BURLINGTON, Ky. — A one-stop shop where Northern Kentucky residents can get driver's licenses and other services is opening Monday.
It's part of a transition happening all across Kentucky with the introduction of Driver's Licensing Regional Offices. And it's the place to go for residents who need a Real ID-compliant driver's license in Boone County.
The new office replaces the services that had been offered by the Circuit Court Clerk's Office in Boone County. Eventually it also will replace the driver's licenses services offered by several other circuit court clerks in Northern Kentucky, said Matthew Cole, commissioner of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet's Department of Vehicle Regulation.
Kentucky is shifting those services to larger regional offices operated by KYTC's Department of Vehicle Regulation.
"Obviously, we're not ready to transition other counties in the area, because we want this as a very stepped and controlled, metered process," Cole said. "Because at no point do we want this to be an inconvenience to the population in Northern Kentucky, and at no point do we want this to be a hardship on the circuit clerk."
The regional offices will offer standard and Real ID driver's licenses.
So far, 19 offices are open across the state with a goal to open 30.
The Boone County location is the first to open in Northern Kentucky and has more work spaces than all of the county clerks offices in Northern Kentucky.
The regional offices are where Kentucky State Police will offer written and road driving tests. And while Kentucky residents used to be required to visit the circuit court clerk in their home counties for driver's license services, the one-stop shops will allow residents to visit any regional office across the state or even renew driver's licenses online.
State officials say all those county services will transition to regional offices by June 30, 2022. The federally compliant driver's licenses take effect in May 2023.
