Dozens of Erlanger residents showed up to a town hall this week demanding answers about when the crumbling, pothole-scarred Stevenson Road will finally get fixed, with several calling it one of the worst streets in the city and a genuine danger to kids walking to school. Their frustration boiled over even though state officials announced tens of millions of dollars for the project two years ago.
The gathering was WCPO 9 News's “Let's Talk” event, held in Erlanger, Kentucky, where residents pressed city leaders on the fate of a long-promised overhaul of Stevenson Road, according to WCPO 9 Cincinnati. Resident Phil Markwell told the outlet that Stevenson Road is one of the worst streets in Erlanger and has potholes everywhere. Another resident, Dale Hodge, said parents may be reluctant to let their children bike or walk to school because one school sits in the middle of the corridor.
A School in the Middle of the Danger Zone
That school is Edgar Arnett Elementary, part of the Erlanger-Elsmere Independent School District, which sits near the corner of Alice Street and Stevenson Road and serves elementary students living along the corridor, per the school district's own boundary records. The building was dedicated in 1967 and has functioned as the neighborhood's primary elementary school ever since. For families along Stevenson Road, that proximity is exactly why the road's cracked pavement and inconsistent sidewalks feel urgent rather than cosmetic.
City leaders say they hear the frustration. Erlanger Mayor Jessica Fette said the redesign will address increased traffic and severe storm-water issues and make sidewalks safer to walk on, and Markwell added that residents have been promised the project for years and simply want it completed, the station's report notes. Erlanger city leaders have said they are aware of the road's condition and have made it a stated priority, even as the timeline drags on.
Where the Money Actually Stands
The scale of the funding is not in question. State officials say Kentucky has allocated more than $30 million for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Sanitation District No. 1 to redesign the Stevenson Road corridor, with the project itself pegged at $32 million, per the same account. That state commitment traces back to September 2024, when Kentucky Senate Budget Chair Sen. Chris McDaniel presented Erlanger city leaders with a ceremonial check for $30.63 million, funded through House Bill 1 using the state's Budget Reserve Trust Fund, according to LINK nky. That money targets a specific stretch of the road, officially designated Kentucky State Highway 236, running from Alice Street to Jacqueline Drive.
Yet two years after that check-presentation photo op, the project remains in the design phase, WCPO reported. Recent state budget filings help explain why: Kentucky's 2026–2028 Biennial Highway Construction Plan set aside $8.5 million specifically for right-of-way acquisition along KY 236, as reported by NKyTribune. Acquiring land ahead of construction is a required step before utility work and repaving can begin, which helps explain the gap between the celebratory funding announcement and visible progress on the ground.
Utilities, Flooding, and a Patchwork of Local Fixes
The redesign is not just about smoother pavement. It is meant to tackle increased traffic, storm-water problems, sewer drainage, road conditions, and sidewalk safety all at once. State legislative filings show Kenton County government has allocated $250,000 for sanitary sewer and waterline relocations along the corridor, while the City of Erlanger has committed up to $350,000 and gained eligibility for up to 50 percent stormwater cost-sharing through Sanitation District No. 1, per Kentucky General Assembly records.
That drainage work addresses a problem residents have complained about for decades. Stormwater runoff and flash flooding have repeatedly overwhelmed drainage systems along Stevenson Road, prompting Sanitation District No. 1 to build local relief sewer projects dating back to 2006. Separately, before the state funding arrived, Mayor Fette's administration had already allocated $332,000 in city funds specifically for Stevenson Road sidewalk replacements, an earlier, smaller-scale attempt to improve pedestrian safety independent of the larger state highway project.
A Slow-Moving Piece of a Bigger Regional Push
Stevenson Road's overhaul is one piece of a much larger $220 million Kenton County legislative transportation package passed by state lawmakers between 2024 and 2026, which also funds safety and congestion projects along KY 1303, KY 17, and US 25, according to NKyTribune. Some work on Stevenson Road itself has already happened in smaller bursts: in July 2024, Norfolk Southern Railway temporarily closed the road's railroad crossing to replace ties and repair the surface under the direction of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 6, LINK nky reported at the time.
Meanwhile, Erlanger officials are juggling more than one state road project in the same stretch of the city. Earlier this year, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet District 6 proposed a major reconfiguration of nearby Dixie Highway between Commonwealth Avenue and Turfway Road, prompting Mayor Fette to voice concerns over potential business and traffic impacts, LINK nky reported. WCPO 9 News said it requested a completion timeline from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for the Stevenson Road project and that the agency was not available for an interview and has not yet responded. For residents like Markwell, that silence is the crux of the frustration: the money has been announced, the plans exist on paper, but nobody in Erlanger can yet say exactly when the potholes near Arnett Elementary will finally disappear.
