AASHTO Journal, 12 September 2014
KYTC’s $43 million I-65 Widening Project in Barren County, part of the state’s program to widen I-65 across Kentucky, earned a regional America’s Transportation Award in August. Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear last week announced the state had signed a contract to begin construction on the next segment that will improved a primary north–south corridor in the state. Photo courtesy KYTC
Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear last week announced that the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet had awarded a $138.48 million contract to rebuild 17 miles of interstate approximately 55 miles south of Louisville.
According to a news release, the contract is “a significant step toward realizing a long-held goal of a six-lane Interstate 65 from the Ohio River to the Tennessee line.”
“This latest award gets us one giant step closer to completing the widening of I-65 in its entirety in Kentucky,” Gov Beshear said. “The project is badly needed because of I-65’s importance as a commercial and travel corridor, stretching from Chicago to Alabama. Kentucky is doing its part to keep the travel public safe and the interstate free of congestion.”
KYTC awarded the contract to Scotty’s Contracting and Stone LLC on Wednesday to rebuild a portion of I-65 in Hart, LaRue and Hardin counties, widening it from four lanes to six lanes – three in each direction. The project area stretches from mile point 64.9 in Hart County, near Munfordville, through LaRue County to mile point 82.2 in Hardin County, near Sonora.
Once the project is completed, in 2017, less than 10 miles of I-65 – all in Hardin County, south of Elizabethtown – will remain as six-lane. The highway is already six lanes from Elizabethtown to the Ohio River, at Louisville.
Since 2000, KYTC has awarded multiple contracts totaling more than $600 million to widen I-65 from the Tennessee line to Elizabethtown. A section that ends near Munfordville is currently under construction. The project for which a contract was awarded Wednesday will pick up where the current project ends.
An $43 million I-65 widening project in Barren County was finished $2.66 million under budget, earning KYTC a regional America’s Transportation Award earlier this year.