KY 536 Improvement Project

This site started small. KY 536 was being rebuilt through Independence and there was no easy way to see where the new road would actually run, so the plan sheets got traced onto a map. Once that worked for one stretch it was worth doing for the rest, and the map now covers the whole route across Boone, Kenton and Campbell Counties: what is finished, what is being built, and what is still only a proposal.

KY 536 runs east-west across northern Kentucky, and for years it has carried far more traffic than a two-lane rural road was built to handle. The improvement project straightens curves, flattens hills, widens the roadway, and rebuilds the intersections along the way.

The segments are not drawn from the same kind of source, and that is worth knowing when you read them.

US 25 to KY 17 (Ongoing)

Traced from the Preferred Design plan sheets prepared for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet by Stantec, dated November 2014, item 6-162.00. Those sheets are drawn at 1" = 400', so they show the general shape and position of the roadway rather than construction-level detail. They are also eleven years old: the roundabout at their east end exists on the ground but is not on the drawing.

US 42 to US 25 (Complete)

Not from any drawing. The shape comes from OpenStreetMap, which maps each carriageway and roundabout as it is, over an extent taken from KYTC's milepoints. This stretch is finished, so the map follows the road that is actually there.

The three proposed sections

From KYTC's own design files, supplied by the project manager in September 2026. These carry survey coordinates rather than a drawing scale, so nothing was traced or positioned by hand. They are preferred alternatives and can still change.

Switch to Plan sheets to read the original 2014 drawings themselves, and turn on Street names on the map if you need road names to get your bearings.

Work on the corridor is already visible on the ground. Right-of-way acquisition is complete for the section under construction, and many of the homes and other structures that stood in the path of the new alignment have since been removed.

Photographs taken on the ground along the corridor. They are not KYTC material and are not part of any official record.

KYTC is delivering the built and in-progress corridor in four numbered segments rather than as one job, and the sections further east are separate projects again. This reflects the project hub and conditions on the ground as of September 2026; the hub is the place to check for changes.

In progress

• Project 2: KY 536 from Bristow Road (KY 1303) to Williamswoods Drive1.54 miles, two lanes to four, with multi-use paths both sides and roundabouts at KY 1303 and Hogrefe Road. Started April 22, 2024; $30.75M to Eaton Asphalt. Targeted for summer 2027On the road now: traffic runs on new pavement between Hogrefe Road and Williamswoods Drive, after a switch on February 20, 2026. Only half the roundabout at Bristow and Mt. Zion Road is built, so KYTC asks drivers to treat that intersection as a three-way stop, and the surface shifts between the new and the original pavement either side of it.
• Project 3: Bristow Road (KY 1303) from north of Timber Lane to KY 536Started September 16, 2024. KYTC now says the project was completed in October 2026, with additional corrective work continuing after the final inspectionOn the road now: all lanes are open. Crews are still working on corrective items throughout the project limits, which KYTC expects to have minimal effect on traffic. Use caution and watch for crews.
• Project 4: KY 536 from Williamswoods Drive to Madison Pike (KY 17)Started December 1, 2025. Targeted for fall 2027. Most of it is built on a new alignment north of the existing KY 536, with a new bridge over Independence RoadOn the road now: earthwork inside the project limits, mostly off the existing road, so KYTC expects little effect on through traffic until the roundabout at Williamswoods Drive is built. Lane closures and shifting patterns are expected then.

Projects 2 and 4 together carry the corridor east from the Mt. Zion and Bristow junction to Madison Pike (KY 17). Project 3 runs north from that same junction along Bristow Road. Completion dates and current lane configurations are KYTC's own. The project hub is checked every weekday for updates, and this page is changed as soon as something new turns up.

Photographs taken from the road. They are not KYTC material and are not part of any official record.

Still in design

Three more projects carry KY 536 east of Madison Pike. All three are early: KYTC describes construction as several years away for each, and what the map shows are preferred alternatives rather than funded designs.

• 6-80217: KY 536 from Madison Pike (KY 17) to KY 16Preferred alternative identified; construction several years away
• 6-80203: KY 536 from KY 16 to KY 177, at the Campbell County linePreferred alternative identified; construction several years away
• 6-352: KY 536 from U.S. 27 to KY 9, the AA HighwayRight-of-way from U.S. 27 to Persimmon Grove Pike could start as early as 2027

KYTC held public meetings on all three in July 2026 and took written comments until 30 August. Preliminary engineering and environmental studies are finished for the two Kenton County projects, which is how a preferred alternative was chosen.

Completed

Project 1, Dixie Highway (U.S. 25) to Bristow Road, was finished in summer 2024. KY 536 from Union to just shy of where Mt. Zion Road ends at Bristow Road is already done, with great improvements to traffic flow.

The stretch between KY 177 and U.S. 27 has no project on this map because it does not need one: it was widened in 2017 and 2018 under KYTC contract 172225.

More detail on the completed segments →