CADIZ - A contractor plans to establish a work zone at the intersection of U.S. 68 and KY 139 at the south edge of Cadiz starting on Thursday.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet says this work zone is to allow construction of an R-Cut at the intersection, sometimes referred to as a J-Turn. This safety project will initially start with work zone signage and pavement markings on Thursday. On Friday, the contractor will add a traffic shift to establish two-way traffic on U.S. 68 in the work zone.

This traffic shift is to facilitate the construction of curbing, drainage features, and the controlled U-turn crossovers along U.S. 68 for each end of the R-Cut.

Construction of the R-Cut is expected to take about 12 weeks to complete.

During the project development process, the design team reviewed 15 years of crash data for the intersection, revealing 32 police-reported crashes that included 4 fatalities, 11 injuries, and 19 crashes with property damage.