Bluegrass Parkway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Martha Layne Collins Blue Grass Parkway is a controlled-access highway running from Elizabethtown, Kentucky to Woodford County, Kentucky, for a length of 83 miles. It intersects with Interstate 65 at its western terminus, and U.S. 60 at its eastern terminus. It is one of nine highways that are part of the Kentucky parkway system.
In 2003, the road was renamed in honor of Martha Layne Collins, the first female governor of Kentucky. Previously, it was simply the Blue Grass Parkway (sometimes with "Bluegrass" as one word, though in the highway's name, it was officially two words), and often called the "BG Parkway" because of the abbreviation used on its signs.
The parkway was opened in 1966 and 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 1991. It is constructed similar to the Interstate Highway system, though sections do not measure up to current Interstate standards.
The parkway passes the cities of Bardstown, Harrodsburg, and Versailles. The toll plazas were located at (from west to east):
- Exit 10, New Haven/Boston
- Exit 34, Springfield/Bloomfield
- Exit 59, Lawrenceburg/Harrodsburg
[edit] Connection to Interstate 64?
No connection to Interstate 64 was planned as it had not been constructed and would not open until the late 1970s.
| Under the provisions of Chapter 173 of the Acts of 1960, Kentucky Revised Statutes (Section 175.410 to 175.990), the Turnpike Authority of Kentucky was created as an independent corporate agency and instrumentality of the Commonwealth of Kentucky for the financing and construction of one or more turnpike projects. |
| The Department of Highways had traffic and engineering studies made relative to the construction of the Central Kentucky Toll Road which is approximately 71 miles in length, extending from a point on the Kentucky Turnpike and Interstate 65 in the vicinity of the City of Elizabethtown in the county of Hardin to a point on US 60 east of the city of Versailles in the county of Woodford. The toll road opened to traffic on October 27, 1965. |
| -"Central Kentucky Toll Road (Bluegrass Parkway)" |
By the time the road opened, however, it was renamed the Bluegrass Parkway. There have been talks for a direct connection from US 60 to Interstate 64, but all have failed. Such a connection would almost certainly draw enormous opposition in the Lexington area due to the many horse farms that would be adversely affected; the thoroughbred breeding industry is an important direct employer and a major tourist draw in the region.
[edit] References
- Carlyle, Jeffrey. "Re: Lexington loop?" Online posting. 01 May 2002. 01 May 2002 [1].
- "Report on Examination of Financial Statements and Supplemental Data - Central Kentucky Toll Road (Bluegrass Parkway)." Cook and Taylor Certified Public Accountants. 30 June 1982. Accessed 12 March 2004.
