The scene of busy Lexington streets is that of bright orange construction cones on every corner. Lexington is known as home to the Big Blue Nation, but a more accurate alias would be, “Lexington: the city that is never finished.”

Cities must rebuild their roads, fix potholes and help create a better infrastructure with construction. However, is the cost of ongoing construction all over the city really worth it? It seems that every half-mile I drive in this traffic-flooded town I am deterred by construction.

While campus is covered with hard hats and fences for new building, the streets are being redone at the same time. Our city that was once beautiful, and what I considered to be the cleanest in the state, is now overrun with miles of construction cones and blinking signs that divert drivers to an alternate route.

According to the Lexington-Fayette County Division of Traffic Engineering, “Today the materials, equipment, and installation of one traffic signal can cost as much as $160,000.”

While construction on every corner is creating jobs, where is the money for the $160,000 traffic light coming from? Recently a traffic light was added near Red Mile village, that to me seems to be an unnecessary expenditure of $160,000. In the grand scheme of taxpayer money and with construction projects going on almost everyday in Lexington that increase traffic one must ask, “What is the purpose of all this?”

According to the Division of Traffic Engineering, “There are over 30,000 streetlights in Fayette County, which consume in excess of 2.0 million kilowatt-hours of electricity each month and cost $5.8 million per year in operating and maintenance expense.”

Lexington continues to see an influx of growth with new subdivisions and roads equaling up to 20 miles each year according to the Division of Traffic Engineering. Lexington isn’t ready for this if we cannot get our current rate of traffic situated.

Lexington is only home to 7 percent of the Kentucky population (310,797 out of 4,413,457 people) according to the 2014 Census, but when I sit in traffic for thirty minutes, to get a half-mile away, it seems as if all 310,000 are stuck on the same street.

With each finished project in Lexington, a new one begins. The home of the Big Blue Nation should be represented as what we are: a grand, passionate and lovely place to call home. In the grand scheme of things, Lexington is not representing any of this.

Jamilyn Hall is the assistant opinions editor of the Kentucky Kernel.

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