The Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway is a east–west

controlled-access highway 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 i ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

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 ...

, extending from

Barren County Barren County is a county located in the south-central portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 44,485. Its county seat is Glasgow. The county was founded on December 20, 1798, from parts of Warren and ...

in the west to

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

in the east. It is one of seven named highways designated in Kentucky's

parkway A parkway is a landscaped thoroughfare.''"parkway."''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (14 Apr. 2007). The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or ...

system.

Route description

The parkway begins at an interchange with

Interstate 65 Interstate 65 (I-65) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates ending in 5, it is a major crosscountry, north–south route, connecting between the Great Lakes and the Gulf ...

(exit 43) between Smiths Grove and

Park City Park City may refer to: a city in Utah. Places * National Park City, London, England, UK; see parks and open spaces in London in the United States * Park City, Illinois * Park City, Kansas * Park City, Kentucky * Park City, Montana * Park City, ...

. It travels east through rolling farmland to its eastern terminus at

US 27 U.S. Route 27 (US 27) is a north–south United States Highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus is at U.S. Route 1 in Florida, US 1 in Miami, Florida. The northern terminus is at Interstate 69 in India ...

on the north side of Somerset. The road parallels

Kentucky Route 80 Kentucky Route 80 (KY 80) is a state highway in the southern part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. The route originates on the state's western border at Columbus in Hickman County and stretches across the southern portion of the state, ...

for its entire length. The parkway passes the cities of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Columbia, and Russell Springs. It passes near two popular state parks:

Lake Cumberland State Resort Park Lake Cumberland State Resort Park is a state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a s ...

and

Barren River Lake State Resort Park Barren River Lake State Resort Park is a park located in Barren County, Kentucky and extending into parts of Allen County and Monroe County. Barren River Lake, its major feature, is an artificial lake created with the building of a dam by th ...

. The length of the parkway is designated unsigned Kentucky Route 9008 (LN 9008). LouieBNunn

History

The road is named after

Louie B. Nunn Louie Broady Nunn (March 8, 1924 – January 29, 2004) was an American politician who served as the 52nd governor of Kentucky. Elected in 1967, he was the only Republican to hold the office between the end of Simeon Willis's term in 1947 and ...

, a former

Kentucky governor The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-el ...

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 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 The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

Toll plazas and prices

The parkway had three toll plazas upon opening in 1973. A fourth one opened at the Nancy exit on the eastbound on-ramp and westbound off-ramp when that interchange opened in the 1980s.

21st century

Presumably, the Nunn Parkway was built to

Interstate Highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...

standards at its time of construction aside from some at-grade intersections and traffic signals near its east end, which were eliminated in 2010 by constructing a northwestern bypass around Somerset. The east end of the parkway is currently a

partial cloverleaf A partial cloverleaf interchange or parclo is a modification of a cloverleaf interchange. The design has been well received, and has since become one of the most popular freeway-to-arterial interchange designs in North America. It has also bee ...

at U.S. 27. The bypass was constructed as part of the now-cancelled

I-66 Interstate 66 (I-66) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It runs from an interchange with I-81 near Middletown, Virginia, on its western end to an interchange with U.S. Route 29 (US 29) in Washing ...

proposed extension through Kentucky.

New interchange in Glasgow

On May 28, 2015, a new interchange was opened west of Glasgow to serve the western extension of the Veterans Outer Loop. The eastern extension of that road has been opened in early 2012, complete with the opening of exit 15, which serves the eastern extension of Veterans Outer Loop, designated at KY 1519. The state highway designation for the western extension was announced as

Kentucky Route 3600 Kentucky Route 3600 (KY 3600) is a secondary urban state highway located entirely in Barren County, Kentucky. Route description KY 3600 is the state highway designation for the western extension of the Veterans Outer Loop around ...

. Upon completion of the new western extension of the Veterans Outer Loop, it includes the new on- and off-ramps of the Cumberland Parkway, and a new at-grade intersection with

Kentucky Route 1297 Kentucky Route 1297 (KY 1297) is a east–west state highway that traverses two counties in south-central Kentucky. Route description KY 1297 is one out of two old, original routes from Bowling Green directly to Glasgow, the othe ...

Future

On August 5, 2021, Congress released a new infrastructure bill that proposed to designate the whole length of the Cumberland Parkway as a Future Interstate, with the designation of I-365. The designation would need approval from AASHTO, the FHWA, and upgrades of several interchanges and some improvements before the designation could be implemented.

Exit list

References

External links

KentuckyRoads.com — Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway
{{Named Roads in Kentucky 9008 Kentucky parkway system Interstate 66 Transportation in Adair County, Kentucky Transportation in Barren County, Kentucky Transportation in Metcalfe County, Kentucky Transportation in Pulaski County, Kentucky Transportation in Russell County, Kentucky