A foggy morning on Man o' War Boulevard
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Length | 17 mi (27 km) |
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West end | Versailles Road |
East end | Winchester Road |
Construction | |
Completion | 1988 |
Inauguration | 1975 |
Man o' War Boulevard, named after the racehorse Man o' War, is a 17-mile (27 km) urban arterial, circling Lexington, Kentucky to its south. Its western terminus is at US 60 Versailles Road at Keeneland Race Course's main entrance, from which the highway heads southeast, intersecting with US 68 (Harrodsburg Road), US 27 (Nicholasville Road), and other roads. It then turns east and northeast, intersecting KY 1974 (Tates Creek Road), Alumni Drive, US 25/US 421 (Richmond Road), and I-75, before ending at US 60 (Winchester Road) at Brighton. The majority of the road is a four-lane divided highway with curbs and sidewalks maintained by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, but the 1.429-mile (2.300 km) portion east of I-75 is maintained by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet as Supplemental Road Kentucky Route 1425 (KY 1425), and only carries two lanes.
The idea of an outer southern bypass of Lexington first appeared in Lexington city plans in the 1930s as Tiverton Way. However, construction did not begin on the road until 1973. The following year, the road was renamed Man o' War Boulevard. The first stretch of Man o' War, between Richmond Road (US 25) and Palumbo Drive, opened as a two-lane road in 1975. In 1979, the highway was completed between Mount Tabor Road, now known as Alumni Drive, and Armstrong Mill Road. By November 1983, it was completed to Tates Creek Road and extended to Nicholasville Road one year later. In January 1985, Man o' War had been extended to Bold Bidder Drive and work was beginning on a segment to extend the road to Todds Road.