This periodic report includes highlights about work underway on the Mountain Parkway Expansion. Inclement weather or unforeseen circumstances could affect planned activities.
While utility tie-ins continue in the business-dense section of Restaurant Row, construction crews are working at the new bridge on the west end of the project segment, near Magoffin County High School and at the KY 1888 intersections.
Full access to the school will be maintained once school resumes next month. At the KY 1888 intersection, trucks will be hauling material across the roadway next month, so motorists should be alert for brief, periodic stoppages.
Utility work is nearly finished around and west of the Magoffin County Health Department. In early August, crews will also set a sewer lift station.
Blasting, excavation and hauling activities also continue along the Restaurant Row segment, which means occasional brief traffic delays.
Drivers are urged to use caution and reduce their speed in this and other work zones throughout the Mountain Parkway Expansion.
Significant excavation work continues in the Morgan County segment of the Mountain Parkway Expansion, which covers 8.2 miles in Wolfe, Morgan and Magoffin counties. The clearing and excavation work is off the parkway and not interfering with traffic flow.
Improvements on this segment include widening the parkway to four lanes between mile points 56 and 65, improving and modernizing interchanges and eliminating an “S” curve near the Morgan/Magoffin county line.
Construction of five bridges is underway near the KY 205 interchange near Helechewa.
Crews in the Magoffin County Central Segment of the project are continuing grade and excavation work around the KY 7 interchange (Exit 75). Traffic in the area was recently switched to a newly constructed bridge, and crews now are starting to construct future westbound lanes and the remainder of the new bridge over KY 7.
The Magoffin County Central Segment of the Mountain Parkway Expansion runs from just west of mile point 70 to just east of mile point 75. The speed limit in the area has been reduced, and traffic on the parkway may be slowed or stopped periodically for the safety of workers and travelers.
Property and right-of-way acquisition is starting on a nearly 5-mile section to the west of the new Gifford Road interchange (Exit 70). This section, described as the Magoffin County West Segment, calls for widening the parkway and realigning the corridor to the south of the existing roadway to eliminate a large curve. It also will add an interchange at KY 3046 (Kernie-Ova-Seitz Road) to provide local access.
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.
The project will widen 30 miles of the existing parkway from two lanes to four lanes, and will extend the parkway another 16 miles between Salyersville and Prestonsburg.
For more information on the Mountain Parkway Expansion, visit http://www.MtnParkway.com
(story provided by Kentucky Transportation Cabinet)
