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301 31 Intersections and Commercial Roadside Development Mile 15.2 U.S. 68 enters the south edge of the Maysville suburban commercial strip. Mile 15.5 Kentucky SR 9, also popularly known as the AA Highway because it links Alexandria in Campbell County to Ashland in Boyd County, intersects U.S. 68. A Maysville-Lexington Turnpike tollhouse stood along the old road in this vicinity. Though this intersection is relatively new—this section of SR 9 was completed in the 1990s—highway-oriented businesses have already colonized the adjoining lots and a new, dispersed business district is beginning to emerge, strung out at relatively low density along both highways. Commercial and retail businesses prefer business locations with the highest accessibility and, especially in the automobile era, visibility. Urban land values, therefore, tend to be highest at those sites that enjoy the greatest access, which is often the intersection of two major highways, be they interstate, federal, or state roads. The result is that the land adjacent to this primary intersection carries the highest demand and is the highest valued. Land values tend to decline in a linear fashion as distance from the intersection increases. If one highway has a greater traffic flow than the other, the highest land values will tend to follow the high-traffic corridor. In the absence of zoning regulations, landowners will differentiate their land use in accordance with the amount of land that their businesses require and land or rent costs. Lots adjacent to the high-access crossroads will therefore be the highest valued and will attract those businesses that can generate the highest profit per square foot. Along important transport corridors at the edge of a city, these are usually automobile-oriented businesses such as fast food outlets and shopping centers. Businesses such as automobile and truck dealerships, which require extensive space for vehicle parking and service garages, tend to be located farther from the primary high-value intersection where access and visibility remain good but land costs are lower. Businesses that require significant acreage of low-value land, such as mobile home or manufactured housing sales, cannot afford land near the primary high-value node and will generally resign themselves to a roadside site some distance away. 302  The Maysville Road: A Landscape Biography At the U.S. 68 and AA Highway intersection, fast food franchises, large gas stations, drive-in banks, and a shopping center occupy the peak-value lots. New development is extending east along the AA Highway, not south along U.S. 68 toward Washington. The 2007 traffic count on the AA Highway to the east is more than 16,500 vehicles per day, whereas the count on U.S. 68 south to Washington is about one third that number, at about 5,300 vehicles. This dramatic difference probably reflects both the volume of through traffic and the local traffic attracted to the new Wal-Mart and strip shopping center about one-half mile east on SR 9—high-traffic flow begets retail outlets that beget more traffic . . .1 North toward Maysville, land uses segue into an unusual mix of old roadside businesses that have been in place since the 1960s, or even earlier, commingled with newer commercial establishments that opened here after the AA Highway opened. Mile 15.9 The Mason County High School is on the right. Mile 16.4 U.S. 68 intersects with SR 1448, or Maple Leaf Drive, across from the Maysville County Club. The country club opened in 1927 and includes an eighteenhole golf course designed by William Newcomb. Newcomb’s background includes a degree in landscape architecture from the University of Michigan. He has designed a number of prominent American golf courses, including Boyne Mountain, Thornapple Pointe, Calderone Farms, and Concord Hills, all in Michigan. Mile 16.7 Jersey Ridge Road turns left off U.S. 68 and follows the Ohio River bluff crest to the northwest. Mile 16.8 The modern rendition of U.S. 68 here dates to 1950, when highway engineers completed the bypass that swings off to the right and plunges downhill toward the Ohio River, following the shoulder of a small valley cut by a Limestone Creek tributary. At the bottom of the hill the highway curves back to the left, or west, to enter downtown Maysville. In 2000 engineers widened this hillside road section to four lanes and in the process cut a deep slice into the hillside, leaving behind a crumbling , bare bedrock wall. To reduce erosion...

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