Will upgrade roads in Hopkins, Webster and Henderson counties
FRANKFORT, Ky. (June 17, 2014) — Gov. Steve Beshear today announced award of a contract for more of the improvements needed for bringing a portion of the Breathitt-Pennyrile Parkway up to interstate standards and eventual designation as Interstate 69.
“This is another big step toward our goal of an I-69 Corridor from the Ohio River to the Tennessee border,” Beshear said. “I-69 will be an enduring asset to western Kentucky and, indeed, to the entire commonwealth.”
The I-69 construction will result in improvements to a 36.4-mile stretch of the Parkway in Hopkins, Webster and Henderson counties. The project includes pavement rehabilitation, new lighting, reconstructing ramps, widening overpass bridges and fixing vertical clearance issues on some overpass structures. Addressing outdated bridge barrier walls, disjointed pipes along the routes and low or damaged guardrails also fall within the scope of the contract.
Hall Contracting of Kentucky Inc. was awarded the contract on a low bid of $11.93 million. The I-69 construction has a completion date of Aug. 1, 2015.
Once I-69 construction is complete, the road will run north to south from the Ohio River at Henderson to the Tennessee border at Fulton. Completion of the corridor requires improvements to portions of three Kentucky parkways, all of which originally were toll roads – the Breathitt-Pennyrile, Ford-Western Kentucky and Carroll-Purchase parkways.
To date, 55 miles of the corridor are complete – from roughly Nortonville to the interchange of I-24 and the Carroll-Purchase Parkway near Gilbertsville – and the route now bears the red, white and blue shields of I-69. In October 2011, Beshear and then-Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez unveiled the first I-69 shield, near Nortonville.
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