The Warren County Fiscal Court took steps Wednesday to allow for the continued expansion of U.S. 31-W.

Fiscal court authorized two measures to allow the judge-executive to sign deeds of conveyance indicating that the county has sold two tracts of land to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for $39,100 and $45,300, respectively. 

The state is obtaining this land so it can expand a stretch of U.S. 31-W that runs from Dillard Road to just past Michael Buchanon Park from two lanes to five, according to Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon.

This purchase is part of the state’s plan to widen 31-W from Bowling Green to the Simpson County line, he said.

A similar widening process undertaken on the stretch of U.S. 231 linking Bowling Green and Scottsville has been beneficial, Buchanon said. 

“When this is finished, this will be a wider access road kind of like we’ve got to Scottsville. (U.S. 231) was widened that way a few years back but it used to be a long narrow two-lane road,” he said. “Now it’s a five-lane road all the way to Scottsville. You can hardly tell when you leave Bowling Green and enter Scottsville.”

Widening the road from two lanes to five has made 231 more efficient, an effect that would be mirrored on 31-W, Buchanon said.

“That straight shot makes it a whole lot safer and a whole lot faster to get there,” he said.

Buchanon said he’s unsure when the expansion would begin but is concerned that Gov. Matt Bevin’s dismissal in early May of Greg Meredith, formerly the chief district engineer for the Department of Highways in Bowling Green, might hinder the process.   

“Everything’s kind of changed with the change in administration so I don’t know what their plan is,” he said.

In another matter, fiscal court accepted a bid from C & P Construction for renovating the roof of the former Taylor Chapel AME Church building. The fiscal court is paying for this tune-up, which will cost $26,160, Buchanon said.

The building’s roof is leaking, Josh Moore, director of Warren County Public Works, told the Daily News in May. “At some point … due to some weather damage over the years and no one occupying the building, it’s sprung some leaks,” he said. 

Public works is also working to install electricity and an HVAC system in the building so it can serve as a winter venue for the SoKy Marketplace, Moore said.

Meanwhile, fiscal court approved a payment of almost $8,000 to Reynolds Sealing & Striping for resealing the inline hockey rink at Basil Griffin Park, which is riddled with cracks that cause water to pool dangerously in some parts of the rink.  

The court also approved a measure allowing the parks department to enter a contract with the Warren County Board of Education that calls for parks to maintain the grounds at Natcher Elementary School and Henry F. Moss Middle School in exchange for the use of both schools’ facilities for its sports programs.  

This expands the long-running partnership between parks and Warren County Schools, parks Director Chris Kummer said.

“Without our partners at the Warren County Board of Education, we would not be able to offer … the programming level that we currently offer,” he said to the court. 

He said the department expects to begin maintaining the grounds at these schools around the middle of July.

— Follow Daily News reporter Jackson French on Twitter @Jackson_French or visit bgdailynews.com.