Business Loop I-24 - Paducah

Business Loop I-24U.S. 60U.S. 45 BusinessU.S. 60 BusinessKentucky Highway 1954

The lone business loop posted in Kentucky travels 11.4 miles between Exits 4 and 11 on Interstate 24 to Downtown Paducah in McCracken County. The west end of Business Loop I-24 lies near Kentucky Oaks Mall along U.S. 60 (Hinkleville Road). U.S. 60 and Business Loop I-24 overlap eastward onto Park Avenue to Noble Park, where U.S. 60 splits for Joe Clifton Drive. U.S. 60 Business begins and follows Park Avenue along the business route through the Paducah residential street grid. A one-way couplet separates eastbound along Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and westbound along Park Avenue to the couplet of 3rd and 4th Streets through the central business district. U.S. 45 Business joins the one-way pairs between 8th Street and Kentucky Avenue.

Leaving Downtown, Business Loop I-24 and U.S. 60 Business combine as solely 3rd Street from Ohio Street eastward through an industrial area alongside the Tennessee River. Crossing Island Creek, the pair transition to Wayne Sullivan Drive, which angles the pair southward to U.S. 60/62 (Clarks River Road) and John L. Puryear Drive. U.S. 60 Business ends as Business Loop I-24 joins Kentucky 1954 along John Puryear Drive south back to Interstate 24.

The Downtown Paducah couplet system of Business Loop I-24/U.S. 60 Business along 3rd and 4th Streets was constructed in the mid 1970s.1 The establishment of the Paducah business loop was supported by then-Governor Julian Carroll (1974-79), who added funding for the Downtown Loop during his time in office.2

Before the completion of John Puryear Drive in 1999, which relocated KY 1954 east from Husband Road, Business Loop I-24 continued east along U.S. 60/62 to their partition at Riverview. U.S. 62 and Business Loop I-24 proceeded south from there to U.S. 68, which returned the business route to Interstate 24 at Exit 16. Historically U.S. 68 followed U.S. 60/62 northwest to Tyler and along Business U.S. 60/62 to U.S. 45 Business (Kentucky Avenue) in Downtown Paducah.

References:

  1. Paducah-McCracken County Transportation Study - March 2002. http://paducahky.gov/paducah/files/u3/TranspStudy2002.pdf
  2. "West Kentucky losing influence in Frankfort." The Paducah Sun (KY), January 12, 2009.
  3. Noble Park history, http://paducahky.gov/paducah/noble-park-history Paducah government web site.

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Page Updated Monday October 28, 2013.