Just one day after Kentucky's new Secretary of Transportation, Joe Prather, assumed control of traffic issues in the state, the process began to install signals that had previously been deemed unnecessary. Specifically, $5450 worth of left-turn arrows happened to be set up at an intersection making it easier for Prather to turn into his subdivision. The Lexington Herald-Leader obtained transportation cabinet documents dated January 8, 2008 that showed that the intersection of Ring Road and Pear Orchard Road had one-half the traffic volume it would need to justify the engineering change. Nevertheless, the state's newly elected governor stood by his appointee.

"As far as I know, all this went through the proper channels," Governor Steve Beshear (D) said, as reported by the Herald-Leader. "It was approved in the proper ways and Secretary Prather didn't take part in the decision."

Prather says Elizabethtown Mayor David Willmoth Jr asked for the light in a letter issued on December 12, 2007 -- the same day that the signal change procedure began. The new signals were activated on January 14.