Purchase Parkway

Infobox road
state=KY
marker_

highway_name=Purchase Parkway
alternate_name=
length_mi=52.333
length_round=3
length_ref=cite web|url=http://www.planning.kytc.ky.gov/data_reports.asp|title=Kentucky Transportation Cabinet - Division of Planning - Highway Information System Official Milepoint Route Log Extract|accessdate=2007-04-09]
established=
direction_a=South
starting_terminus=
junction=
direction_b=North
ending_terminus=
counties=Fulton, Hickman, Graves, Marshall
cities=Fulton, Mayfield, BentonThe Julian M. Carroll Purchase Parkway is a controlled-access highway running from Fulton, Kentucky to Calvert City, Kentucky, near Kentucky Dam, for a length of 52 miles (84 kilometres). It begins at the Tennessee State Line concurrent with US 51 only a few yards (metres) from an intersection with US 45W, US 45E, and US 45 at its western terminus, and US 62 just north of Interstate 24 at its eastern terminus. It is one of nine highways that are part of the Kentucky parkway system. Federal legislation designated the entire length of the Purchase Parkway as Interstate 69 in 2002. On June 6, 2008, President George W. Bush signed HR-1195 (SAFETEA-LU Technical Corrections Act of 2008), reaffirming the I-69 designation for the Purchase Parkway and further authorizing Kentucky to sign the route as such. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet will install I-69 signs on the parkway during the summer of 2008.

Originally named Purchase Parkway for the Jackson Purchase area it diagonally traverses, the road was renamed for Julian M. Carroll, a former Kentucky governor from McCracken County, in 2001. The Purchase Parkway carries the unsigned designation of Kentucky Route 9003 (JC 9003)--at least until the KYTC finishes installing I-69 signs on the Parkway during the summer of 2008.

Completed in 1966, the parkway incorporates a pre-existing four-lane divided bypass around Mayfield. This section of the parkway is also designated as US 45 Bypass.

Except for the Mayfield bypass which remained free, the parkway was originally a toll road, as were all Kentucky parkways. State law requires that toll collection ceases when enough tolls are collected to pay off the parkway's construction bonds; that occurred in 1992. It is constructed similar to the Interstate Highway system.

The parkway passes the cities of Mayfield and Benton, Kentucky.

Future

Interstate 69

) as I-69, even though the parkways do not yet meet interstate standards.

The Parkways, however, do not meet current interstate highway standards and will eventually need upgrading. The reason the 2008 legislation (HR-1195) immediately applied the I-69 designation to the Purchase Parkway is to tap into federal interstate highway money to fund upgrades to the parkway. This is because interstate highway funds typically could not be used to upgrade an existing freeway until it is designated and signed as an interstate. A larger 36' median, increased bridge heights to 16', shoulder improvements, and interchange reconstructions will all need to take place to bring the alignment into federal compliance. No official funding has been set in the six-year plan stipulating modernization of the parkways that will be affected by Interstate 69's routing, nor has any official study been completed. ["I-69 and I-66 Will Use Existing Parkways." Evansville Courier and Press 25 Feb. 2002. 23 Aug. 2006 [http://www.myinky.com/ecp/local_news/article/0,1626,ECP_745_1002317,00.html] .]

Because Kentucky is using an existing expressway for I-69, highway officials will likely avoid years of costly environmental studies required by other states, as the upgrades are being performed within the footprint of the existing highway.

Funding remains the big issue for upgrading the parkways to I-69, as there is no funding in the state's 2006 Six-Year Transportation Plan specifically for I-69. However, it is likely that Kentucky will perform the required upgrades on individual segments of the the Purchase Parkway when the pavement reaches the end of its lifespan, through "Pavement Preservation Projects." This approach is similar to the way New York is upgrading its substandard Route 17 Expressway to I-86.

Exit list

References

External links

* [http://www.kentuckyroads.com/purchase_parkway/ KentuckyRoads.com — Julian M. Carroll Purchase Parkway]
* [http://www.millenniumhwy.net/exitguide/PurchasePkwy.html Exit list for Purchase Parkway]