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Mountain Parkway Major Extension

Started by ShawnP, January 15, 2014, 03:05:17 PM

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Bitmapped

Quote from: hbelkins on April 16, 2015, 12:02:32 PM
KYTC conducted a public meeting Tuesday night in Prestonsburg concerning the four-laning of KY 114 between the US 460 intersection at Salyersville and the beginning of the existing four-lane west of Prestonsburg.

They've put two options on the table -- widening existing KY 114 and reducing the number of driveways and side road access points, or building a new limited-access freeway north of the existing route, with no intersections or interchanges whatsoever along the new freeway.

Amazingly, total cost for the new-terrain route is only $7 million more than for widening the existing route, due to the cost of right-of-way, utility relocations and stream impact fees if existing 114 is widened.

So you'd have freeway west of Salyersville, surface road in Salyersville, freeway east to Prestonsburg, then surface road again at Prestonsburg?


hbelkins

Quote from: Bitmapped on April 16, 2015, 10:16:48 PM
So you'd have freeway west of Salyersville, surface road in Salyersville, freeway east to Prestonsburg, then surface road again at Prestonsburg?

Yep. There were plans for a route south of existing US 460 in Salyersville, but the local economic interests protested vehemently. They said bypassing the stretch of restaurants and gas stations there (locally known as Restaurant Row) would kill that area. So plans for widening US 460 to four lanes were in the works long before the overall Mountain Parkway project was announced last year.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

froggie

HB:  is there a figure for the level of through traffic between Salyersville and Prestonsburg as compared to the existing traffic level along KY 114?  I find it hard to believe that there's a volume level that would justify a new-terrain freeway, ESPECIALLY if that freeway would have zero interchanges in between, which effectively makes it useless to KY 114 traffic that does have an origin or destination between Salyersville and Prestonsburg.

hbelkins

I haven't seen any projected traffic counts, only existing counts along KY 114:

http://maps.kytc.ky.gov/photolog/?config=TrafficCounts

ADT of 5764 just east of US 460, 5230 at the Magoffin/Floyd line, 10,850 between KY 122 and US 23.

Interesting to note that they're adding an interchange (at KY 3050/Gifford Road) on the existing super 2 west of Salyersville, as well as upgrading the KY 134/KY 191 interchange (Exit 60) from a partial to a full interchange, and converting the at-grade connector between KY 134 and the parkway that was added in the late 80s after the tolls were removed to a grade-separated interchange, but nothing's planned for the easternmost segment.

The proposed routing has the new alignment only crossing two roads, Dry Bread Road, which is a county road that runs into Johnson County, and KY 1427. Those would be the only possible access points unless a new route is proposed to link the new route to existing 114.

In this case, the justification isn't the traffic volumes, but the number of people who would be forced to sell their houses and move, and the fact that isn't enough available housing in the local market to accommodate the residents who would be displaced.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

froggie

If 114's volumes are that low, I'm not convinced that 4-laning is even needed.  A new-alignment 2-lane might be justifiable, but a separate 4-lane corridor certainly isn't...even if volumes double (which I doubt...that area of Kentucky isn't exactly growing).

hbelkins

Quote from: froggie on April 17, 2015, 06:22:39 PM
If 114's volumes are that low, I'm not convinced that 4-laning is even needed.  A new-alignment 2-lane might be justifiable, but a separate 4-lane corridor certainly isn't...even if volumes double (which I doubt...that area of Kentucky isn't exactly growing).

Some sections of the super-2 Mountain Parkway are a lot lower. I'm not convinced that four-laning the Mountain Parkway super-2 section is necessary. But The Powers That Be are dead-set on four-laning the entire corridor. I think a few passing lanes on 114 would be more than sufficient.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

froggie

Agreed.  I've taken 114 and it's really not that bad.  The signals in Salyersville are probably the worst part of the whole corridor.

hbelkins

Quote from: froggie on April 18, 2015, 07:19:08 AM
Agreed.  I've taken 114 and it's really not that bad.  The signals in Salyersville are probably the worst part of the whole corridor.

There's actually only one signal, at the terminus of the Mountain Parkway. The existing four-laning plan for the Restaurant Row corridor of US 460, with its system of frontage and backage roads for access to the existing businesses, will actually add more signals.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

The Ghostbuster

Does anyone have a timeframe on when this extension might be built?

hbelkins



Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

codyg1985

Work is well underway now to widen the Mountain Parkway from Salyersville west. It is about five miles in length.
Cody Goodman
Huntsville, AL, United States

hbelkins

Quote from: codyg1985 on June 08, 2016, 07:36:50 AM
Work is well underway now to widen the Mountain Parkway from Salyersville west. It is about five miles in length.

Did you drive through there on your way home from West Virginia?

There's a pre-bid conference tomorrow on the US 460 portion in Salyersville. Replacing a three-lane road that has only one traffic light with a four-lane road with five or six traffic lights.  :pan: :banghead:


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

codyg1985

Quote from: hbelkins on June 08, 2016, 04:02:29 PM
Quote from: codyg1985 on June 08, 2016, 07:36:50 AM
Work is well underway now to widen the Mountain Parkway from Salyersville west. It is about five miles in length.

Did you drive through there on your way home from West Virginia?

I did! I will post photos soon on here and on Facebook.

Quote from: hbelkins on June 08, 2016, 04:02:29 PM
There's a pre-bid conference tomorrow on the US 460 portion in Salyersville. Replacing a three-lane road that has only one traffic light with a four-lane road with five or six traffic lights.  :pan: :banghead:

Barf indeed.
Cody Goodman
Huntsville, AL, United States

codyg1985

Here is a link to my Facebook album of pictures of the construction.
Cody Goodman
Huntsville, AL, United States

codyg1985

Does KYTC have any electronic PDF plans available online for projects that are being let? I couldn't find any.
Cody Goodman
Huntsville, AL, United States

hbelkins

Quote from: codyg1985 on June 08, 2016, 06:28:34 PM
Does KYTC have any electronic PDF plans available online for projects that are being let? I couldn't find any.

Not that I'm aware of. Occasionally some plans will get posted on the Division of Construction Procurement's website, but that's a rarity. Mr. Winkler probably has the definitive answer to that question.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.



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