Audubon Parkway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Audubon Parkway is a four-lane controlled-access freeway (formerly a toll road) connecting the cities of Henderson and Owensboro, Kentucky.
Named for John James Audubon, an early American naturalist, the Audubon's western terminus is the Edward T. Breathitt Pennyrile Parkway; the eastern terminus is the U.S. 60 bypass. The road opened on December 18, 1970 at a cost of $23.5 million and, at 23.36 miles, is the shortest of the nine roads in the state's parkway system.
Contents |
[edit] Toll removal
The last two tolled parkways left in Kentucky, the Audubon and the nearby William H. Natcher Parkway, which opened in 1972, had their tolls removed on Tuesday, November 21, 2006. Kentucky Governor Ernie Fletcher announced the removal of the tolls at the Natcher Parkway's Hartford toll plaza on September 27, 2006. Fletcher himself manned the end loader which demolished one of the Audubon's Hebbardsville toll booths during a press conference and ceremony which heralded the end of toll collections.
The Hebbardsville (Kentucky 416) interchange will be modified in the weeks following Thanksgiving Day. The islands where the toll booths were mounted will be removed and the pavement smoothed to eliminate most evidence that the booths had ever been there.
[edit] Interstate 369?
Daviess County officials proposed in 2005 that the Audubon be upgraded to an Interstate highway, specifically suggesting the number Interstate 369. This would, according to the proposal, take place when and if Interstate 69 is extended southward from Indianapolis, Indiana through Evansville and across the Ohio River near Henderson, Kentucky. The I-369 "spur" would connect Owensboro, Kentucky to I-69, which is to be routed along the following parkways (a new bridge will be built between Henderson and Evansville):
- The Edward T. Breathitt Pennyrile Parkway from the new bridge at Henderson southward to the
- Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway to Interstate 24, then west to the
- Julian M. Carroll Purchase Parkway, which it would follow to Tennessee.
It is a widely held belief that the Audubon would have to be significantly upgraded in order for it to be approved as an Interstate highway; specifically, the shoulders would need to be widened and the median would have to either be widened or have a safety barrier constructed along its entire 24-mile length. Any of these changes would be very expensive.
However, it would not be unheard of for the Audubon, or any of the other parkways proposed as Interstates above, to be "grandfathered" into the Interstate system by the issuance of a waiver; it has been done before, with such roads as the Kansas Turnpike, Pennsylvania Turnpike and others which do not (or did not at the time) meet the minimum Interstate standards.
[edit] Interchanges
There are three interchanges along the parkway, each serving small communities in Henderson and Daviess counties. When the parkway first opened, the sole interchange was Exit 10, but Exits 5 and 18 (listed below) were constructed in 1986.
- Exit 5 - Kentucky Route 1078 leads to the small community of Zion.
- Exit 10 - Kentucky Route 416 serves the communities of Niagara and Hebbardsville.
- Exit 18 - Kentucky Route 1554 will take travelers to either Stanley or Sorgho.
