A plan to realign Highland Way and connect it to the Emmett Avenue traffic light on Nashville Road will do more than improve traffic flow.

Passed by the Bowling Green City Commission on Dec. 1, a municipal order to work with property owner Sam Potter Jr. to build a new stretch of road will ultimately tie in with a commercial/residential development planned for Potter’s property and with plans to widen Nashville Road.

The municipal order calls for the city to spend up to $100,000 and for Potter to donate the land needed near his 603 Highland Way property to build a stub road of about 300 feet in what’s called the first phase of the Highland Way realignment.

“It goes probably two-thirds of the way between Nashville Road and Highland Way,” said Greg Meredith, the city’s public works director. “It’s the portion required to get the entrance in for the development and for the ultimate realignment.”

That realignment will be completed in conjunction with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, which plans to widen Nashville Road to two lanes in each direction with a center turn lane from Storey Avenue near Western Kentucky University’s South Campus to the roundabout at University Boulevard.

That 1.5-mile project, which carries a total cost of more than $10 million, is slated to begin with right-of-way purchases in 2021 and conclude with construction in 2025.

Joe Plunk, chief engineer for the KYTC District 3 office in Bowling Green, said tying in the Highland Way realignment to the Nashville Road widening was a natural fit.

“As we’re widening 31-W (Nashville Road), the goal is to include the rest of the Highland Way realignment,” Plunk said.

Some who live in the vicinity of the Highland Way-Nashville Road intersection said the realignment is sorely needed to improve an intersection that has become hazardous because of the high traffic volume on Nashville Road.

“I live on Highland, and to take a left turn on Nashville Road is brutal,” City Commissioner Sue Parrigin said. “I’m so excited for this project. This will be a huge help.”

Wes Watt, public information officer for the KYTC’s District 3 office, said the University Boulevard roundabout has improved traffic flow, but he said southbound traffic can run into traffic congestion along a stretch of Nashville Road that is now one lane in each direction with a middle turn lane.

“It’s working so well that traffic backup gets pretty heavy during peak times going south on U.S. 31-W toward WKU’s South Campus,” Watt said in an email. “Widening U.S. 31-W from the roundabout to Storey Avenue will certainly help improve efficiency and flow in that section.”

While improving traffic flow, the Highland Way realignment could also improve the prospects for a multi-family residential and commercial development that is in the planning stage and could come before the City-County Planning Commission of Warren County early next year.

The municipal order passed by the city commission said: “During design plans for the Nashville Road widening project, KYTC and the city became aware of development plans for the Potter property, which include construction of a street to serve the development that will align to intersect at Nashville Road at the existing traffic light with Emmett Avenue.”

Tad Pardue, the Bowling Green attorney who is working with the unnamed developer, described the plans as a 13-acre development that will include business and multi-family residential aspects.

The first phase of the Highland Way realignment should allow the development to go forward, Pardue said.

“We do intend to bring it before the planning commission,” Pardue said. “It may be as soon as February.”

– Follow business reporter Don Sergent on Twitter @BGDNbusiness or visit bgdailynews.com.