Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway

From the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Department of Highways District 3 (Aug. 9, 2010):

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will hold a public meeting from 4 pm until 6 pm on Tuesday, August 24 at the Metcalfe County High School concerning the construction of a new interchange on the Louis B. Nunn/Cumberland Parkway at US 68, north of Edmonton.

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From Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Department of Highways District 3:

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – (May 21, 2010) The Department of Highways District 3 Office advises motorists to be aware of construction vehicles crossing the Louie B. Nunn Parkway at mile marker 15.25 beginning Tuesday morning, weather permitting. This crossing is east of Exit 14 (KY 90).

This crossing is not at an interchange but is in the middle of on-going construction for the eastern section of the Glasgow Outer Loop. The vehicle crossings are necessary for interchange work on the south side of the parkway and will continue through the summer.

Dump trucks and other heavy equipment vehicles will be flagged across BOTH directions of the Nunn Parkway during daylight hours.

Traffic will be brought to a stop in each direction during these crossovers.

Motorists are advised to watch for flaggers, reduce their speed and be prepared to come to a complete stop at this location.

From the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Department of Highways District 3 on August 9, 2009:

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – KYTC crews have pushed traffic down to one lane in each direction on the Louie B. Nunn Parkway in preparation for bridge pier construction.

Both directions of the Nunn Parkway will be pushed down to one lane around the clock at mile marker 15-16 for the next 45 days. The lane closures are approximately 2,000 feet in length and will allow crews to begin work on the interchange for the Glasgow Outer Loop.

The third section of the outer loop was awarded to Hinkle Contracting in June for $13,730,000 and is tentatively scheduled for completion in the spring of 2011.

Motorists are advised to use caution and pay attention to signage while traveling through this work zone. The speed limit in this area has been reduced to 55 mph.

From the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Department of Highways District 3 on August 12, 2009:

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Kentucky Transportation crews will be installing guard rail on the Louie B. Nunn Parkway this week from 7:00 am until 5 pm.

Lane closures will be used in each direction from mile marker 0-5 while this work is performed.

Motorists are advised to use caution and reduce their speed while traveling through this work zone.

The Courier-Journal takes a look at the proposed Interstate 66: Courier-Journal: I-66: A road to growth or path of destruction?; Environmental impact statement for first Kentucky leg being studied (Feb. 26, 2006) 

On Wednesday, March 23, 2005, Gov. Ernie Fletcher unveiled signs to mark the proposed corridor of I-66 through Southern Kentucky at events in Glasgow and Columbia. As of Friday, March 25, 2005 at least two of these signs had been installed along the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway: one along the parkway’s eastbound lanes at its western terminus and one along the westbound lanes at exit 11.

See also: Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway route marker and Future I-66 Corridor marker.

Last week, Gov. Ernie Fletcher unveiled new signs marking the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway as the proposed path of I-66.

More information: Glasgow Daily Times: I-66 signage to be unveiled here Wednesday (March 19, 2005) , Logan County News-Democrat & Leader: I-66 event planned (March 22, 2005) , WKYT: Signs Going Up Along I-66 Route (March 23, 2005) , Glasgow Daily Times: Governor unveils I-66 Corridor sign here (March 24, 2005) , Glasgow Daily Times: New I-66 signs point the way (March 28, 2005) 

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet recently presented three options for the so-called Heartland Parkway in central Kentucky between Columbia and Springfield.

• Option 1 would construct a new interstate-like highway between the Cumberland Parkway and Blue Grass Parkway. The new highway would follow a corridor roughly two miles to the west of KY 55/US 68/KY 555.
• Option 2 would widen the existing KY 55/US 68/KY 555 route to four lanes.
• Option 3 would keep the current KY 55/US 68/KY 555 route at two lanes, but add passing lanes every three miles.

Area residents expressed a wide variety of opinions about the three options at the recent public meetings.

More information: Lebanon Enterprise: Opinions vary about Heartland Parkway options (August 19, 2004) 

The Commonwealth Journal reports on the status of plans to bypass Somerset. A southeast bypass has been complete for several years, and now plans are set for southwest and northern bypasses. The northern bypass will be part of I-66.

More information: Somerset Commonwealth Journal: Bypass Corridors Set (June 29, 2004) 

The new Glasgow Outer Loop will be mostly complete by the fall. The new highway will connect KY 90 west of Glasgow to US 68/KY 80 east of the city.

The only remaining uncompleted sections of the highway are two connections to the Cumberland Parkway. There is currently no funding to begin construction on these sections.

More information: Bowling Green Daily News: Main sections of Glasgow’s outer loop to open by winter (June 27, 2004) 

Former Governor Louie B. Nunn (1924-2004) died of heart failure yesterday, Thursday, January 29, 2004. He was 79. Gov. Nunn is remembered, among other things, for his contribution to the state's highway system. He proposed building roads connecting the state from east-to-west; during his term as governor from 1967-1971 more toll road bonds were issued to pay for highway construction than during the previous two administrations.

During his term of office, I-65, I-71, and I-75 were completed; a total of 585 miles of interstate highways were opened; and the Audubon Parkway and Daniel Boone Parkways were approved for construction. Additionally, planning work for the Cumberland Parkway and Green River Parkway (now Natcher Parkway) began.

More information: Courier-Journal: Former governor, force in GOP, dies (Jan. 30, 2004) , Associated Press: Highlights of Nunn's Term (Jan. 30, 2004) , Associated Press: Former Gov. Louie B. Nunn dead at 79 (Jan. 30, 2004) , Associated Press: GOP pioneer Nunn dead (Jan. 30, 2004) , Kentucky Post: Nunn legacy remembered here (Jan. 30, 2004) 

A group representing the descendants of Daniel Boone has launched a PR campaign to express their outrage over the renaming of the Daniel Boone Parkway as the Hal Rogers Parkway. For the first time, a spokesman for Gov. Patton admitted that the governor recommended the name change to the Transportation Cabinet.

Former Gov. Louie B. Nunn has offered a renaming compromise. He has proposed renaming the Cumberland Parkway in honor of Congressman Rogers. In 2000, the state legislature renamed the Cumberland Parkway the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway in honor of the former governor without his consent. Nunn says the signs on the parkway could easily be changed to honor Hal Rogers.

More information: Associated Press: Descendants furious over removal of Daniel Boone's name from Kentucky highway (Aug. 23, 2003) , Associated Press: Former governor offers compromise to restore Daniel Boone's name to Kentucky parkway (Aug. 27, 2003) 

On Wednesday, Guy Jones resigned from his politically appointed position in the Transportation Cabinet; Guy Jones and his brother Doug Jones, and cabinet employee, came under investigation after complaints surfaced that the route of Somerset's proposed southwestern by-pass was changed to cross property they owned.

It is also being investigated how Guy Jones managed to balance his transportation cabinet job and another job with the U.S. Postal Service.

More information: Somerset Commonwealth Journal: Oh Brother! (Aug. 8, 2003) 

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will hold a public meeting to discuss possible routes for both a southwest and a northern bypass of Somerset. The meeting will be held on Aug. 28 at the Center for Rural Development in Somerset.

More information: Lexington Herald-Leader: If You Go (Aug. 8, 2003) 

State investigators are looking into how the proposed southwestern Somerset bypass came to be routed onto land owned by two Transportation Cabinet employees. One of the employees, Doug Jones of the District 8 office, resigned from the cabinet after the investigation was made public.

Doug Jones is also under investigation for accessing pornography using state computers.

More information: Lexington Herald-Leader: Somerset bypass plan questioned (July 31, 2003) , Lexington Herald-Leader: Official resigns after scrutiny over bypass route (Aug. 5, 2003) , Courier-Journal: State transportation official will quit (Aug. 5, 2003) 

The Bowling Green Daily News has profiled a former toll collector. Sixty-year-old Bonnie Poore used to work at the Bon Ayr Toll Plaza at the western end of the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway. Now she has been transferred to maintenance division of the Department of Highways.

More information: Bowling Green Daily News: From toll work to road work, woman learns that smiles count (July 21, 2003) 

Midnight June 1, 2003 marked the end of tolls on the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway and the Daniel Boone Parkway. Transportation officials and U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers commemorated the occasion on June 9 at the London toll both on the Daniel Boone Parkway. At the ceremony, Congressman Rogers personally manned a bulldozer and knocked over one of the toll booths. It was also revealed at this ceremony that the Daniel Boone Parkway would be renamed the Hal Rogers Parkway.

Read more for more information about Hal Rogers, the removal of tolls, pictures of the parkways, the renaming of the Daniel Boone Parkway, and the controversy it sparked.

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U.S. Congressman Harold "Hal" Rogers has secured $13 million in federal spending to eliminate tolls from the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway and the Daniel Boone Parkway. The state currently owes $26 million in bonds on the parkway system. This federal funding will eliminate half of the outstanding debt and allow the state to refinance the rest at a lower interest rate.

More information: KYTC Press Release: Rogers: Tollbooths on Daniel Boone & Cumberland Parkways are Coming Down , Herald-Leader: Tolls to end on 2 parkways (Feb. 15, 2003) , Courier-Journal: Tolls to end on Daniel Boone, Cumberland parkways (Feb. 16, 2003) , Daily Independent: Toll charges to be eliminated on highways (Feb. 16, 2003) 

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The American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA) has named Kentucky's parkway system and the Cumberland Gap Tunnel as Kentucky's top road project. They also recognized Wendell Ford and Calvin Grayson as the state's top transportation officials.

More information: KYTC Press Release 

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Division of Planning has posted a few new maps of preliminary study corridors for I-66 in western Kentucky.

Ballard and McCracken Counties

• Preliminary Corridors 
• More Information 

Warren and Edmonson Counties

• Bowling Green Beltline Corridors 
• I-66 Corridors 
• More Information 

Ballard County and McCracken County

Three possible routes for I-66 in Ballard County and McCracken County were revealed at a meeting in LaCenter on Tuesday:

• One route begins at Old Mayfield Road and I-24 in McCracken County and passes through the southern park of McCracken and Ballard Counties before crossing the Mississippi River at Wickliffe.
• Another route generally follows US 62 and KY 286 from Paducah to a new Mississippi River crossing at Wickliffe.
• A third route would follow I-24 into Illinois and construct a new route to Cape Girardeau, MO. Illinois officials are not participating in the study because of issues with building a route through the Shawnee National Forest.

The engineering firm of Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas is conducting the study along with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Another meeting is expected to be held later this year.

More information: Courier-Journal: Public input sought on possible I-66 routes in Western Kentucky (Aug. 22, 2002) 

Warren County and Edmonson County

The Glasgow Daily Times reports that I-66 public meeting in Warren County and Edmonson County were well attended. They report that the engineering firm of Bernard, Lochmueller and Associates, Inc. is working with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet to provide alternatives for routes the proposed I-66 between the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway and the William H. Natcher Parkway. Parties interested in viewing information from the public meetings should contact Keirsten Jaggers or Jeff Moore at the KYTC office in Bowling Green. The phone number is (270) 746-7898.

More information: Glasgow Daily Times: I-66 meeting well attended (Aug. 22, 2002) , Glasgow Daily Times: I-66 public meeting draws large crowd (Aug. 16, 2002) 

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has released information pertaining to public meeting concerning I-66 in the Bowling Green area:

• Aug. 15 Meeting  - 10 am-7 pm CDT / Brownsville Community Center / 108 N. Main St. / Brownsville, KY
• Aug. 14 Meeting  - 10 am-7 pm CDT / Bowling Green Public Library - Depot Br. / 401 Kentucky St. / Bowling Green, KY

The information includes an overview of the project  (PDF format) and map of conceptual corridors  (PDF format).

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will be holding a public meeting on Aug. 22, 2002 to discuss Somerset Northern Bypass  which is part of Kentucky's I-66. The meeting will be held at the Center for Rural Development in Somerset and will consist of an open house from 4pm to 7pm and a formal comment period from 7pm to 8pm.

Information about the Pulaski County segment of I-66 including maps of proposed alignments can be found on the KYTC's Interstate 66 Corridor Project Information website .

More Information:

• Commonwealth Journal: Overflow On 80 (July 10, 2002) 
• Commonwealth Journal: Residents learn more about proposed interstate at public information meeting (June 19, 2002) 
• Commonwealth Journal: Preliminary lines for proposed bypass unveiled (Apr. 25, 2002) 

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Division of Planning has posted updated materials from Bowling Green area I-66 public meetings on its website .

The KYTC held the first of two I-66 public meetings in South Central Kentucky on Monday. This meeting was held in Brownsville. Area residents expressed their desire for the route to pass through Edmonson County. They feel that their county has suffered financially since it was bypassed by I-65, the Natcher Parkway, and the Western Kentucky Parkway.

Another meeting is scheduled for Thursday in Bowling Green. More information can be found on the KYTC website .

More information: Daily News: I-66 routes studied 

The decision has apparently been made that Kentucky's future Interstate 66 and Interstate 69 will apparently use existing parkways. As reported earlier on KentuckyRoads.com, the 2002 Kentucky Official Highway Map shows parts of the Western Kentucky Parkway, Natcher Parkway, and Breathitt Parkway as Future I-66 and Future I-69. On Feb. 25, the Evansville Courier & Press carried an article stating that the map indicates that I-69 and I-66 will follow the existing parkways.

Email correspondence with Mike Hancock, executive director of the Transportation Cabinet's Office of Program Planning and Management, confirms that the decision has been made to utilize as much of the exiting parkway system as possible to route I-66 and I-69. Hancock said, "we are involved in a planning study that will help us determine the costs and impacts associated with upgrading the Parkways affected by I-69 to interstate standards. We will use this study to help us assess similar needs and issues relative to the I-66 Corridor." The parkways do not currently meet federal standards for interstates and will need to be upgraded before they officially become interstates.

Federal legislation has directed Kentucky to use the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway as part of I-66 and the Julian M. Carroll Purchase Parkway as part of I-69. This legislation also directed Kentucky to erect "Future I-66" signs along the Cumberland Parkway and "Future I-69" signs along the Purchase Parkway. Hancock indicated that the Transportation Cabinet is working to erect this signs very soon.

More information: MyInKy.com - Sketching out I-69 

The Bowling Green Daily News reports in this Feb. 13, 2002 article  that the state is studying the construction of a Bowling Green loop road as part of the Interstate 66 project. The road would connect I-66 to the Natcher Parkway north of Bowling Green. The road was originally proposed in 1972. The current study is expected to be completed in 2003 and any construction is still over ten years away.

Updated Mar-02: Glasgow Daily Times article .

The KYTC will be holding public meetings to discuss the proposed Bowling Green Beltline highway and the location of I-66 between the Natcher Parkway and the Cumberland Parkway. More information can be found here .

The Bowling Green Daily News reports in this Feb. 3, 2002 article  that public meeting will be held in March to discuss possible routes for I-66 between the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway and the Natcher Parkway. The Daily News reports that this project will likely be combined with an effort to build a beltway road north of Bowling Green.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will hold a ground breaking ceremony for the Glasgow Outer Loop on Friday, Jan. 25 at 2:00 p.m. It will be held at the Highland 7 Cinemas on Ky. 90. The loop will be around the northern side of the city and connect to the Louis B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway (future Interstate 66) east and west of the city.

The 2002 federal transportation spending bill includes $500,000 for the study of a proposed Heartland Parkway in Taylor, Marion, Washington and Green counties. Despite its name, this road will probably not be a toll road as my understanding is that federal law prohibits the placing of tolls on any road on which federal money has been spent. Instead, if built, this route would probably be a four lane reconstruction of KY 55. The proposed road would connect to the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway near Columbia and the Blue Grass Parkway near Springfield. More details can be found here , here , and here  (no longer online).

According to this June 18, 2001 article  from the Bowling Green Daily News the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has considered reconstructing KY 259 from the current I-65 and Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway to the intersection of KY 259 and KY 101 near Brownsville. A public meeting on this issue was held in July of 2001. An early report on the proposal can be found here . This project is in the same area as the proposed I-66.

The Division of Planning's 2002 Official Highway Map can now be downloaded from here . The map now indicated the proposed corridors for Interstate 66 and Interstate 69.

The conference version of the Transportation spending bill  has passed both houses of Congress and is now waiting to be signed by the President.

Kentucky is mentioned several places in the bill:

• $2,000,000 for an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) providing Eastern Kentucky rural highway information,
• $750,000 for an ITS for Lexington,
• $2,000,000 for a statewide transportation operations center,
• the corridors for I-66 and I-69 have been redefined: I-66 is now defined to use the Nunn Cumberland Parkway and I-69 is now defined to use the Carrol Purchase Parkway,
• Kentucky may now post signs saying "Future I-69" on the Purchase Parkway and "Future I-66" in the Cumberland Parkway,
• $4,000,000 for to help access to an industrial park in Clay and Leslie counties,
• $50,000 for work on Kentucky 55,
• $1,600,000 for work on Kentucky 192 in McCreary county,
• $1,000,000 for improvements to the intersection at the end of Grover Carey Bridge in Owensboro,
• $250,000 for work on Kentucky 61 in Green county,
• $300,000 for work on Kentucky 92 in Whitley county,
• $20,000,000 for I-66 (I believe this is the Somerset-London segment.),
• $2,500,000 for I-66 in Pike County,
• $320,000 for work on KY 1848 between I-64 and US 60,
• $1,000,000 for the Monticello Street underpass in Somerset,
• $1,000,000 for work on the Pennyrile Parkway (I believe this is for the southern extension to I-24),
• $1,500,000 for work on Stone Coal Road in Johnson county,
• $2,000,000 for work on US 25 near Renfro Valley,
• $5,000,000 for work on US 27 between Somerset and KY 70,
• $80,000 for work on US 27 near Burnside,
• $850,000 for work on US 431 near Lewisburg,
• $500,000 for right-of-way for US 60 in Henderson County,
• $100,000 for work on US 41A,
• $50,00 for Estill County bypass lighting around Irvine,
• $300,000 for Estill County industrial park access road,
• $400,000 for Fegenbush Lane Bridge at Fern Creek,
• $1,000,000 for Henderson riverfront project,
• $1,000,000 for engineering work on Kentucky 61 from Kentucky 487 to Columbia,
• $800,000 for Johnstown Road,
• $2,350,000 for Kentucky Transportation Cabinet for Regional Trail Improvements,
• $1,000,000 for improved access to Louisville's water front park,
• $600,000 for median on US 42 from Harrods Creek to River Road,
• $1,800,000 for Owensboro Riverfront redevelopment project,
• $42,600 for Park City sidewalks,
• $2,000,000 for Somerset downtown revitalization,
• $6,600,000 for Southern bypass around the southwestern portion of Somerset,
• $125,000 for Vine Grove sidewalks,
• $2,000,000 for Clarks River National Wildlife Refuge,
• $1,400,000 for Cold Hill Road,
• $995,000 for Craigs Creek Road,
• $1,500,000 for Daniel Boone Parkway between mileposts 37 and 44,
• $2,000,000 for Brent Spence Bridge replacement I-75 and I-71 near Cincinnati,
• $375,000 for work at I-75 Exit 11,
• $2,500,000 for Louisville-Southern Indiana Ohio River Bridges project,
• $885,000 for Kentucky Scenic byways (Country Music Highway, Wilderness Road Heritage Highway, Cumberland Cultural Heritage Highway),
• $30,000,000 for work Appalachian Development Highway System,
• $4,534,000 for the Kentucky Transportation Department to provide buses, vans, cutaways, and bus facilities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky,
• $1,500,000 for Big South Fork Scenic Railroad enhancement project, and
• $5,000,000 for Southern Kentucky Intermodal Transportation Park.

Quite an impressive haul; however, there is no funding for I-175.

This Daily News article  reports that Bowling Green area residents mostly support I-66; however, there remains some concern about damage to the environment and farmland. Among the environmental concerns was the impact this road might have on the area's cave system. State officials expect that I-66 will make use of existing parkways in the region, and a new portion will be part of an outer loop around Bowling Green.

The KYTC has postponed two I-66 public meetings  (no longer online; see here  for more recent information) that were scheduled for October 16 and October 18. No information on why or when the meetings will be held.

The KYTC has released materials from an upcoming public meeting  regarding the proposed I-66 between Interstate 65 and the William H. Natcher Parkway. The meetings will be held in Bowling Green on October 16 and Brownsville on October 18.

The Daily News (Bowling Green) reports in this July 12, 2001 article  that a study has begun to designate a route for Interstate 66 between the Louie B. Nunn (Cumberland) Parkway and William H. Natcher Parkway. This route would be in the area of Warren, Edmonson, and Butler counties. The article also discusses the status of other parts of the I-66 project.