The first extension of the Mountain Parkway in more than a half century will begin soon as contractors start to widen the roadway through Salyersville’s Restaurant Row.
The 2.4-mile project will improve safety and ease mobility through the busiest and most visible stretch of roadway along the Mountain Parkway corridor.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet recently awarded a construction contract to Hinkle Contracting Services LLC to perform the work along the Restaurant Row Segment of the Mountain Parkway Expansion. This project will continue construction already underway to widen and expand the Mountain Parkway immediately west of Salyersville.
When the Restaurant Row project begins, a total of more than 8 miles of the Mountain Parkway roadway will be under construction in Magoffin County.
“We have reached an important point in the Mountain Parkway Expansion,” said KYTC Project Manager Marshall Carrier. “The Restaurant Row Segment is unlike any other part of the project. It serves dozens of Magoffin County businesses and is a vital connector that links the parkway to Johnson, Floyd, Pike and several other counties in Eastern Kentucky.”
Construction will begin later this summer, but no firm date has been set. More details about the project schedule and impacts will be announced in coming weeks.
The Restaurant Row Segment begins just east of Exit 75 of the current Mountain Parkway to just east of the KY 114/U.S. 460 intersection (Rock House Road). The main roadway now has more than 80 access points from private drives and existing intersections.
Over the next three years, the main roadway will be widened to four lanes and converted to a partially controlled parkway that will improve the flow of traffic through Restaurant Row while ensuring access to businesses, residences and other facilities. The project also includes improving and expanding a system of local access roads along what will become an extension of the Mountain Parkway.
The project is funded in part by a $24 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The federal funding was awarded to speed construction of this crucial segment of the parkway expansion and support economic development in Eastern Kentucky.
Pre-construction activities, including utility relocations and demolitions of vacant properties located in the project area, have been underway along Restaurant Row for more than a month.
The Mountain Parkway Expansion is a 46-mile transportation improvement project that will create a wider, safer connection between Eastern Kentucky and the rest of the Commonwealth. It 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 project will widen 30 miles of the existing parkway to four lanes and extend the parkway by about 16 miles between Salyersville and Prestonsburg.
(story provided by Kentucky Transportation Cabinet)
