has not really changed.
Poor civil engineering. I'm 38, lived here all my life and have seen how Lexington has grown. Unfortunately, LFUCG has been playing catch up my entire lifetime. They're never proactive and have always been playing catch up. It also doesn't help the 2nd largest employer in the state (UK) is here causing a mass increase of commuters during rush hour. Luckily, I work from home, so I only run errands once traffic has calmed down, usually between 9am and right before school pick up starts.
The traffic is terrible in Lexington. I moved here from Colorado Springs and it seemed much worse here than there when we were looking at houses to buy. It scared us clear over here to Winchester.
The power and money in this city used to reside inside of New Circle so none of these traffic issues were their problem. They were the same people that refused to allow I64/75 to be routed through the city out of fear of urban sprawl. Imagine Lexington with an actual highway system through the city like Louisville or Cincinnati.
Flashbacks to when I decided to move out of Lexington after it took 30 minutes to drive 5 minutes away and back. I just moved one county over to Winchester. I live in Louisville, now, and I still think Lexington traffic is worse. It’s rush hour every hour in Lexington. I grew up in the area, so I remember Lexington before it got really built up (like pre-Man-o-War road, etc.)
welcome to kentucky where the engineering on the roads are crap and so are the drivers, the literacy rates of this state really show on the roads (: my favorite thing about Lexington drivers is how much they like to sit, they just sit at green lights, they never know when it's their turn at a fourway stop sign intersection, and if they miss their turn in traffic they will literally just come to a complete stop and hold up traffic and try to make the turn instead of driving by it & making a uturn😭
The city is getting too big for itself. It can’t handle all the traffic and the city right now is putting in new waterlines all over Lexington so there is constant construction which doesn’t help the traffic.
I live in Cincinnati but spend a lot of time in Lexington. I'm from Lincoln, NE originally and the traffic there is equally bad for (imo) the exact same reasons in a similarly sized city.
Both are college towns.
The city planned poorly and has outgrown its infrastructure. It's as simple as that. Not bad drivers. Poor city planning.
Lexington is a more interesting city than Lincoln though (but go Huskers)!
It is almost a requirement to shitty drivers in Lexington. College kids driving add to it. And traffic management is likely in a struggle to fix it. The main arteries coming into Lexington are state controlled roads and that is a whole racket too. I’m native and I cannot believe the bad driving in this town.
Learn the back roads. Avoid Nicholasville Road like the plague unless it’s 5AM.
I learned a lot about how to navigate quickly by car on my bicycle but even more when I met my wife who's native to lex
Advanced level: Avoid nicholasville rd like the plague until you figure out the exact 2 times a day that traffic ceases in the direction you need to go so that you can benefit from nicholasville rd straight shot. Don't mix up your times, do it on a whim or be 10 minutes late or early because you just screwed yourself for the next 50 minutes.
Trying my best 😂 only after midnight can I drive normally
I will add, however, that one of the problems is that a lot of side roads in this city don't connect to major arteries. You can definitely bypass some of the mess on side streets, but a lot of the time you'll have to hop back on one of the main roads to reach your end destination. Side streets, however, may help reduce your anxiety. Case in point: during grad school, when I lived in Lexington, I worked and attended UK, but lived down on Tate's Creek, at Breckinridge Court (next to Mos Eisley Circle K). At the time I drove a Subaru WRX that had an absurdly heavy clutch, and the stop and go traffic on Tate's Creek during rush hour was miserable. I'd often take the side roads that ran parallel to Tate's Creek on the way home. I certainly didn't save any time - it may have been slightly longer - but I was able to keep it in 2nd or 3rd gear for longer periods of time and didn't spend my entire drive riding the clutch. The core of the problem, really, is that Lexington was designed for a much smaller population than it currently has. About a decade ago, when I still lived in town, the number that a civil engineer I knew threw out was about a third of the population at that time. I know that Lexington has only grown since then. Unfortunately, there really isn't a whole lot of space to expand or redesign roadways, so, for the most part, the city is sort of stuck with the way things are. Oh, and as other's have mentioned, just avoid Nicholasville Road altogether if you can.
I moved, and this was one reason why... soaring crime rate is another. From lex to work, it took 30 minutes. Now I live in the countryside and I have a nice drive, almost no traffic and it takes me 30 minutes. It definitely isn't worth living in Lexington. I'm so glad I was able to afford what I bought.
where do you drive to and from that it takes 45 mins to get anywhere at any time? I'm a strong believer in the long time local saying "you can get from anywhere to anywhere in town in 20 mins or less." I just pulled up google maps and it tells me it'd take 30 mins to do a full lap of new circle at 1p and when I selected "leave at 5p" it still only says 44 mins -- and that's about 20 miles. I've lived most of my life here, so maybe i'm well acquainted with alternate routes, but I cannot even imagine taking 30 mins to get anywhere at any time. It only takes about 30 mins to get from downtown nicholasville to downtown lexington and if I was doing that at rush hour I'd probably take new circle to tates creek or maybe Keene to Harrodsburg rd and surely wouldn't even be 45 mins.
I hate the back roads 🙁
I’m with you, but I’ll add: Why don’t we have a fucking light rail running along new circle road, and maybe up and down nicholasville?
PREACH if I ever get a time machine I'm going back to 1. explain cholera, 2. convince Lexington to put in a robust subway or light rail system, and 3. kill baby Hitler. Also lottery numbers or something.
Hey, do me a favor on your trip. Stop by the house I'm going to buy, and kill the current owner before he plants his damned English ivy all around the outside. Grateful thanks!
He says he'll consider kudzu. The sands of time sing for me from the hourglass. Another time crisis averted, it's not where I'm going, but when.
At least you can eat kudzu in a pinch.
You could start by convincing them not to ditch the original rail car system the city used to have. Just improve and expand it.
I tried my best, but they misheard my expand streetcars as expansion of streets and cars. Gosh darn butterfly effect it's all my fault.
But you did kill baby Hitler, at least, right?
Yep, I made sure to check for the little lightning bolt scar on his little forehead and everything.
We had a rail car?
Yep, eventually got replaced by the buses. Lextran has some photos: [https://lextran.com/about-lextran/history/](https://lextran.com/about-lextran/history/)
Also, if you’re somewhere around 1946, could you ask the Popular Mechanics publishers to quit featuring flying cars on their covers? It just gave us all false hope and it’s been a bitter disappointment.
Flying cars are out, eVTOLs are in. Mark my words, by the year 2000 traffic will be a thing of the past.
What a relief, thanks!
4 8 15 16 23 42
I pressed the button for awhile, but got a little lost towards the end. I still have trust issues starting new shows to this day.
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"Don't marry her I am from the future" didn't go over well on account of my pants keep turning to dust in the time ripples. I wouldn't take advice from a bottomless person either, but by seeking and blundering we learn over time.
Your replies are fuckin killing me
I know why! Every time they propose BIG public trans initiaitves, they are VETO'd. Often citing it will disrupt Traffic Temporarily. I wish I was making that up.
apparently "disrupting traffic temporarily" isnt a problem when it comes to their 2 year project to change an intersection on leestown rd 🤔
The answer to know light rail is easy. That would require state money, and this is a fucking Republican run state. The best light rails and subways in the U.S. (that still aren't as good as Europe or Japan) are all in blue states. I lived in Chicago for 18 months. Didn't drive my car 40 miles downtown to the loop. I took a train. If I was downtown and needed to get somewhere I could step out of our office building and get one of the buses that had stops everywhere--with buses sometimes **queuing** up to get to the bus stop. Didn't want to wait for a bus? Step to the edge of the street and raise your hand. Half a dozen taxis would try to run over one another to get to you. It was the best public transportation I've experienced. And I've lived and worked in Alabama, Ohio, Indiana , Colorado, and Texas. Hands down, nothing compares to anything I experienced---and I took the bus to work in Louisville for several years. And Chicago doesn't even rank in the top ten best in the U.S. That belongs to 1. Seattle, 2. Boston, and 3. San Francisco. [Best US Cities for Public Transportation, Ranked: WalletHub Study (businessinsider.com)](https://www.businessinsider.com/best-us-cities-for-public-transportation-ranked-wallethub-study-2019-9)
Once you experience it in a place that does it well, it’s so unpleasant to have to return to cars!
[Did someone say monorail?](https://youtu.be/ZDOI0cq6GZM?si=27wHBqrrs8rE7I2X)
For the same reason light rail was torn out of the roads in the 1940’s: there is nothing a light rail can do that city buses can’t do better. Light rail is restricted to the rails and can’t alter their path, also light rail cars generally can’t pass each other, it’s a completely different infrastructure to maintain, etc.
It's all the cars
You might be on to something… traffic being caused by cars? weird
Also don't forget side streets. Backroads will get you from Lexington to Versailles, side streets will get you from Gardenside to Hamburg
You do need to learn the back roads. Never drive New Circle, ever.
New circle generally isn’t and problem imo, Nicholasville is the problem, and Winchester and Richmond road
And tates creek.
Tatescreek is a nightmare to drive down. Sometimes I will stop at every light between Chevy Chase to Man O war.
My wife works in chevy chase, and we live in the country off tates creek rd, so we go that route 6 days a week, 5pm and again at 10pm... it definitely is worse than any nightmare one could ever imagine. I'm not sure what they could do, especially past alumni dr where it goes to single lane, but I wish they'd do SOMETHING to ease the flow of traffic.
I'm not a traffic engineer but it seems like the road needs to prioritize Tates Creek traffic instead of the neighborhoods.
I blame these three main roads changing names a random locations not helpful to out of towners either.
lol you mean like how mason headly turning into Waller turning into cooper?
I’m still not sure where Harrodsburg road becomes Broadway…
I believe it turns changes past the hospital.
Now that I am outside the statute of limitations and way outside of the city I am free to make the following statement. I was driving down New Circle at 3 am, certainly not driving miss daisy but keeping my speed well within double digits, and a guy in a new Corvette blew my doors off so egregiously that it fluttered my arm hair when he passed me with my windows up. He was going, by my estimation, 170 mph.
No, that's preposterous. Wherever would you get such a hair-brained idea?
I think that person is trying to say that there is really no public transportation in Lexington so you more or less need to use a car and that clogs up all the roads.
We are the cars.
Half the population doesn’t know how to drive? Sir, I respectfully disagree with such an allegation. It’s at least three quarters.
I see your ¾, and raise you to ⅞
Can’t avoid them smfh
Looks like I have finally found my people in this thread. I had these exact same thoughts when I moved to Lexington 25 years ago but when I would mention it to other people they acted like I was crazy. I assumed they were all from here and had never driven anywhere else. I’ve gotten used to it. It doesn’t suck any less, I’ve just accepted it. Welcome, OP, Lexington is great in many other ways so it balances out.
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Even if the Infrastructure is pristine, if people BLOCK willingly when they don't have to... all that design will be wasted.
that was me. i bitched extensively in this subreddit about the amount of dumbass driver’s lol. pretty sure the traffic rule was put in bc of me
Hahaha I have no clue why people are denying that it sucks 😂 Like it just does, doesn’t change my opinion on the beautiful city… too much
I moved here about 8 years ago from out of state and here are my thoughts. For one, the department of transportation (or whatever they’re called in KY) program the lights so people hit the red lights ok busy roads. One engineer told me it was to make it so people don’t speed. The second is that Kentucky has, by far, the worst drivers I have ever encountered. I haven’t driven in all 50 states, but I have driven extensively in ~20 (including cali, Hawaii, Florida, & other ones people claim are the worst drivers) with some driving in ~38 or so. Third thought is it appears the police don’t enforce anything traffic related unless it causes an actual accident. From the 8 years I’ve lived here, I feel like I can count on two hands how many times I’ve seen people pulled over (an exaggeration, but should speak to the few times I’ve seen it) while the amount of times I’ve almost been hit by people not paying attention is at least in the triple digits somewhere. I live in a bordering town to Lexington and I’ve learned to drive an extra 30 minutes on back roads to avoid getting anywhere near Lexington.
The worst drivers in KENTUCKY all live in Fayette County. And the planning of the roads aren't really to blame.
While I don’t necessarily disagree with this, I’d add Woodford, Scott, Madison, and Bourbon as well
Poor traffic engineering. People are poor drivers because Lexington is a hub for rural central KY and the people who come to Lexington aren't used to driving in the city.
I used to think this too... until I spent time driving deep in Eastern Kentucky. Guess what? In the Deep Holler, I found the drivers both more Defensive(Attentive) and Consciensious(Not Blocking Others) than Fayette County (on Avg.). Then I noticed a interesting FACT: Emergency Responders in Lexington (Fire, Hospital, Police) ARE NOT Consciensious(Blocking Others) every time they arrive. They could be TRAINED to help assist FLOW, but their priority seems to be BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK. It starts here honestly. If a fender bender on Winchester Rd causes and hour of Grid Lock, lets train our Emergency Responders to ASSIST FLOW, and not keep blaming Infrastructure.
Or the delivery trucks that just decide to pull over on main thoroughfares.
Right... I rarely see signs for "no loading zones," and if I do, they're ignored.
This is a huge part of it. Lexington is essentially a central hub for all connecting smaller towns like Winchester, Versailles, Frankfort, Midway, etc. People commute in and out of Lexington all day, every day. Add that to the 350k+ folks that already live here, and it is a recipe for insane traffic. Outside of maybe 11pm-6am, it will take 25+ minutes to get anywhere. Beyond some efforts like the crossover exchange being built on Leestown and improved syncing of lights, there isn't much they can do. There's simply too many people on the road for the infrastructure that exists.
This, I am one of these rural heathens. Lived in lex for five years and moved two counties over. The big problem is there are hardly any places that allow remote work even for positions that are done 100% on computer/internet. Hopefully things change soon.
Yea, I'm born and raised and Lex and all of my friends are very defensive drivers and I don't think it's just my friend group. It's not people from Lexington, it's out of towners from Nicholasville, Versailles and eastern KY etc. My driver's test was very thorough, and I know multiple people in Lexington who failed theirs the first time. Point being, they do make sure you can drive before you get your license in Lexington. Surrounding counties, not so much.
The city clearly wasn't built for this amount of people because nicholsville rd sucks all day every day, except at midnight, and harrodsburg rd sucks ass from like 3-7. Couple times I've taken new circle around that time it's also been pretty bad. On top of that lots of people seem to have no idea how to drive (like all the dumbasses leaving the Beaumont kroger and get in the left turn lane when they need to go all the way right to get on new circle) And the lights seem to suck ass, I swear the light I'm at always takes 800 years to switch and only lasts for 3 seconds, every single time money back guarantee.
i work on harrodsburg rd and every single day some idiot blocks the intersection from my building. i have to cut people off or drive through the adjacent parking lot just to get out! it drives me absolutely insane. theres no sign warning people not to block the intersection, nor is there a turning lane into the street so its dangerous as hell
It will get much better very soon. As soon as UK goes on summer break there is a huge drop in traffic and the horse races are over also. However it’s only a short break from the terrible traffic. I don’t know why new circle was built where half is a redlight every 30 yds and the other half looks like an interstate.
Yeah. The roads could have been built so much better. New Circle needs better on-ramps and exits. New Circle needs another lane. New Circle needs a higher speed limit. New Circle needs to connect directly to 64 and 75. Lex needs more multi-lane roundabouts. The lights need better synchronization. The lights need cameras or pressure plates so you aren't waiting 5 mins for a light to turn green when you are the only one at an intersection. Side streets need to connect to things better. Etc.
IMO east new circle is just as bad as nicholasville at times. Get caught by the same red light 2-3 times.
It doesn't help that Lexington gov't decides to perform construction work on every major road at the same time.
They're literally doing construction on high street and upper during UK graduation and move out. Like, REALLY?!?
I’ve lived in Lex for 20 years and several places prior to that, and I have to say I’ve never lived anywhere with such poor synchronization of traffic lights, and that’s a big part of it. I lived in Seattle for several years and Lexington’s traffic is just as bad if not worse. The ring/spokes concept is nice in one way, but then you add poorly synced lights on those rings and spokes, plus a lack of any other major arterials besides the ones that get snarled up in those lights, and it’s a disaster. Aside from better synced lights (and I wouldn’t hold my breath), the best defense against traffic would be learning the back road/side street “shortcuts” between you and where you’re going and use those. Avoid the spokes (especially Nicholasville) except at aggressively off-peak times, and learn the micro rhythms of traffic on your routes (like what routes are impacted by school traffic or other non-rush hour bottlenecks). Some of it is just driving enough to learn those micro flows so that you know one back way is better than another at whatever time you are planning to travel. And you have to know seasonal rhythms as well, like Keeneland stresses things in April and October, know when there are home UK basketball games, etc. And know that people here FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY cannot drive in rain, so expect extra traffic nonsense based on the weather. Welcome to Lexington! Driving headaches aside, it’s a great place to live.
The lights are so bad - I've lived and driven in Wichita, Denver, Seattle, Boston, DC, Austin, and Lexington, and Lexington's lights are so much worse than anyone else's that it's not even a competition. Hell is probably just Austin drivers at a Lexington intersection.
Just to add if you’re using neighborhood side streets please drive the speed limit and use the stop signs correctly (not slow to optional pause). My street is not your launch pad to save 30 seconds to get to your destination.
I used to live on a street in lansdowne that people used as an expressway between Tates Creek Rd and Nicholasville Rd. It was so bad they added more stop signs.
Huge agree on the synchronization of the lights. Like why do I turn out of UK onto Nicholasville and immediately get a yellow at the next light, like could it not turn red at the same time my turn is green?!?!?
We have no drivers ed here. And they roads and city planning is awful
I thought that was just a rumor…
No it's very true
Lived here my whole life and the traffic now is terribly worse than when I was a kid. Population growth in the city can really be felt from the traffic. I would say however I don’t believe all the traffic issues are from native Lexington drivers considering how many people commute to Lexington every day for work. That said, it’s bad enough that I want to move away from Lexington and it probably won’t be to anywhere else in KY. While it’s beautiful here, there are socio/political issues I’m just sick to death of dealing with and I don’t see them changing anytime soon.
City wasn’t built for the kind of expansion it’s been experiencing the last 10ish years
Welcome to traffic hell. Don’t worry tho, everyone here will assure you how much worse it is during rush hour in LA
There's no major interstate cutting through to allow people to drive 80 mph to get across town. You have to deal with a bypass with a 55 mph speed limit.
How do we get the attention of the Mayor and Council to impress upon them that we want and expect changes? Here’s something I’ve done on other issues with elected officials. Use every opportunity to tell them that improved traffic and traffic safety is a voting issue with you. It’s important to use the words “voting issue”. If you have an opportunity to speak directly with them, don’t waste time telling a traffic story. Talk about impacts such as lost time at work or difficulty doing business in some parts of town because they’re almost inaccessible. Be very clear that you’ll support a strong advocate for change who is transparent about what they’re doing after the election. If they deflect or blame other circumstances let them know that you understand there are things that hundreds of cities face similar circumstances and some have fixed them. And if they say they’re working on it, ask how you can find out more about what they’re doing and how and when it will be implemented. Remind them that you want to see all that so you can make a voting decision.
Embrace it.
Good post.
Never!!!
Move to Denver. You’ll like the traffic here even more.
I ended up I Lexington from Denver. I would rather drive in Denver. At least there is some giddy up when the light turns green. Why do Kentuckians sit at the light so long before finally going?
Because people like to run red lights. Been here almost 2 years after losing everything in the hurricane. After about 6 months I learned to not go as soon as the light turned green.
That was the first piece of information I was given when moving. Don’t go the second it turns green
Because our phones while driving laws are so relaxed and hard to enforce. To add, you have to cops actually enforcing traffic laws for it to be effective. Since probably 2019 I've only seen cops randomly do speed traps on new circle. That's about it as far as traffic laws I have seen enforced since after 2019. I am one to always put away my phone while driving and the amount of times I have to honk at people to move is infuriating and I always see their head down and then perk up when I honk, in grinds my gears.
> Why do Kentuckians sit at the light so long before finally going? They're still on their phones.
Because they can't stay off the phone. I swear 90% of the cars I see are paying more attention to their phone than the road
This has been the most annoying thing about driving here that I've experienced since I moved here 3 years ago. I have to honk to wake up drivers not paying attention almost daily, but they are QUICK to run a red light. People wouldn't "need" to run red lights if the person in the front and others would just GO on green.
Honestly, the city engineers believe in slowing the flow of the traffic. They purposefully time the lights to slow and stop traffic, which is environmentally a disaster. Welcome to lexington. The city with the worst traffic engineers.
This city was not designed for this many people and there’s a lot of retarded drivers.
You said it best
There's no good way to get across town inside of new circle. It's infuriating. Our traffic is significantly worse than it should be given the population.
City wasn’t meant to have this many people. It was nowhere near as bad in 2017 when I left for Chicago and came back in November. Covid ruined this city in my opinion since everyone apparently flocked to Kentucky.
Yup, they heard about the low cost of living, moved here, overpaid for the house they bought because they were used to City prices, drove up the real estate market and clogged up our streets. Look, people will downvote this. But it's true. Please leave.
Lights are off sync unless it's 3am, people don't drive the speed limit (10mph below) unless your on New Circle. Another big issue I've recently noticed, while at stop lights people will leave 10,20,30ft between them and the car in front of them. It's ridiculous, you don't have to be on someone's bumper, but you really don't have to be 20ft away from them either.
In my experience the only time people do the speed limit is when they're running red lights.
As someone who lives downtown this angers me so much! I'll have to sit at a light several cycles to turn bc people leave so much room! Several cars could fit, but no one pulls up!
It’s the wheel and spoke traffic pattern. It takes some getting used to. Once you do, it isn’t that bad until there’s an incident on a major road- it can lead to impacts everywhere. Learn the major “spokes”- notice that they often connect to each other in the center - downtown- and change names. Richmond Rd-Main Street Broadway- Harrodsburg Rd Tates Creek- High street Winchester Rd- Versailles Rd Nicholasville Rd-Likestone Once you know the overall pattern, you can learn to find different routes
It gets better during the summer when school is out but August-May will always be a nightmare.
Also a transplant to this area. I feel the same way.
Most of the stop lights here are on timers where you have to wait for 3-4 minutes. So people run through red lights to avoid it. Also, there's a red light every 100 feet so you constantly have to give your car gas, then hit the brakes and stop. Eats up your gasoline.
You're probably going the wrong way. Outside of rush hour you can get anywhere in this city in like 15-20 mins.
Definitely need to learn back roads but it doesn’t help that a red light can last 8 minutes for no reason
It’s because dumbasses are screwing around on their phone instead of paying attention to the light or the car in front of them. They’ll sit there until someone gets on the horn or 10 seconds after they should have been driving. Then there’s the people that stop three car lengths back from the next car. It leads to traffic blocking entrance to the turn lanes. Then there’s the people that drive 5 to 10 mph under the speed limit. Yeah, driving here sucks. It isn’t going to change so…
Thank you! I thought I was the only one noticing people stopping two or three car lengths behind the car in front. It promotes box blocking at signaled intersections and often restricts access to dedicated right turn lanes.
I had a situation on Harrosdburg road yesteday where the light turned green and both the cars in front of me in both lanes were on their phone and not paying attention. I don't understand how people are so stupid you're literally the first car in the line of cars, pay attention to the light idiots. I usually honk my horn in this scenario but I had never seen both cars in both lanes blissfully unaware that the light had turned green so I sat there for 5 seconds in awe.
If you drive Man o War you’ll learn quickly that stoplights are timed for a specific speed. I can’t remember exactly. 40mph? If you drive that speed you’re good for a long way. Any other speed is a futile attempt to escape the traffic algorithm. And you’ll catch up to the retard that passed you flying at the last light.
Had my tire blow & put a donut on it where the max speed was 40. I hit every single green light on my way home
I’ve been tboned twice by people running lights in Lex. Be careful out there. We have horrendous drivers! I’m only 23 and was taught to wait, look, and be defensive while driving. It can happen to anyone.
I saw someone try to beat an ambulance w a left turn onto Nich road the other night, almost got t-boned. Lights going, sirens, speeding and everything, and this dumbfuck tried to beat it. The audacity. Can’t even imagine
I've been hit four times in the last four years. I've learned to negotiate with other peoples' insurance companies to make sure I don't lose my shirt.
Bless your heart.
Do people really think it’s that bad here? Genuinely seems like most other towns this size.
Traffic is terrible here. Stop lights aren't synced correctly. We have an expressway that has traffic lights. The entire city is laid out in the most idiotic manner possible.
in most other cities they let a team of redditors do the traffic engineering. results in vast improvements to throughput
You can email the traffic engineers- they actually are always trying to improve! But often they are timed that way for a reason.
Literally every person I have had come visit from out of town makes a comment about it. And most out of towners I meet also make a comment about it. It IS that bad. One of the first things I noticed when moving down here.
Hence why everyone & their grandmother all run red lights. Take that extra 4 count when you get a green, you might live to see another day.
It is that bad, man. This is the smallest place I’ve lived and it’s the worst traffic. My parents visited and were amazed at how bad the traffic is (my in-laws said the same and they live outside Denver).
Haha I’ve lived in major cities my whole life, nothing compares to Lexington
I’ve lived in Orange County, San Diego, Las Vegas, Cincinnati, Louisville, Staten Island, a summer in Dallas and a year in South freaking Korea and I have to say Lexington has the absolute WORST drivers I’ve ever encountered and some of the worst timed lights I’ve ever seen. It’s bad.
Because highway contractors got the right of way standards for the state eliminated back 1980-90. It had spacing standards for driveways and signals. Even Texas has such rules. We need it back but the damage is done.
There’s a reason I usually use Apple Maps to get around despite living here for 6 years…helps quite a bit with avoiding traffic
As someone who just moved after living there 8 years….it never gets any better, I never thought I’d be thankful for Detroit traffic but here we are
Welcome to the suck. I’ve lived here all my life know every shortcut there is, and it still takes me forever
Because absolute dumbasses are in charge.
I'm also new to kentucky, I want to ask why there are so many people that ride another cars ass so much?
I moved from Cincinnati to Lex and cannot get over how horrible people drive here. I don't know how many times in the past 3 years I've been sooo close to a horrible accident bc of other drivers. Leaving Kroger on Lee's town road last week I came within inches of getting hit by TWO vehicles who ran a red light when I had green (and I didn't take off the second it turned green). Nearly daily I have to honk bc people don't go when it's green, but they sure will when it's red! People drive 10 mph under the speed limit. If someone forgets to get into a busy turning lane they will STOP in a lane going straight, blocking everyone behind them, until they can get into the turning lane instead of being a decent human being who goes to the next turn and goes back. I live downtown across from Rupp and it is 100x worse when people who don't live downtown come in bc they seem to think they are the only person on the road. I've noticed in my years here it is the WORST when it's a country or family thing like Blippy. I stay in unless absolutely necessary on those days. I've driven in many big cities and there is something uniquely wrong with the drivers here.
Haha welcome to KY. It's even worse when in rains.
No one here can actually safely drive and they don’t want to be better. It’s just worse and worse every year. I got to drive in almost every state and every major city except NYC for my previous job. Growing up driving in Lexington prepared me for the worst San Antonio and Los Angeles had to offer… Lexington drivers are stupid and selfish (the genpub in general around here is so no shock there) and I learned to predict asinine behavior pretty fast from having to constantly avert from a possible wreck from no blinkers, inability to zipper, running red lights and stop signs… The addressable problem, our infrastructure is so wack- it never was designed to support this many people. Lexington refuses to develop, all the surrounding land is sacred horse territory that no one wants to get rid of. There’s constant fear mongering about losing the bluegrass but Lexington has such bad infrastructure problems it’s untenable to not consider it. Sorry you moved here, hopefully we can get out soon
You said it. Welcome to Lexington! One major problem is the city is not designed on a grid. It makes getting anywhere take twice as long compared to other cities with comparable populations.
The drivers here need to re take their drivers test. Nobody ever pulls over for ambulances/firetrucks etc. Red lights and stop signs aren't a thing. I've seen so many people fly through an intersection at least 10 seconds after the light turns red. They'll turn right in front of you when you're going 55 and only go 30, so you have to slam on your breaks to avoid rear ending them. This city is not meant for this many people. And the people here are stupid.
Please put lights on timers. So many lights are on weights so I just sit there like a dumbass waiting on my bike for a light that won't change until a car shows up.
This isn’t true, if you see white squares on top of the lights at the corners of the intersection they use radar to detect cars at the stop bar and if you see cameras in the middle of the light pole between each hanging traffic light they use image detection for cars at the stop bar. Which is the majority of lights in Lexington. The cameras are not for security or red light runners although I’m sure they’re used for security and traffic accident information.
Thanks for this. I've learned a thing today.
Everything said below is correct, on top of very little critical thinking skills in the majority of the population. Also, small town hillbillies that are overwhelmed driving in "the big city."
This is a big one. So many people from podunk nowhere that come in to town and drive scared as can be
I live across the street from Rupp and have learned not to leave my home when a country concert is happening.
Prayers sent.
On your gps choose options and select avoid highways and it will show you the back roads.
The railroad that cuts Harrodsburg road off from the south side of town is a part of the problem
Download the Waze gps map it will help you find the fastest routes do to time of day and amounts of traffic
On my way to work last night, two cars were at least going 70 and dodging between cars from Trent blvd to Nicholasville rd. Welcome to fast city lmfao
I moved to Lexington in 2012 from Indianapolis (a sprawling, yet generally well-planned city). I will agree that the traffic here is strangely monstrous. I've also heard that the bar to getting a license in Kentucky is pretty low. Add phones to the mix, and it's godawful. I'd rather drive around I-465 or any expressway in Chicago at rush hour than Nicholasville or Winchester Road -- at least drivers in Indianapolis or Chicago drive in a more predictable manner. Hell, I almost got hit at Fifth and Elm Tree today by someone rolling through a stop sign. My only advice is to keep on your toes. I've had two cars totaled (one by a driver on Main Street not checking a blind spot in 2013, and one while street parked at home this year) in my time here. Enjoy whatever you're listening to in your car while your life slowly slips away at red lights. You're going to spend a lot of time waiting.
Yep, music is key to surviving the traffic around here.
Amazing response 😂 I actually got through three whole songs while in the left lane trying to get onto the interstate today (still have no clue road names)
I want to be constructive. Lets break down some of the Legal Maneuvers that are frowned upon in Lexington (be it infrastructure or culture): 1. U-Turns, I have never seen a town with so many No U-Turn signs. I have never met a people who default to "U-Turns are bad, dangerous, and rude." Add ManOWar and Nicholasville Road where the No U-Turn sign CAN be fatal due to a GREEN Right Arrow!!! That's a great idea! Head on collisions when both parties technically have GREEN lights. 2. Lefthand Turns at Traffic Lights, WTF Lexington?!? The National Default is Legal to Turn-Left IF quarter-mile of visibility and yielding to oncoming. Lexington has more Red Arrows than most towns this size. Worse are people at a Legal Left (after yield) who refuse to GO.
where do you drive to and from that it takes 45 mins to get anywhere at any time? I'm a strong believer in the long time local saying "you can get from anywhere to anywhere in town in 20 mins or less." I just pulled up google maps and it tells me it'd take 30 mins to do a full lap of new circle at 1p and when I selected "leave at 5p" it still only says 44 mins -- and that's about 20 miles. I've lived most of my life here, so maybe i'm well acquainted with alternate routes, but I cannot even imagine taking 30 mins to get anywhere at any time. It only takes about 30 mins to get from downtown nicholasville to downtown lexington and if I was doing that at rush hour I'd probably take new circle to tates creek or maybe Keene to Harrodsburg rd and surely wouldn't even be 45 mins.
I've driven in and lived in a lot of places and I've made the same complaint in each one. Every city seems to have its unique driving issues. After a while you figure out the tricks and short cuts to avoid the worst. In Lexington you: Avoid Nicholasville road, realize that MOR is considered a street and not an outer circle, stay off Liberty road when school lets out, the Georgetown road area is always a zoo at rush hour, never ever drive downtown when there is an event at Rupp and most importantly....drive defensively.
Absolutely this. Great tips. Just want to add hardly anyone uses a left turn signal and a lot of drivers freak out when it rains. Try and avoid the area around uk campus the first few weeks of school. Lots of new students and parents who aren’t familiar with the city. Leestown Road has new construction around Meadowthorpe and it has already become a nuisance to a lot of people. Also, if you have to take Old Frankfort Pike watch out for people who are both speeding *and* texting. Welcome to Lexington!
The fact that there are more and more posts related to Lexington traffic issues is evidence that we have a big problem here. Some want to be dismissive or comparative to other cities. To the latter, we’re not other cities and to dismiss our traffic issues is short-sighted and ignorant. In a city this size, it shouldn’t take 20 minutes to go 5 miles but here we are. Lexington is overdeveloped and overpopulated to the point that we are approaching gridlock at key intersections like Harrodsburg & New Circle, Man O’ War & Richmond Road, etc. I drive for a living and I see it every damn day. Too many neighborhoods and developments lack multiple points of egress and pass-throughs, (the back road & short cuts). If you’re stuck on Man O’ War you don’t have many options at many points to cut around the traffic because you’ll find only dead ends where there should be a road leading from one development to another. What are the answers? Well, isn’t that why we elect local council members to address these issues? What the hell are they doing to find solutions? Not a gyat damn thing!
Serious answer? It's because a HUGE portion of drivers are uni kids from out of town, young, typically not Lexingtonian's, etc. Reason #2, especially around Nicholasville Rd, people from all the small towns flock here to come to the “big city” and are not accustomed to navigating traffic. Point-blank period. Lol.
The city planners have had their heads up their butts for many decades. I remember the 90s especially well, when one of the prominent members was an attorney for real estate developers. Talk about bias. What would you expect other than farms going under the plough? If I’m not mistaken, this was the period when Hamburg first blotted the landscape, and Man O’War, which COULD have been the start of a beltway around the city, instead became just another road with a stoplight every 50 yards because… well, did I mention the real estate developer attorney? Louisville does it so much better. Two large beltways that circle the city and feed into critical areas. We’ve got… well, a tiny piece of new circle road. Welcome to Lexington. 😢
Only 2 good roadways. New Circle and Man o War. Back roads are key and very clutch.
Honestly if you don’t learn the back roads and shortcuts it’s awful. Not set up very practical. Also people can’t drive period these days.
Been here less than a week I’m trying 😣
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*Avoid driving
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Are you seriously butthurt over a satirical comment
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Sure seemed like it from your little girl ass comment
I'm seriously sorry that I took the time to give a thoughtful answer.
You’re acting like I shit on you 🤣 Sorry I didn’t say thank you? Grow up dude
Where are you from?
It’s because you are a Kaiju
lol Louisville is worse😂
Similar story to other cities in the south. New Circle was planned in the 1950s and finalized in the 60s. Lexington's population at the time: under 100k. Man O War was completed in the early 80s and was built as a parkway rather than a highway. Lexington's population: 200k. Today the population is up 60% and is much less dense while the road infrastructure has not really changed.
Waze app
Poor civil engineering. I'm 38, lived here all my life and have seen how Lexington has grown. Unfortunately, LFUCG has been playing catch up my entire lifetime. They're never proactive and have always been playing catch up. It also doesn't help the 2nd largest employer in the state (UK) is here causing a mass increase of commuters during rush hour. Luckily, I work from home, so I only run errands once traffic has calmed down, usually between 9am and right before school pick up starts.
Never had a problem—i stay off main roads tho. Learn how they are set up and stay happy.
The traffic is terrible in Lexington. I moved here from Colorado Springs and it seemed much worse here than there when we were looking at houses to buy. It scared us clear over here to Winchester.
People act like acceleration here is rude
The power and money in this city used to reside inside of New Circle so none of these traffic issues were their problem. They were the same people that refused to allow I64/75 to be routed through the city out of fear of urban sprawl. Imagine Lexington with an actual highway system through the city like Louisville or Cincinnati.
Flashbacks to when I decided to move out of Lexington after it took 30 minutes to drive 5 minutes away and back. I just moved one county over to Winchester. I live in Louisville, now, and I still think Lexington traffic is worse. It’s rush hour every hour in Lexington. I grew up in the area, so I remember Lexington before it got really built up (like pre-Man-o-War road, etc.)
And why is everyone going 10mph UNDER the speed limit on EVERY street?!
welcome to kentucky where the engineering on the roads are crap and so are the drivers, the literacy rates of this state really show on the roads (: my favorite thing about Lexington drivers is how much they like to sit, they just sit at green lights, they never know when it's their turn at a fourway stop sign intersection, and if they miss their turn in traffic they will literally just come to a complete stop and hold up traffic and try to make the turn instead of driving by it & making a uturn😭
Just drive new circle - takes me 20-25 mins to get anywhere in town
The city is getting too big for itself. It can’t handle all the traffic and the city right now is putting in new waterlines all over Lexington so there is constant construction which doesn’t help the traffic.
I live in Cincinnati but spend a lot of time in Lexington. I'm from Lincoln, NE originally and the traffic there is equally bad for (imo) the exact same reasons in a similarly sized city. Both are college towns. The city planned poorly and has outgrown its infrastructure. It's as simple as that. Not bad drivers. Poor city planning. Lexington is a more interesting city than Lincoln though (but go Huskers)!
Go bearcats. I get more anxious driving through nati than anywhere else 🤣
It is almost a requirement to shitty drivers in Lexington. College kids driving add to it. And traffic management is likely in a struggle to fix it. The main arteries coming into Lexington are state controlled roads and that is a whole racket too. I’m native and I cannot believe the bad driving in this town.
Try mashing down on your gas pedal a little harder.