The Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway, commonly known as the Mountain Parkway, is a

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

in eastern

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. The route runs from

Interstate 64 Interstate 64 (I-64) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. Its western terminus is at I-70, U.S. Route 40 (US 40), and US 61 in Wentzville, Missouri. Its eastern terminus is at an interchang ...

just east of

Winchester Winchester is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs Nation ...

southeast for 75.627 miles (121.710 km) to a junction with

U.S. Route 460 U.S. Route 460 (US 460) is a spur route of U.S. Route 60. It currently runs for 655 miles (1,054 km) from Norfolk, Virginia, at its parent route U.S. Route 60 at Ocean View to Frankfort, Kentucky, intersecting its parent route once ...

near Salyersville. The first , beginning at the western terminus in Winchester is a four-lane limited access highway with only minor design standard differences from an Interstate Highway, while the remainder is a limited access Super two highway.

History

The Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway was built in the early 1960s and opened in January 1963 as Kentucky's second

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''Toll (fee), toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically ...

. The route was originally signed only as the 'Mountain Parkway'. In the late 1970s, the "Bert T. Combs" name was added to honor the governor from the mountains who spearheaded construction of the highway. Auxiliary plates were added above the circular Mountain Parkway signs to mark the designation. As with all of Kentucky's toll roads, the tolls were removed as the construction bonds were paid off. Tolls were removed from the four-lane section in 1985, and the road became a freeway in 1986 when the remaining tolls were removed from the two-lane section. Bert T

The route was designated

Kentucky Route 114 Kentucky Route 114 (KY 114) is a state highway in Kentucky. It runs from U.S. Route 460 (US 460) southeast of Salyersville to KY 1428 in Prestonsburg. 2020 Plans were underway to extend the Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway The ...

in April 1985. In August, the road was redesignated Kentucky Route 402. Later, in February 1990, the parkway was designated Kentucky Route 9000 from its western terminus to

Kentucky Route 15 Spur Kentucky Route 15 begins at a junction of US 119/Corridor F & Business KY 15 in Whitesburg, and terminates in Winchester at US 60. It is a major route, connecting the coalfields of the Cumberland Plateau with Lexington and other cities in the ...

near Campton and Kentucky Route 9009 from KY 15 Spur to the parkway's eastern terminus. Both designations are unsigned. On January 15, 2014, Kentucky governor Steve Beshear announced plans to extend the parkway to

US 23 } U.S. Route 23 or U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) is a major north–south U.S. Highway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It is an original 1926 route which originally reached only as far south as Portsmouth, Ohio, and has since ...

in Prestonsburg, which would include widening the highway to four lanes for its entire length. The project, which would cost more than $750 million and requires approval by the

Kentucky General Assembly The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets annually in ...

, would run through 2020, and is expected to lead to the reinstatement of tolls on the highway. On July 26, 2019,

Matt Bevin Matthew Griswold Bevin (; born January 9, 1967) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 62nd governor of Kentucky, from 2015 to 2019. He was the third Republican elected Kentucky governor since World War II, after Ernie Fletc ...

announced a $70M plan to expand the parkway.

Exit list

References

External links

Mountain Parkway exit list
{{Named Roads in Kentucky 9000 Two-lane freeways in the United States Kentucky parkway system