Given the large amount of auto and farm machinery traffic the road carried, plus the high number of fatalities from vehicular accidents, the Commonwealth of Kentucky Department of Transportation opted to add two more lanes.

In 1986, proponents and opponents of the Paris Pike widening project met, agreeing to work together in order to improve the safety and capacity of the deadly road.

In 1990, Bluegrass Tomorrow created a committee of supporters and opponents of the Paris Pike project with hope that a compromise could be reached on how the roadway should be improved.

Unfortunately, later that year the Kentucky Department of Transportation released their Record of Decision, in that the Paris Pike should be improved by widening the highway to four-lanes with a 40-foot (12 m) median, almost exactly like the plans in 1966 which were later cancelled.

During this time, a proposal by then governor Brereton Jones was derailed as it would have utilized an abandoned railroad corridor to the east of the existing Paris Pike.

The final report from the Paris Pike Committee was signed off on in May 1993 and endorsed by all preservation and conservation groups who at one point were at odds over this widening project.

Dry-laid limestone rock fences were dismantled and reconstructed by hand, for instance, and extensive landscaping and tree planting using native species were utilized.