Located in the heart of the Kentucky Bluegrass Region, the "Paris Pike" is a scenic, twelve-mile corridor running between Lexington and Paris. Beginning in 1969, the state of Kentucky sought to widen the road in order to improve safety and capacity. Various objections led to a federal court injunction imposed in 1979 that halted the project for more than fifteen years. Over the span of three decades, several consultant studies contributed to the public understanding of the road's significance and set the stage for what has been regarded as the model for context-sensitive road reconstruction in America.

The Paris-Lexington Road focuses on the history of the reconstruction of the Paris Pike (now renamed the "Paris-Lexington Road") to critically review this reconstruction project and illustrate its significance to the profession of landscape architecture. It also situates the role of landscape architects in the history of highway design, and examines the various contemporary challenges and opportunities represented within the Paris Pike project.