A planned widening of Cave Mill Road received renewed attention from city officials on Tuesday as commissioners approved an over $300,000 change order that will help mitigate flooding issues along the corridor.

Plans for the widening date back to March 2023, when commissioners gave the go ahead on a $1.2 million bid from Glasgow-based American Engineers Inc. to handle design of the project.

Although Cave Mill is a state road, the city has been handling planning and design needs for the project. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will reimburse the city for costs.

A stretch between Greenwood Mall and the intersection with Dishman Lane will be widened to three lanes. A 2023 traffic study revealed 15,000 cars travel along Cave Mill every day.

“The reason for this (change order) is timing,” said Kyle Hunt, assistant city engineer.

Hunt told commissioners that design was nearing completion earlier this year when Bowling Green was hit by a weather event that dropped 10.1 inches of rain on the city and led to flooding across town, including the portion of Cave Mill eyed for the widening.

” … that forced us to go back and look at a few things,” Hunt said.

New designs under the change order call for raising the elevation of the roadway by “several” feet above a FEMA floodplain in the area. Initial plans called for raising the roadway by one and a half feet.

“What happened in April was that the flood elevation actually reached what the new elevation of the road was supposed to be,” Hunt said. “To minimize any flooding in the future, we’ve had to … redesign that section of the roadway to bring it even higher above the flood elevation.”

Other changes to design include an additional eastbound lane, alterations to traffic signals at two intersections and the installation of a roundabout at Cave Mill and Smallhouse Road.

“Once this project is finished, we’ll have a roadway that’s much improved as far as reducing impacts from flooding and will also help with traffic in the future,” Hunt said.

Commissioners also OK’d a grant application to KYTC worth more than $1.5 million that would fund construction of a new greenway path along Bryant Way, from Ken Bale Boulevard to Scottsville Road.

This comes as the city moves ahead on a separate project to install a greenway path along Scottsville Road from Campbell Lane to Three Springs Road.

“More often I’m out there and I see more and more pedestrians crossing those four lanes and it’s a dangerous situation,” City Manager Jeff Meisel said.

Funding would be used to purchase nine temporary easements along Bryant and build 2,300 linear feet of eight-foot pathway.

Grants Coordinator Jake Moore said the city will hear on the grant application in late spring.

Tuesday was the city’s last meeting of the year. Officials will meet again Tuesday, Jan. 6.