Cumberland Parkway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Interstate 65's Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway sign near Rocky Hill, Kentucky.

Shield which marks the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway

The Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway forms part of the corridor for the future Interstate 66 that will cross southern Kentucky.

The Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway, is a controlled-access highway from Barren County, Kentucky to Somerset, Kentucky. It is one of nine highways that are part of Kentucky's parkway system.

The road is named after Louie B. Nunn, a former Kentucky governor from Barren County who was instrumental in the road's creation. Originally called the Cumberland Parkway from its opening in 1972-1973, it was renamed for Nunn in 2000.

The parkway begins at an interchange with Interstate 65 (exit 43) between Smiths Grove and Park City. It travels east through rolling farmland for 88 miles (141.6 km) to its eastern terminus at U.S. 27 in Somerset. The road parallels Kentucky Route 80 for its entire length. The parkway passes the cities of Glasgow, Edmonton, Columbia, and Russell Springs. It passes near two popular state parks: Lake Cumberland State Resort Park and Barren River Lake State Resort Park. The length of the parkway is designated unsigned Kentucky Route 9008 (LN 9008).

Presumably, the Nunn Parkway was built to Interstate Highway standards at its time of construction aside from some at-grade intersections and traffic signals near its east end. However, it is unknown how much of the parkway meets current Interstate Highway standards with regards to issues such as median width, shoulder width, sight distances, and other issues.

The Nunn Parkway, as with all nine parkways, was originally a toll road. By Kentucky state law, toll collection ceases when enough toll has been collected or funds received from other sources, such as a legislative appropriation, to pay off the construction bonds for the parkway. In the case of the Nunn, toll booths were removed in 2003 because of a bill in the United States Congress sponsored by Hal Rogers (R-KY), which included an appropriation to pay off the bonds on the parkway as well as the Daniel Boone Parkway in eastern Kentucky. The state legislature then renamed the Boone Parkway for Rogers, which sparked a controversy among residents of the region and the offspring of Boone. Nunn tried to calm the controversy by suggesting the state rename the Nunn Parkway for Rogers instead, restoring the Boone name, saying that the Cumberland Parkway had been named for Nunn without his consent anyway.

[edit] "Future Interstate 66 Corridor"

The parkway was designated a part of the "Future Interstate 66 Corridor," a proposed four-lane Interstate utilizing the existing Cumberland and Hal Rogers Parkway, among other routes, across the southern tier of Kentucky. It cannot be signed as an Interstate until it has permanent connections to the east and west, both of which have not been determined due to the King Coal Highway in West Virginia being demoted to a corridor-standard roadway for US 52.