Preliminary plans for the Hobart/Carl Smith Drive project began in January 2007 when Dean Otworth approached the department with a vision to improve the area’s transportation network by extending the existing Hobart Road from its terminus near U.S. Route 62 at the northern corporation limit of Hillsboro to state Route 73 at the city’s west side. Eight years, several designs and countless hours later, the project has come together and construction is about to start.