The Mountain Parkway Expansion is a 46-mi. transportation improvement project that will widen 30 mi. of the existing parkway to four lanes and extend the parkway between Salyersville and Prestonsburg.

Progress continues on the Mountain Parkway Expansion this spring, with completion of the 8.2-mi. Morgan County segment in sight.

Asphalt plants have reopened for the year and paving is under way on the new westbound lanes of the Mountain Parkway in Morgan County. Westbound traffic will begin using the new lanes this summer between Exit 57 in Helechawa and Hager in Magoffin County.

Crews also are completing concrete pours on the final bridge in the Morgan County segment. The new bridge began construction in October and crosses KY-134 near the 62-mi. marker. Completion of the Morgan County segment is expected in late summer.

"Nearly half of the Mountain Parkway Expansion project is now completed or under construction," said Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) Project Manager Aric Skaggs. "We started the Morgan County segment four years ago and have built 17 bridges. Finishing this part of the expansion project will be a significant milestone."

Magoffin County West

In western Magoffin County, construction has begun at a bridge over Johnson Creek and excavation continues to realign a sharp curve at Kernie Hill.

In this segment's first year of construction, crews moved more than 2 million cu. yds. of soil and rock, which would fill more than 200,000 standard dump trucks. To minimize environmental impacts, much of this work is occurring off the parkway, where it is not visible to traffic.

Together, the Morgan and Magoffin County West segments represent nearly 13 mi. of active construction on the Mountain Parkway Expansion. The Magoffin County West Segment is expected to open to traffic in 2023.

Wolfe County

It has been less than a year since KYTC was awarded a $55 million federal INFRA grant for the Wolfe County segment of the Mountain Parkway Expansion. Land purchases, utility coordination and environmental permitting are now well under way, with the segment on schedule for construction bids in 2022.

The Wolfe County segment will widen and improve 11 mi. of Mountain Parkway, connecting existing four-lane sections between Campton and Helechawa. It also will reconfigure the KY-191 interchange in Campton and the Hazel Green exit (KY 1010).

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