Study to ID I-69 needs for parkway

Posted: Saturday, June 5, 2010 7:57 am
By: PADUCAH, Ky.

PADUCAH, Ky. — The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has contracted for a scoping study that will identify improvements required to upgrade 51 miles of the Julian Carroll-Purchase Parkway to Interstate 69 status from Fulton to Calvert City, Ky.
It also covers 18 miles of existing I-24 from Calvert City to Eddyville, Ky., along the I-69 corridor.
“This study is another of many steps toward bringing our existing parkways up to current Interstate highway standards,” said Ted Merryman, the cabinet’s I-69 coordinator.  “This study will identify areas and issues that require attention before the existing parkway miles can get an official approval from the Federal Highway Administration.”
The scoping study is an interdisciplinary assessment of existing conditions that will be used to develop preliminary recommendations on needed upgrades. It follows a similar 2008 study of Kentucky’s I-69 corridor along the Breathitt-Pennyrile Parkway and the Wendell Ford-Western Kentucky Parkway between Henderson, Ky., and Eddyville.
Merryman says he is hopeful the study will be able to identify specific improvements that will aid in the Interstate 69 designation.
KYTC Project Development Engineer Tim Choate says there are already a number of significant improvement projects in the road plan approved by the General Assembly that are part of preparation for I-69.
There are seven recently approved projects between Henderson and Fulton, totaling $50 million, that will help move the corridor closer to an official I-69 designation. The approved projects include interchange improvements at Robards, Sebree, Mortons Gap, Dawson Springs and Benton in western Kentucky.
The scoping study will identify issues that require attention along the corridor between Eddyville and Fulton. Merryman is optimistic a draft of the scoping study can be ready for a public meeting sometime this fall to allow discussion of the findings before a final report is completed in spring of 2011.
Palmer Engineering of Winchester is the prime consultant on the $251,000 scoping study contract.
Published in  The Messenger 6.4.10