ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. — Millions of dollars have landed in Elizabethtown to upgrade the city's roads and make them safer.
It comes as one of the massive BlueOval SK electric vehicle battery plants in Glendale, just a few miles south of Elizabethtown, prepares to start production in 2025.
In fact, Mayor Jeff Gregory said he's been told the grand opening is right around the corner.
"They're telling us the second quarter of 2025, they expect to be producing batteries," he said on Thursday.
The BlueOval SK initiative, a joint venture between Ford Motor Company and SK On, is the biggest economic development project in Kentucky's history, set to eventually employ 5,000 people.
Throughout construction, Elizabethtown, one of the fastest growing cities in Kentucky, has been preparing for continued population spikes in part due to this industrial base.
On Thursday during his Team Kentucky update, Gov. Andy Beshear announced Elizabethtown received $11.1 million in grant money to give its infrastructure, including roads, the necessary facelift to improve safety.
"We're not cutting edge here, we're behind," Gregory told WHAS11. "While our population according to the census is somewhere around 35,000 people, we think our daytime population is anywhere between 80,000 to 100,000 people."
In order to support that growth, Gregory wants more roundabouts to reduce collisions and injuries, though he admits they are a 'controversial' topic amongst residents.
"I absolutely hate roundabouts," Kettela Perecles said. She's lived in Elizabethtown for two years.
For locals like Brooklyn Stepp, roundabouts are downright unpopular.
"To sum it up, they're a horrible idea," she said. "I drive a Chevy Suburban, and I'm on the curb trying to inch around it. We have people who can't even drive in this old roundabout that we have, so we definitely don't need new ones being added at all."
This change is coming to two busy intersections where the city says the most accidents happen.
That's US 62 and Ring Road, near the industrial parks, and US 31W and New Glendale Road.
"The word would be change. It's just people getting used to them," Gregory said. "Just because it's always been the way we've done things, that's kind of like nails on a chalkboard to me. I like to see innovative ideas and new ways to do things."
And innovation is coming soon nearby in Glendale, where 2,500 new employees will be building the batteries for Ford's future electric fleet.
"I think BlueOval has contributed in some aspects to our food growth, and why we need more restaurants to support them," Stepp said.
As far as the road improvements in Elizabethtown, officials are in the design phase with hopes to have construction finished in the next two years.
Gregory said the grant money will also go toward beautification of roadways and other safety measures like adding lighting, sidewalks and bike paths.
He also told WHAS11 the city is behind in building more housing to support the city's growth, and said they have developers coming in to address the issue.
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