I-69 to be signed in Kentucky this fall

[hbelkins]

Will have to wait until I can find a link to post verification, but Kentucky has announced that it will later this year be signing I-69 along I-24 and the Western Kentucky Parkway, between the Purchase and Pennyrile parkways, a stretch totaling around 51 miles. FHWA signed off on it last week and the signage is contingent upon advertising for some improvements along the WK Parkway, and a waiver of other not-quite-current-interstate-standards exemptions.

[Grzrd]

Will have to wait until I can find a link to post verification, but Kentucky has announced that it will later this year be signing I-69 along I-24 and the Western Kentucky Parkway, between the Purchase and Pennyrile parkways, a stretch totaling around 51 miles. FHWA signed off on it last week and the signage is contingent upon advertising for some improvements along the WK Parkway, and a waiver of other not-quite-current-interstate-standards exemptions.

Here's a link:
http://www.isurfwebster.com/news/news/8307-i-69-is-now-official.html

"Gov. Steve Beshear today announced a milestone accomplishment for Kentucky transportation — federal approval of an agreement by which a 38-mile section of the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway will be designated Interstate 69 this fall ...

The agreement, which Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez approved on Aug. 25, covers the Ford/Western Kentucky Parkway from its interchange with I-24 near Eddyville to its interchange with the Breathitt/Pennyrile Parkway near Nortonville, in Hopkins County.

The agreement spells out improvements the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will undertake to bring parts of the parkway up to interstate standards. It also identifies design features that are at less than interstate standard but which the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has deemed acceptable.

Once the agreed improvements have been advertised to construction contractors, the designated section of the Ford/Western Kentucky Parkway will be eligible for the distinctive red, white and blue shield signs that identify interstate routes. In addition, about 17 miles of I-24, from Eddyville to the Carroll/Purchase Parkway interchange, will also bear I-69 signs, making the total, initial I-69 designation 55 miles long.

Kentucky Transportation Secretary Mike Hancock said the projects should be advertised by Sept. 30, for inclusion in a construction contract letting that is scheduled Oct. 21. The work will include upgrading bridge rails and guardrails, improving exit and entrance ramps to meet interstate standards, and raising some overpass bridges to increase clearance.

Future agreed improvements will include widening paved shoulders and reconstructing the KY 109 interchange, at Dawson Springs ..."

Here is link to same press release at Gov. Beshear's office:
http://governor.ky.gov/pressrelease.htm?PostingGUID={AC96E6DB-B9F4-4698-8017-A05FF61347BA}

[rickmastfan67]

So hb, they aren't going to post I-66 along the same segment at the same time?

[ShawnP]

FHWA FAIL if you ask me. Anything less than Interstate standard is unacceptable to me. No grandfathering, no cutting corners. Those standards are there for safety and better flow of traffic. KYTC is trying to do it on the cheap and got the Feds to play along.

[NE2]

FHWA FAIL if you ask me. Anything less than Interstate standard is unacceptable to me.

Are you going to go around to probably half the existing Interstates and remove signs because they don't meet current standards?

[wriddle082]

FHWA FAIL if you ask me. Anything less than Interstate standard is unacceptable to me.

Are you going to go around to probably half the existing Interstates and remove signs because they don't meet current standards?

All I can say is that at least KTC is making an effort to upgrade the WK/Ford Pkwy, and the I-69 shields are really just sort of an early bonus that could go ahead and spur some much-needed economic development in the LBL, Eddyville, Princeton, and Dawson Springs areas.

I just wonder if they have the plans in place yet to build two-lane flyovers for the cloverleaf movements at WK/Ford Pkwy eastbound-Pennyrile/Breathitt Pkwy northbound and at I-24 westbound-Purchase/Carroll Pkwy southbound.

I wonder also if the FHWA tends to shun the "TEMP" interstate designation these days...

[hbelkins]

FHWA FAIL if you ask me. Anything less than Interstate standard is unacceptable to me. No grandfathering, no cutting corners. Those standards are there for safety and better flow of traffic. KYTC is trying to do it on the cheap and got the Feds to play along.

I have said before, and will say again ... take the average passenger in a vehicle heading north on I-65 around the Sonora or Glendale exits, and give them a sleeping pill. Wake them up 35 minutes later on the Bluegrass Parkway near Bardstown, and they won't have a clue that they aren't on an interstate anymore if they don't see a BG Parkway sign. Kentucky's parkways are virtually indistinguishable from four-lane rural interstates.

[Sykotyk]

FHWA FAIL if you ask me. Anything less than Interstate standard is unacceptable to me. No grandfathering, no cutting corners. Those standards are there for safety and better flow of traffic. KYTC is trying to do it on the cheap and got the Feds to play along.

I have said before, and will say again ... take the average passenger in a vehicle heading north on I-65 around the Sonora or Glendale exits, and give them a sleeping pill. Wake them up 35 minutes later on the Bluegrass Parkway near Bardstown, and they won't have a clue that they aren't on an interstate anymore if they don't see a BG Parkway sign. Kentucky's parkways are virtually indistinguishable from four-lane rural interstates.

Other than the antiquated tollbooth interchanges that still exist, there is really no way to tell the difference between the average KY interstate and average KY parkway. They're to the same standards.

Now, if they were trying to go the Wyoming I-180 route and sign a road with lights, I would side with ShawnP. But, this is a freeway finally getting it's rightfully common route number for continuity's sake.

[mgk920]

Are there any plans to replace those cloverleaf loop ramps with full-speed flyovers at those two interchanges where I-69 will be making those 90 degree turns (I-24/Purchase Parkway and Western Kentucky/Pennyrile Parkway), so that I-69 would flow effortlessly through both?

Mike

[rickmastfan67]

HB, one more thing, do you know if the Parkways will get new exit numbers to match I-69's mileage?

[hbelkins]

Are there any plans to replace those cloverleaf loop ramps with full-speed flyovers at those two interchanges where I-69 will be making those 90 degree turns (I-24/Purchase Parkway and Western Kentucky/Pennyrile Parkway), so that I-69 would flow effortlessly through both?

Mike

They will eventually have to do that, I'm sure, but for now since the only parkway to get the I-69 signs is the WK Parkway, that will be way off in the distance. However, it wouldn't be unprecedented to keep the cloverleafs and sign I-69 continuously. See I-55 at US 64/US 70/US 79 in Memphis.

HB, one more thing, do you know if the Parkways will get new exit numbers to match I-69's mileage?

I don't think they are that far along in the thought process yet, but I would think they will not change the numbers until I-69 is continuously signed from the Tennessee line to the Indiana line.

[tdindy88]

My question would be with the I-24 multiplex, which highway's exits get numbered. My guess would be it would stay with 24, but who knows. Personally, I traveled the WK Parkway along with I-24 to Paducah last Sunday and honestly felt that the highway was close enough to interstate standards anyway, and it felt like travelling down an interstate with a 70mph speed limit. My last question would be, does the Western Kentucky Parkway get demoted from where I-24 to the Pennyrile or will it still be called the Western Kentucky Parkway, but with an I-69 shield on it.

[RoadWarrior56]

I am not a privy to KYTC's decision-making process, but I would guess that the mileposts will stay as they are.  I would figure that I-69 will be consigned with the WK parkway, not replace the designation.

Also, I see no need at the present to reconstruct the present cloverleaf where the WK Parkway meets the Pennyrile Parkway.  There is nothing inherintly unsafe about a cloverleaf interchange as long as the weaving volumes are relatively low, which right now they are.  Based on the current rate of upgrading, it will likely be years before enough of I-69 has been completed or upgraded to significificantally increase traffic on those roadways.  The interchange could be upgraded if and when it is needed.

I suspect I-69 is being signed at this time for political and economic development reasons.  Until it is continuously signed throughout Kentucky, I would be surprised to see the mileposts or exit numbers to be changed.

[hbelkins]

I suspect I-69 is being signed at this time for political and economic development reasons.  Until it is continuously signed throughout Kentucky, I would be surprised to see the mileposts or exit numbers to be changed.

The incumbent governor is running for re-election.

[Michael in Philly]

FHWA FAIL if you ask me. Anything less than Interstate standard is unacceptable to me. No grandfathering, no cutting corners. Those standards are there for safety and better flow of traffic. KYTC is trying to do it on the cheap and got the Feds to play along.

I have said before, and will say again ... take the average passenger in a vehicle heading north on I-65 around the Sonora or Glendale exits, and give them a sleeping pill. Wake them up 35 minutes later on the Bluegrass Parkway near Bardstown, and they won't have a clue that they aren't on an interstate anymore if they don't see a BG Parkway sign. Kentucky's parkways are virtually indistinguishable from four-lane rural interstates.

Other than the antiquated tollbooth interchanges that still exist, there is really no way to tell the difference between the average KY interstate and average KY parkway. They're to the same standards.

Now, if they were trying to go the Wyoming I-180 route and sign a road with lights, I would side with ShawnP. But, this is a freeway finally getting it's rightfully common route number for continuity's sake.

Right.  As long as we tolerate 180 in Wyoming, and "I-78" approaching the Holland Tunnel, being anal about just when NY 17 will be deserving of the I-86 designation all the way across (to take another example) is a bit silly.  Not to say hypocritical.

But if we're interested in continuity, why not do the Purchase and Pennyrile as well?  Or alternatively wait until they're ready?  I'm not sure I see the point in having 50 miles of an Interstate dead-end that dead-ends 200 miles south of its next segment (I mean the distance from the WK/Pennyrile junction to the northeast side of Indianapolis)?

Also, why bother with the 24/69 duplex now, rather than leaving it as 24 until the Purchase is signed as 69?

Sorry for the slight incoherence of this post - thinking out loud.

[RoadWarrior56]

Michael, I agree that a duplex of I-69 and I-24 is unnecessary on its merits.  That is why I think this effort to sign a piece of I-69 is primarily political and economic.  However, I would not be surprised to see the Pennyrile signed as I-69 within a couple of years after the first phase, once minimal upgrades are made to the Western Kentucky Pkwy.  At that point you will have some near-continuity, being that over 80 miles of new alignment I-69 will be completed across the river in Indiana by then.

[rickmastfan67]

Also, why bother with the 24/69 duplex now, rather than leaving it as 24 until the Purchase is signed as 69?

They want to do a NC. lol.  Just look at the I-77/I-74 mutliplex.

[Alex]

Also, why bother with the 24/69 duplex now, rather than leaving it as 24 until the Purchase is signed as 69?

They want to do a NC. lol.  Just look at the I-77/I-74 mutliplex.

Or the just as useless I-55/69 MS overlap to the TN line. 

[InterstateNG]

I'll be on those roads in a couple of weeks, but I think that's too early to see the new signs.

[agentsteel53]

it would be nice if the first run had the state name, but I doubt Kentucky would try that.

[hbelkins]

Michael, I agree that a duplex of I-69 and I-24 is unnecessary on its merits.  That is why I think this effort to sign a piece of I-69 is primarily political and economic.  However, I would not be surprised to see the Pennyrile signed as I-69 within a couple of years after the first phase, once minimal upgrades are made to the Western Kentucky Pkwy.  At that point you will have some near-continuity, being that over 80 miles of new alignment I-69 will be completed across the river in Indiana by then.

No reason the Purchase Parkway could not be signed, either, under those circumstances.

[Alps]

Kentucky is not one of the state-name states. Wouldn't ever expect a KY 69 to pop up.

[hbelkins]

Kentucky is not one of the state-name states. Wouldn't ever expect a KY 69 to pop up.

Actually, we're going back to using the state name, even in the signs along the interstates themselves. Lots of new state-name I-75 and I-64 shields in the Lexington area have been posted in the last year.

But speaking of KY 69, I expect that route will have to go away since Kentucky doesn't duplicate route numbers -- and the state route and the interstate are in the same general area of the state.

[Stephane Dumas]

But speaking of KY 69, I expect that route will have to go away since Kentucky doesn't duplicate route numbers -- and the state route and the interstate are in the same general area of the state.

But wasn't a US-79 and a KY-79 who co-exist? Although the KY-79 seems to act as a defacto extension of US-79.

[rickmastfan67]

Kentucky is not one of the state-name states. Wouldn't ever expect a KY 69 to pop up.

Actually, we're going back to using the state name, even in the signs along the interstates themselves. Lots of new state-name I-75 and I-64 shields in the Lexington area have been posted in the last year.

Really?  Got any pictures?