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[NE2]

Figured I'd create a general Kentucky thread like some other states have.

Anyway, what's the point of the new-terrain KY 680 south of Harold? I assume it's pork, but even pork usually has a purpose. Is it just pure economic development with no real expectation of through traffic, like this article implies? Or is it intended as a shortcut from KY 80 to Pikeville (I guess part of the "I-66" corridor)?

[hbelkins]

Figured I'd create a general Kentucky thread like some other states have.

Anyway, what's the point of the new-terrain KY 680 south of Harold? I assume it's pork, but even pork usually has a purpose. Is it just pure economic development with no real expectation of through traffic, like this article implies? Or is it intended as a shortcut from KY 80 to Pikeville (I guess part of the "I-66" corridor)?

There is already a fairly new KY 680 from KY 80 to KY 122 in the McDowell area. When this is completed, it will be a shortcut to Pikeville. It will come out on US 23 just north of the Pike/Floyd county line. It won't be part of the I-66 corridor, and the linked story is the first I'd ever heard that the route will eventually be four lanes.

Long story as to why it's not yet finished, and the first part from US 23 west just opened to traffic last year. There is a part beyond that where the grade work is mostly done but paving hasn't been started yet. And as much as I like road project for rural Kentucky, I must say i agree with the reason this one was delayed.

[NE2]

Ah, here we go:

This proposed highway is one link in the Garrett to Harold Highway that will provide a needed connector from KY 80 near Garrett to US 23 at Harold.

When I mentioned I-66 I didn't mean that it would be part of I-66, but that it will serve as part of the best route across southern Kentucky to Beckley while I-66 waits in the meat locker.

[NE2]

There appear to be duplicate KY 2390s in Laurel and Metcalfe Counties. I guess someone screwed up when assigning numbers.

[hbelkins]

There appear to be duplicate KY 2390s in Laurel and Metcalfe Counties. I guess someone screwed up when assigning numbers.

You seeing this on a map somewhere? Might be a typo somewhere...

[NE2]

There appear to be duplicate KY 2390s in Laurel and Metcalfe Counties. I guess someone screwed up when assigning numbers.

You seeing this on a map somewhere? Might be a typo somewhere...

In the SPRS listings. Same for 3215 in Lawrence and Owen Counties - and both of those are signed:
*Lawrence County
*Owen County

[Alex]

While trying to find info on the Natcher Parkway extension east from Interstate 65 to U.S. 231, I stumbled across this chamber of commerce site advocating numbering the parkway to Interstate 165:

Much like I-69 and the Audubon Parkway, the building of I-66 to within 25 miles of Owensboro presents an excellent chance to upgrade the Natcher Parkway to an Interstate spur. The question is whether the Natcher should be upgraded to an I-66 or I-65 spur.

I-65 is the third busiest north-south Interstate in the U.S. and already connects to the Natcher Parkway southwest of Bowling Green. While I-66 planning continues, perhaps the best idea is to convert the entire 65 miles of the Natcher Parkway to an Interstate spur between Owensboro and Bowling Green.

Again, the Chamber of Commerce has been working on this project. As with the Audubon Parkway/I-69 spur, the Chamber is working with Kentucky’s Congressional delegation to sponsor a bill that would designate the Natcher Parkway as a future Interstate spur.

Meanwhile, it is still hard to find info on the Natcher Parkway extension from Interstate 65 east to U.S. 231. Found this article from last summer:

Interchange construction means blocks

Meanwhile, work is continuing on the 2.5-mile extension of the parkway in the Plano area.

Many people apparently thought Natcher was going over Plano Road.

“But actually Plano Road will go up and over the Natcher,” Meredith said, noting the crews are starting to bring up the embankments on both sides of the bridge.

That bridge will have a single stop point for the interchange [SPUI].

Carter said traffic has already been switched onto a new section of about 1,500 feet of Dye Ford Road that changed where the road intersects with Scottsville Road [US 231].

Carter said crews have already set the beams for the Plano Road bridge and should begin setting the forms to pour the concrete bridge deck in the next month.

[NE2]

Here's what I could get from 2010 NAIP aerials: http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=36.9096&lon=-86.41786&zoom=15&layers=M
I suspect the ramp to I-65 north will be replaced by a loop, but couldn't see any definite evidence of grading.

[rickmastfan67]

Hey HB, do you know what's up with this new highway being built parallel to US-60/231 just East of Owensboro? http://g.co/maps/y3ydy  Are they going to be building a new bypass to connect to the Wendel Ford Bypass utilizing this new section of highway?

I also noticed that they have built a new road that intersects the bypass at-grade with traffic lights (http://g.co/maps/jqwdp).  I also looked at the Davis SPRS map and noticed it's got the designation of KY-603.  Do you know if the route is posted in the field, or is it hidden?  This PDF mentions it got it's number on September 12th of this year (Page 12).

[NE2]

Hey HB, do you know what's up with this new highway being built parallel to US-60/231 just East of Owensboro? http://g.co/maps/y3ydy  Are they going to be building a new bypass to connect to the Wendel Ford Bypass utilizing this new section of highway?

Map on page 112: http://transportation.ky.gov/Construction-Procurement/Proposals/107-DAVIESS-11-1324.pdf

[hbelkins]

I was in Owensboro back in the spring and that road that intersects the bypass at that at-grade intersection was not yet open to traffic. They are extending the bypass east to go around that developed section of US 60 east of town. Remember that the state gave US 60 inside the two ends of the existing bypass back to the city and routed the US 60 mainline along the bypass.

A new hospital is being built (you can see it on the Google Maps aerials) and it's possible the new route was built to serve the hospital.

[Grzrd]

Here is the 2012 Recommended Highway Plan in case someone wants some light reading.

EDIT

This article summarizes the highlights of the plan:

Notable provisions include:

•Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges Project
The governor’s plan funds the project in the next biennium with a combination of federal Interstate Maintenance (IM) and National Highway System (NH) funds and proceeds from previously authorized sales of GARVEE (Grant Anticipated Revenue Vehicle) bonds. IM and NH outlays each would be $25 million per year. GARVEE funds would provide $236 million, most of which would be spent in the coming biennium. In the four “out” years, FY 2015 through FY 2018, IM and NH outlays would continue at the same annual level, but toll revenue bonds would be sold to produce $846.2 million over the period.

•Mountain Parkway – Widening from Campton to Salyersville
The governor’s plan provides just under $80 million toward the long-awaited four-laning of the parkway through Wolfe, Morgan and Magoffin counties. That includes more than $8.5 million for design, $6.8 million for right of way acquisition and utility relocation and $64.5 million for construction.

•Appalachian Development Highway Corridors
The governor’s plan provides $269.3 million of federal Appalachian Development (APD) funding to complete construction of the U.S. 460 corridor in Pike County. The project involves relocating U.S. 460 from U.S. 23 to the Virginia line. In Letcher County, the governor’s plan provides $152.8 million of APD funds toward completion of the “Valley Floor” section of the U.S. 119 corridor. The project area extends from Partridge to Oven Fork.

•I-65 – Widening to six lanes
The governor’s plan provides $491.4 million over six years to complete the widening of I-65 in Barren, Hart, LaRue and Hardin counties. When completed, the heavily traveled corridor will be six lanes wide from the Tennessee border to the Ohio River at Louisville.

•Land Between the Lakes Bridges and U.S. 68 widening
The Governor’s plan follows through on a commitment to economic development in western Kentucky by providing $330 million of construction funds for new bridges over Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake – key elements in the completion of a four-lane corridor from Mayfield to Bowling Green. The plan also provides $75.9 million toward related projects; the widening of U.S. 68 in Trigg County and four-laning of the existing Cadiz bypass.

•I-69
Following through on the agreement that brought an I-69 designation to western Kentucky, the governor’s plan allocates $146.6 million through 2018 for improvements in the corridor – mainly reconstruction of seven state parkway interchanges to bring them up to interstate highway standards. The interchanges are in Henderson, Webster, Hopkins, Marshall and Graves counties. In October, Beshear and Federal Highway Administrator Victor Mendez unveiled one of the distinctive red, white and blue shields, creating 55 miles of I-69 from a 38-mile section of the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway and 17 miles of the present I-24. I-69 will eventually run from the Ohio River at Henderson to the Tennessee border at Fulton, tracing a portion of I-24 and sections of three state parkways – the Edward T. Breathitt Pennyrile Parkway, the Ford Western Kentucky and Julian Carroll Purchase Parkway.

•Newtown Pike Extension – Lexington
The recommended highway plan provides $41.5 million toward completion of the Newtown Pike Extension Project to Broadway in downtown Lexington. The project will result in a corridor from the University of Kentucky campus to I-64/75, north of Lexington, which will greatly reduce downtown traffic congestion while creating a visually appealing gateway to the city.

•I-71 and I-75 – Northern Kentucky
The recommended highway plan provides $72.6 million toward reconstruction of interchanges at KY 536 (Mount Zion Road) and KY 338 (Richwood Road) in Boone County. It also provides $24.7 million for added auxiliary lanes, both north- and southbound, on a 1.5-mile stretch of I-71/I-75 from Mount Zion Road to U.S. 42. The plan also allocates nearly $119 million through 2018, including $58.8 million through the biennium, toward the project to build a companion bridge to the Brent Spence Bridge, which currently carries I-71 and I-75 over the Ohio River between Covington and Cincinnati.

•KY 15 – Perry County
The governor’s plan provides $78.3 million toward widening 3-and-a-half miles of KY 15 to four lanes from Bonnyman to the Hazard Bypass.

[Stephane Dumas]

I saw also a proposed new corridor between Elizabethtown and Fort Knox on the District 4 map, is it a planned reroute of US-31W?

[hbelkins]

No, it's additional access to Fort Knox made necessary because of the BRAC proposals (Base Realignment and Closure) that is projected to increase the number of people living and working in the area.

[ShawnP]

Here's the as enacted plan.

First of all congrats to Kentucky for putting I-65 six lanes project to the forefront. The stretch between E-Town and Bowling Green has been the scene of some horrific cross overs thru the years. Kentucky didn't bite on Scotty's offer but went with pay go. Looks like the final money goes in 2018 with 2020 finishing timeframe. Slow but I see Kentucky's thought pattern.

I-64 widening between Louisville and Lexington took a hit as one stretch fell off (MP 28-32....easily upgradeable...) but they kept a further east bridge widening project.

I-75 has a widening project in Eastern Kentucky (MP 55-69).

Mountain Parkway has their widening on line.

Brent Spence takes a big bite and so does the Louisville Bridges project.

Overall not bad as Kentucky has the two big dogs in BS and LBP eating up hundreds of millions of dollars in funding.

http://transportation.ky.gov/Program-Management/Pages/2012-Highway-Plan.aspx

[codyg1985]

I just found that KY 79 southern terminus is essentially where US 79's northern terminus at Russellville, KY. KY 79 runs north through Morgantown, Caneyville, and Brandenburg before crossing the Ohio River, where it becomes IN 135. This sign assembly also makes it all the more interesting. I wonder if KYTC was suggesting that KY 79 be a continuation of US 79?

[hbelkins]

Unless something's changed. US 79 and KY 79 do not intersect.

Currently, US 79's northern terminus is at the southwestern end of the Russellville bypass, at US 431. If you are coming north on US 79, at the bypass you can turn left onto US 431 north or go straight on US 431 south. Formerly, there was a wrong-way concurrency of US 79 north and US 431 south, then US 431 turned right and US 79 continued straight, to end at Business US 68 near the intersection with KY 100.

KY 79's southern terminus is at Business US 431 north of the downtown Russellville area and north of Business US 68. See map at http://transportation.ky.gov/Planning/SPRS%20Maps/Russellville_city.pdf

US 79 and KY 79 never intersected, although there used to be a sign assembly that indicated otherwise. It was located at South Main and East 9th.

[roadman65]

I am trying to find out how many miles is US 60 in Kentucky.  Wikipedia and other pages google brings up, does not say.  I was wondering if anyone every calculated it, as its run along with I-64 east of Louisville is almost 200 miles, so I figure its alignment west of Louisville is more than 200 miles and overall must be near 500 miles, I would guess.

Also, is US 60 Kentucky's longest continuous route, or is KY 80 hold that title?

Any information would be helpful.  Either own information or a website that does log mileages in each state for US routes.

[hbelkins]

I am trying to find out how many miles is US 60 in Kentucky.  Wikipedia and other pages google brings up, does not say.  I was wondering if anyone every calculated it, as its run along with I-64 east of Louisville is almost 200 miles, so I figure its alignment west of Louisville is more than 200 miles and overall must be near 500 miles, I would guess.

Also, is US 60 Kentucky's longest continuous route, or is KY 80 hold that title?

Any information would be helpful.  Either own information or a website that does log mileages in each state for US routes.

I don't know if there is a page on KYTC's site that has total route mileage or not, but it would be possible to calculate the total mileage using the SPRS listings available on the "Maps" page. You'd have to call up the SPRS listing for each county the route runs through and do the math, but that's one way to get the information.

http://transportation.ky.gov/Planning/Pages/State-Primary-Road-System-Maps.aspx

[NE2]

I don't know if there is a page on KYTC's site that has total route mileage or not, but it would be possible to calculate the total mileage using the SPRS listings available on the "Maps" page. You'd have to call up the SPRS listing for each county the route runs through and do the math, but that's one way to get the information.

But that wouldn't include overlaps with lower-numbered routes, would it? (Not that there's much of that on US 60.)

Really, the easiest way is the Goog (487 miles): http://maps.google.com/maps?saddr=US-51+S%2FUS-60+E%2FUS-62+E%2FGreat+River+Rd&daddr=37.0775198,-88.955916+to:37.5852558,-87.9670544+to:37.7610299,-87.1615182+to:37.7747441,-87.079828+to:38.2089609,-85.7982739+to:38.2328714,-85.7912156+to:38.2582474,-85.7840229+to:38.2549458,-85.754376+to:38.2539574,-85.7249068+to:38.2025117,-84.8494669+to:38.147204,-84.7954469+to:37.9956589,-84.175814+to:38.028788,-84.0598079+to:38.4388232,-82.6821852+to:38.4820953,-82.6447225+to:35th+St%2FCs-1027&hl=en&ll=38.407464,-82.590923&spn=0.122679,0.264187&sll=38.472507,-82.634912&sspn=0.030642,0.066047&geocode=Fa1wNAIdv7Kv-g%3BFQ_CNQId9KOy-imNTg5tNe55iDEcpQuub3nbUA%3BFWeBPQIdsrrB-imxYHcHrGlwiDFv6L60hIjEgw%3BFQUwQAIdUgXO-ikLIGMo6LlviDFgaewdoAspGA%3BFZhlQAIdbETP-ik_9-RbCrBviDHUaIKf5Rarrw%3BFcAFRwIdf9Li-iljcGiU-hJpiDET9r0ZkqETHA%3BFSdjRwIdEe7i-im9_nbEyBJpiDFnLWPNv_5mlQ%3BFUfGRwIdKgrj-ilbvWgYQW1piDH0AQdqJSu28w%3BFWG5RwId-H3j-imlZgZxu3JpiDFCsE4zq_LPwA%3BFYW1RwIdFvHj-inlkxdbJ3NpiDFhFBv0SheSOA%3BFY_sRgIdxkzx-im1dqJsU3NCiDHu_bWfnBfwCA%3BFYQURgIdyh_y-ikHOkzAQnJCiDGIt5AJZ_-7AA%3BFYrEQwIdOpT7-iktoMAlBa5DiDH42n-KRxhDWg%3BFfRFRAIdYVn9-ilLoEfb4rpDiDEG5n13kbdVtA%3BFaeHSgIdt14S-yk3fqGBMXZGiDE0c_ofjx8HAw%3BFa8wSwIdDvES-ykjHR4PIXRGiDGg2RM-RVS2Sg%3BFbQBSgIdk68T-w&gl=us&dirflg=h&mra=dpe&mrsp=15&sz=15&via=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15&t=m&z=13

This jibes well with the 487.2 miles I get when combining the OSM ways in JOSM.

[hbelkins]

But that wouldn't include overlaps with lower-numbered routes, would it? (Not that there's much of that on US 60.)

You'd be surprised. It enters with US 51, then overlaps US 45 in Paducah, US 41A in Henderson, US 31W and US 31E from Fort Knox to east of downtown Louisville, US 42 in Louisville, US 27 and US 25 in Lexington and US 23 in Ashland. The 31W overlap is probably around 30 miles or so.

[ShawnP]

Went thru yesterday and the six lane project is moving along between MM28 and MM32 on I-64. Leaves one project to go to close the Waddy gap as I like to call it between the six lane projects on I-64.

[codyg1985]

How long has Kentucky been using the Flashing Yellow Arrow? I noticed quite a few installations of it along US 231/Scottsville Rd in Bowling Green. There was also a three-section FYA along US 31W northbound at the new South Warren Middle School. If I find the answer among the many pages of the FYA thread, I will update this post.

EDIT: According to HB, they started popping up in Frankfort around 2010ish.

[amroad17]

There is one at KY 17 and Hands Pike in between Covington and Independence that has been around for at least three years.

[hbelkins]

http://www.kentucky.com/2013/02/02/2500783/after-millions-of-dollars-i-66.html

There are so many things wrong in this story that I don't have time to list them all. Suffice it to say that the Lexington Birdcage Liner just uses the story as another excuse to do a hatchet job on Ernie Fletcher and Bill Nighbert, with a few jabs at Hal Rogers thrown in for good measure.