Citizens Learn About 21 Miles of Work Ahead on Mountain Parkway Expansion
First construction contract awarded; plans advancing in many area
SALYERSVILLE, Ky. (Dec. 10, 2014) – Citizens received a virtual tour of nearly 21 miles of the Mountain Parkway that will be widened and improved during the next several years to provide better access and safety along this vital thoroughfare through Eastern Kentucky.
More than 100 Eastern Kentucky residents attended a meeting at Salyersville Grade School, where engineers from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and its consultants answered questions and provided detailed information about one of Kentucky’s largest roadway-improvement projects in recent years.
The meeting provided a progress report on work to expand the parkway from the small town of Helechawa in Wolfe County through Magoffin County to the eastern end of Salyersville’s Restaurant Row area in Magoffin County. Work in these areas will begin over the next two years.
To see details of the projects discussed at the meeting, select a page under the Project Segments tab above.
First signs of progress
The first construction contract – a $19.4 million project to widen 1.4 miles of the parkway and add an interchange at Gifford Road west of Salyersville – recently was awarded to Lexington, Ky.-based Bizzack Construction LLC. A second contract, to begin construction work on the KY 7/Salyersville interchange (Exit 75), is expected to be awarded in the next few weeks.
“We’ve been working behind the scenes for some time to bring a better, safer road to Eastern Kentucky,” said Marshall Carrier, project manager for the Mountain Parkway Expansion. “It won’t be long before there will be obvious signs that these improvements are on the way. Our contractors will be preparing the area for full-scale construction early next year.”
About the Mountain Parkway Expansion
Overall, the Mountain Parkway Expansion will improve more than 46 miles of roadway. Key elements of the plan include:
- Constructing an interstate-quality road that improves mobility between Eastern Kentucky and the rest of the state.
- Widening the entire parkway to four lanes.
- Redesigning and reconstructing roadways, bridges and interchanges to improve safety.
- Extending the existing parkway to connect with U.S. 23 near Prestonsburg.
The Mountain Parkway Expansion is a key transportation project designed to close the only gap in a 400-mile, four-lane, high-speed corridor for commerce and mobility across Kentucky from Pikeville to Paducah.
The preliminary cost estimate for the project is $753 million, but teams of experts are working to find engineering and construction solutions that would lower the cost to Kentucky taxpayers.
Public comments continue
Written and oral statements were accepted at the meeting, along with general comments. Citizens can continue to comment on these proposals through Dec. 31 by emailing info@MtnParkway.com.
For more information on the Mountain Parkway Expansion, visit www.MtnParkway.com or follow the project on Twitter (@MtnParkway) or on Facebook (www.facebook.com/mtnparkway).
