This lane restriction with two-way traffic running on the southbound lanes will include a 15-foot maximum load width. There will be a strictly enforced 55 mile per hour speed limit in this work zone with an enhanced enforcement presence.
Motorists who regularly travel through the Interstate 69/Pennyrile Parkway/Western Kentucky Parkway Interchange south of Madisonville may have already noticed construction work on crossovers in this work zone.Once those crossovers are completed, all traffic will move to the southbound lanes with two-way traffic. The contractor plans to use a median barrier wall along this restricted section for about 0.8 miles.
The $29 million design-build contract was awarded to the Rogers Group Inc. and QK4 Inc. with an expected completion date in May of 2015.
Kentucky now has 55 miles of I-69. The route follows Interstate 24 for 17 miles from the Julian Carroll-Purchase Parkway at Calvert City to Eddyville. I-69 then runs for 38 miles along the former Wendell Ford-Western Kentucky Parkway from Eddyville to the Pennyrile Parkway near Madisonville.
The existing I-69/Pennyrile Parkway cloverleaf requires motorists to slow to about 45 miles per hour to negotiate the ramps through the interchange. The new arrangement will allow motorists to make the transition between the west and north legs of the interchange at normal highway speeds.
The interchange project in Hopkins County is among about 10 major projects scheduled over the next two to three years aimed at extended I-69 northward along the Pennyrile toward Henderson and southward along the Purchase Parkway toward Fulton. I-69 will eventually cover about 150 miles through Kentucky.
