Improvements to the heavily traveled section of Nashville Road from the University Boulevard roundabout to Campbell Lane and a possible resurrection of a new interchange at Interstate 165 and Elrod Road are among projects Bowling Green and Warren County leaders aim to see funded in the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s 2020 Highway Plan.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the Bowling Green-Warren County Metropolitan Planning Organization Policy Committee, those two projects and five others were recommended for “boosting” in the KYTC’s new data-driven SHIFT (Strategic Highway Investment Formula for Tomorrow) program.

The boosting adds 15 points to the projects that have already been scored on the state level in a process that takes into account crash history, congestion, economic development potential and other factors in an effort to choose the most deserving projects to be funded in the biennial highway plan.

In the case of the Nashville Road project, KYTC District 3 Chief Engineer Joe Plunk said the planned improvements have a good chance of navigating through the SHIFT process after getting boosts from both the MPO and the KYTC district office.

Those 30 points are added to a project that had already scored 59 of a possible 70 points at the state level.

“The cabinet determined that it was one of their priorities, so this project is going to do very well,” Plunk said of the $12.1 million Nashville Road project. “We’re already in the design phase. We just need funding to move forward with buying property and moving utilities.”

Plunk said the Nashville Road project would widen the road to continue the five-lane configuration near Campbell Lane until it narrows to four lanes near the roundabout. It also includes sidewalks and a multiuse path for pedestrians.

Bowling Green Mayor Bruce Wilkerson said the improvements to Nashville Road are “essential to keep traffic flowing.”

While that project’s chances of being funded in the 2020 Highway Plan look good, the Elrod Road interchange project may face a tougher road because of its $43 million price tag. It received a state SHIFT score of 51.5, which is now boosted to 81.5 by the KYTC and MPO actions.

The interchange with I-165 (formerly Natcher Parkway) has been talked about for roughly a decade. With the building of Jody Richards Elementary School and the development of several residential subdivisions in the area, the prospect of building the interchange and making improvements to Elrod Road may be more likely, Plunk reasons.

“When we had a public meeting about the interchange in 2015, we had about 350 people turn out and a lot of people were negative about the project,” Plunk said. “Over the last four or five years so much development has occurred that maybe it’s time to make the improvements. The development has come without the road improvements.”

Improvements to Elrod Road – including a roundabout at the intersection with Smallhouse Road – are part of the total project, and Wilkerson sees those upgrades as essential.

“Improvements to Elrod Road are needed desperately,” the mayor said. “But I don’t know if the interchange is ever going to happen.”

In addition to those two high-profile projects, the MPO Policy Committee voted to boost these five:

• A project to reduce congestion and improve mobility on Scottsville Road between Cave Mill Road and South Park Drive.

• A project to widen the U.S. 31-W By-Pass from Park Avenue to Fairview Avenue.

• A project to lengthen the left-turn lane on Cemetery Road onto Lovers Lane when coming off exit 26 of I-65.

• A project to widen and improve Cave Mill Road between Scottsville Road and Nashville Road.

• A project to improve safety and mobility on Plano Road between Collett Road and Dewey Lake Road.

Both Plunk and Warren County Judge-Executive Mike Buchanon see the seven boosted projects as important to the county’s continued growth, but they realize that funding for road projects is volatile because the state’s Road Fund is tied to the average wholesale price of gasoline.

“With finite state and local resources, we are never assured that the projects will make the biennial budget for funding, but the boosting process gets us a higher level of confidence that the legislature will fund them,” Buchanon said.

Buchanon believes the seven boosted projects will move traffic more efficiently, provide safer commute routes to work and school and better access to suppliers and markets for business.

“These are the seven projects we want to see have the best chance possible,” Plunk said. “There are no guarantees that any of the seven will be in the budget; but, with more points, the likelihood is higher. It all depends on revenue.”

According to the KYTC website, the governor will reveal his recommended Highway Plan this winter. The General Assembly will then fine-tune that plan based on funding availability and release the Enacted State Highway Plan that includes two years of funded projects and spending priorities for the following four years.