Interstate 64 (I-64) in the US state of

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 ...

travels for , passing by the major towns and cities of

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

, Frankfort, Lexington, and Ashland. It has several major junctions with other Interstates, including

I-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 ...

I-71 Interstate 71 (I-71) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes/Midwestern and Southeastern region of the United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-64 and I-65 (the Kennedy Interchange) in Louisville, ...

I-264 Interstate 264 is the designation for two Interstate Highways in the United States, both of which are related to Interstate 64: *Interstate 264 (Kentucky), a bypass of Louisville, Kentucky *Interstate 264 (Virginia) Interstate 264 (I-264) i ...

, and

I-265 Interstate 265 (I-265) is a Interstate Highway partially encircling the Louisville metropolitan area. Starting from I-65 in the southern part of Louisville, it runs through Jefferson County, Kentucky, crosses the Ohio River on the Lewis ...

in Louisville and

I-75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from St ...

in Lexington. The portion of I-64 in Kentucky is host to two "exceptionally significant" structures indicated by the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

(FHWA). One is the ''Cochran Hill Tunnel'', a twin tube at Cherokee Park in Louisville built in 1974, and the other is a 1960s-era modern-styled rest area near

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 ...

. In

Downtown Louisville Downtown Louisville is the largest central business district in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the urban hub of the Louisville, Kentucky Metropolitan Area. Its boundaries are the Ohio River to the north, Hancock Street to the east, York and Jaco ...

, I-64 passes under a public plaza called the Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere, one of the only structures in the state built on top of an Interstate. Between the Indiana state line and Lexington, I-64 is named the Daniel Boone Expressway. The entire length of I-64 in Kentucky has been designated as a portion of the

Purple Heart Trail Purple Heart Trail can refer to: *Interstate 5 in California, Oregon and Washington *Interstate 10 in Alabama and Arizona *Interstate 15 in Montana **Interstate 115 in Montana ** Interstate 315 in Montana *Interstate 35 in Kansas and Texas **Inters ...

Route description

I-64 enters

, paralleling the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

along the Riverfront Expressway. It intersects with several downtown interchanges before coming to the

Kennedy Interchange The Kennedy Interchange, unofficially, though universally, referred to as Spaghetti Junction, is the intersection of Interstate 64 (I-64), I-65 and I-71 at the northeastern edge of downtown Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is named f ...

, where it intersects

and

in a tangle of ramps often referred to as the "Spaghetti Junction". Moving eastward, I-64 passes through Shelbyville, Frankfort, Midway, Lexington,

, Mount Sterling, Owingsville, and Morehead, before leaving the state near Ashland at Catlettsburg. It overlaps

as it makes an arc around the northeast of Lexington's urban core, with the exit numbers for I-75 used for the concurrent portion. The two Interstates separate a few miles east of downtown Lexington.

History

The ''Cochran Hill Tunnel'' in Louisville, also known as the '' Cherokee Park Tunnel'', underwent restoration in 2001, which involved the reconstruction of the concrete pavement, the installation of new tiles, and the improvement of lighting. Later, the lights in the tunnel were replaced after multiple lights were found to be faulty. The tunnels, which opened in 1974, are one of three sites in Kentucky deemed "exceptionally significant" by the

FHWA The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

. The designation meant that it will be very difficult for the stretch of Interstate running through Cherokee Park ever to be widened. Interstate 64 nighttime

Construction began on a

Kentucky Route 180 Kentucky Route 180 (KY 180) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It serves as a connector route between US 60 and KY 3. It is two lanes from KY 3 to just south of I-64 and four lanes divided from just south of I-64 to US 60. Route ...

(KY 180) interchange improvement project in the summer of 2006. The $34-million (equivalent to $ in ) project entailed the rebuilding of six bridges, the widening of KY 180 to four lanes in the vicinity of the interchange, and the conversion of the ramps into a

diamond interchange A diamond interchange is a common type of road junction, used where a controlled-access highway crosses a minor road. Design The freeway itself is grade-separated from the minor road, one crossing the other over a bridge. Approaching the ...

. The project was finished in the autumn of 2008. In March 2007,

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Ernie Fletcher Ernest Lee Fletcher (born November 12, 1952) is an American physician and politician. In 1998, he was elected to the first of three consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives; he resigned in 2003 after being elected the 60th ...

signed ''Senate Bill 83'', which allowed for an increase in speed limits on rural Interstates and parkways. Speed limits on rural sections of I-64 were increased from , following an engineering study by the

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is Kentucky's state-funded agency charged with building and maintaining federal highways and Kentucky state highways, as well as regulating other transportation related issues. The Transportation Cabi ...

. New signage was installed in July On June 7, 2007, I-64 between the junction of

and

was closed to through traffic. The section of highway featured three lanes of traffic in each direction on an elevated

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

paralleling the

, carrying 90,000 vehicles per day. The closure was part of a $50-million (equivalent to $ in ) refurbishment project that involved replacing 132

expansion joint An expansion joint, or movement joint, is an assembly designed to hold parts together while safely absorbing temperature-induced expansion and contraction of building materials, and vibration, or to allow movement due to ground settlement or seis ...

s and repaving more than of Interstate and interchanges. The work was completed in two phases, starting with the entire project area being closed on three weekends in June, followed by a section of highway closed from 3rd to 22nd streets in early July to early August. However, the Interstate was not finished because of the section between Frankfort and Lexington. The state could not attain the right-of-way here because of very famous horse parks northwest of Lexington. After a couple of tries to get the right-of-way, the state was able to get the right-of-way and began construction on this segment. It was the last segment of I-64 to be completed in Kentucky.

8664

Controversially, I-64 runs through

Louisville Waterfront Park Louisville Waterfront Park is both a non-profit organization and an public park adjacent to the downtown area of Louisville, Kentucky and the Ohio River. Specifically, it is adjacent to Louisville's wharf and Riverfront Plaza/Belvedere, which ar ...

, a key part of the revitalization of

, and portions of the park exist under it.

8664 8664 was a grassroots campaign based in Louisville, Kentucky, that aimed "to advocate for the revitalization of Louisville through the removal of Interstate 64 (I-64) along the riverfront and the adoption of a transportation plan that will ...

, a grassroots campaign with popular support but little apparent political momentum, aimed to reroute and remove I-64 to enhance Louisville's waterfront. I-64 through Louisville would be resigned as I-364. I-64 was to be widened over the park as a part of the

Ohio River Bridges Project The Ohio River Bridges Project was a transportation project in the Louisville metropolitan area involving the reconstruction of the Kennedy Interchange (locally known as "Spaghetti Junction"), the completion of two new Ohio River bridges, and ...

. But plans to widen the freeway over the park were abandoned to reduce costs of the Ohio River Bridges Project.,

Exit list

Related route

is an inner loop route in the Louisville metropolitan area. It is signed as the

Georgia Davis Powers Georgia Davis Powers (née Montgomery; October 19, 1923 – January 30, 2016) was an American politician who served for 21 years as a state senator in the Kentucky Senate. In 1967, she was the first person of color and the first woman elected t ...

Shawnee Expressway between its western terminus at I-64 in

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

and

U.S. Route 31W U.S. Route 31W (US 31W) is the westernmost of two parallel routes for U.S. Route 31 from Nashville, Tennessee to Louisville, Kentucky. At one time, it split with U.S. Route 31E at Sellersburg, Indiana, crossing into nearby Louisville via the Ke ...

(US 31W)/ US 60 (

Dixie Highway Dixie Highway was a United States auto trail first planned in 1914 to connect the Midwest with the South. It was part of a system and was expanded from an earlier Miami to Montreal highway. The final system is better understood as a network of ...

) in Shively and as the Watterson Expressway from US 31W/US 60 to its northeastern terminus at

in Glenview Manor. Along the way, it provides access to

Louisville International Airport Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport , formerly known as simply Louisville International Airport, is a civil-military airport in Louisville in Jefferson County, Kentucky. The airport covers and has three runways. Its IATA airport code ...

at its junction with