Historic fences saved in remodeling of Paris Pike are crumbling

The rock fences that line Paris Pike are rife with historical significance. Some of the rock fences date to the 19th century, when Irish immigrants found work building the enclosures for plantation owners in the Bluegrass region who wanted to emulate the beauty of English country estates.

The state went to a lot of effort to preserve, move and protect the fences as part of a nearly $7.5 million-per-mile Paris Pike renovation that was designed to blend into, rather than consume, the landscape. At $93 million, the Paris Pike makeover was one of the most expensive road projects of its time and kind when it opened in 2003.

Eleven years later, significant chunks of the fences have crumbled, and there isn't money set aside for repairs.

Henry Alexander said he has noticed increasing portions of the historic rock wall fences deteriorating in recent months.

"It's kind of bad in spots," said Alexander, retired general manager of Sterling Stud Farm in Lexington and past chairman of the Paris Pike Corridor Commission. "I don't know whether somebody hit them or if it's the weather. Some of the old fences in the median in the middle are getting in rough shape."

The freeze-thaw cycle of winter and automobile impacts are likely culprits, said Natasha Lacy, public information officer for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. The state is responsible for repairing the fences in the median of the 12.5-mile route between Paris and Lexington.

Those median rock fences previously were on the road frontage of farms on either side of the road. If the fences couldn't be avoided during the renovation, they were dismantled and reconstructed, said Phil Logsdon, assistant director of Environmental Analysis for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and former environmental coordinator for the Paris Pike project. About 2 miles of fences were rebuilt, he said.

Most of the rock fences affected during the widening were in Fayette County near Elmendorf and Normandy farms, Logsdon said.

Alexander said Millennium Farm and other property on the western side of the project also were affected.

Horse farm owners are much quicker at performing needed repairs to their rock fences, which line either side of Paris Pike, Alexander said.

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Historic fences saved in remodeling of Paris Pike are crumbling