It went from a four lane to a two lane as well. It is a PITA to drive through there now and there was no good reason to do it. The businesses on Winchester have suffered significantly from this. There is a matter of principle at play as well I will admit. It was a huge waste of money to make things worse.
Are you even from Ashland or do you just like to mouth off and insult others?
Downtown Ashland is 10x better now than it was when I was growing up. It used to be a lame traffic corridor that felt as dead and now it is much more pedestrian-friendly, aesthetically pleasing, and safer. Study after study shows the benefits to city-planning moves like this far outweigh the temporary negatives (old turds who hate change, and constraints during construction). I much more enjoy walking around downtown there than I ever did before.
However, for old lardasses such as yourself, I'm sure it's a PIYEDGA (pain in your enormous, dirty, girthy ***).