KYTC: R-CUT intersections have prevented dozens of traffic injuries

Kentucky transportation officials have released 8 years of crash data from busy roads across western Kentucky where R-CUT intersections have been installed.

Reduced Conflict U-Turns were installed between 2020 and 2021 on US 45 in McCracken and Graves counties, US 60 in McCracken County, and US 641 in Marshall County. Now KYTC has four years of crash data after the installation, to compare with four years of data before the R-CUTs were put in place.

R-CUTs eliminate left turns that require you to avoid traffic from two directions at once. The first right turn lets you watch for traffic coming from your left; then a U-turn only requires watching for the traffic coming from the oncoming lanes.

The design eliminates multiple points of conflict where vehicles cross paths, and reduces the risk of severe crashes.

KYTC's 8 years of crash data shows a reduction of injuries from 68 to 100 percent after R-CUT intersections were installed. Further, there have been no fatalities at those intersections in the last four years, compared to 4 fatalities for the same period before R-CUTS were built.

Here's the data for each of the R-CUT intersections in western Kentucky:

US 641 at KY 402 (Brewers Highway-Aurora Highway) in Marshall County
Pre-construction: 23 crashes, 26 injuries, and 1 fatality.
Post-construction: 18 crashes, 1 injury, and 0 fatalities. 
This represents a 96% reduction in total injuries.

US 60 at KY 726 (Kelly Road) Intersection in McCracken County
Pre-construction: 11 crashes, 8 injuries, and 0 fatalities.
Post-construction: 2 crashes, 0 injuries, and 0 fatalities. 
This represents a 100% reduction in total injuries.

US 60 at KY 996 (Metropolis Lake Road) in McCracken County
Pre-construction: 16 crashes, 18 injuries, and 1 fatality.
Post-construction: 16 crashes, 2 injuries, and 0 fatalities. 
This represents an 89% reduction in total injuries.

US 45 at KY 1288 (Lebanon Church Road) in McCracken County
Pre-construction: 22 crashes, 13 injuries, and 2 fatalities.
Post-construction: 16 crashes, 3 injuries, and 0 fatalities. 
This represents a 77% reduction in total injuries.

US 45 at KY 408 (near Fristoe’s Restaurant) in Graves County
Pre-construction: 41 crashes, 22 injuries, and 0 fatalities.
Post-construction: 15 crashes, 7 injuries, and 0 fatalities. 
This represents a 68% reduction in total injuries.

KYTC District 1 has designs in progress for about 8 additional R-CUTs and close to 20 roundabouts to be installed in coming years.

For educational information on RCUTs, roundabouts and other innovative highway designs. visit the KYTC’s SAFERoad Solutions website.