Progress Update: Construction Continues on the Mountain Parkway Expansion
Excavation, bridges, culverts, and paving make up construction benchmarks
Construction continues this summer and into the fall on the Morgan and Magoffin County West segments of the Mountain Parkway Expansion. This summer’s progress comes on the heels of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s June announcement that the Wolfe County segment will be the next segment of the Parkway to be completed.
“Crews have been busy this summer making great progress on the active segments of the Parkway,” says Marshall Carrier, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s project manager for the Mountain Parkway Expansion. “The Morgan and the Magoffin County West segments are the third and fourth segments of the project to be constructed since the Mountain Parkway Expansion began. Winning the federal funding to begin construction on the Wolfe County segment in the coming years is an acknowledgement of the hard work our team has been doing to build safer roads for Kentucky drivers.”
The 11 miles of roadway included in the newest Wolfe County segment will add to the 20.9 miles of project segments that have already been completed or are currently under construction.
Wolfe County
The Wolfe County segment of the Parkway will run from the end of the four-lane section on the Mountain Parkway near Campton, at mile marker 45.8, to just west of the Lee City/West Liberty interchange (KY 205), at mile marker 56.8.
The improvements to this segment will include widening the Parkway to four lanes, reconstructing the existing Campton interchange (KY 191) to allow full eastbound and westbound access to and from the Parkway, and modernizing the Hazel Green interchange (KY 1010) to improve safety and mobility.
Right of way acquisition for this segment kicked off earlier this summer and will continue through the fall and winter seasons. Utility coordination and relocation activities will also begin this fall, and continue into 2021.
The Wolfe County segment is scheduled to be let for construction in 2022; the anticipated completion date for this segment is 2027.
Morgan County Segment
The Morgan County segment stretches from the Lee City/West Liberty interchange, near Helechawa (Exit 57), to just west of the Cutino-Hager Road overpass.
The Mountain Parkway team has been busy constructing one bridge located on the Morgan County segment, with plans to construct a second bridge in the area in the coming months. Currently under construction is the 134-W bridge, crossing over the top of KY-134, near the 60.2 mile marker. Later this year, the team plans to begin tearing down the current 134-E bridge to construct a new bridge in its place.
Crews continue excavation near the Morgan-Magoffin County line with plans to complete the last of the excavation on this segment by the end of September. Meanwhile, crews have laid a majority of the new pavement on a section of roadway near the Morgan-Magoffin County line, and plan to add the final surface layer in the spring of 2021.
The anticipated completion date for this segment of the Parkway is summer 2021.
Magoffin County West
The Magoffin County West segment of the Parkway runs from west of the Cutino-Hager Road overpass to west of the Middle Fork of the Licking River Bridge, covering about 4.6 miles of roadway. The planned improvements include widening the Parkway to four lanes between mile points 65 and 69.6, making safety improvements that include eliminating a sharp curve at Kernie Hill, and adding an interchange at KY 3046 (Kernie-Ova-Seitz Road) to provide local Parkway access.
Excavation continues as the primary focus for crews on the Magoffin County West segment for the remainder of 2020. Although most activity is not visible from the Parkway, as of Aug. 7, 680,285 cubic yards of land on this segment had been excavated.
Crews have completed two of six culverts that will ultimately be constructed to support this segment of Parkway; teams are currently working on building the third culvert, which is roughly 90% complete.
This segment of the Parkway is anticipated to be completed by the end of the 2022 calendar year.
“Our teams have been making fantastic progress on the Morgan and Magoffin County West segments,” says Carrier. “With the addition of the Wolfe County segment in the coming years, the steady pace of the project will continue as our team strives to build a safer, more modernized Parkway.”
