in
Marion, Kentucky The original segment of the parkway was envisioned as a toll road extending from
Elizabethtown to
Princeton. The bonds were issued in 1961 and construction wrapped up on the original in December 1963 at a cost of $108,548,062. The name of the roadway was chosen by means of a contest sponsored by the Kentucky Turnpike Authority, which originally issued the bonds for the parkway's construction. In 1968, construction wrapped up on a extension of the Western Kentucky Parkway from
Princeton to
Interstate 24 in
Eddyville at a cost of $5,554,468. The extension was originally proposed to be but only were constructed, possibly due to a design realignment of
Interstate 24 near
Eddyville.
Toll plazas The parkway was originally a
toll road, as were all Kentucky parkways. State law requires that toll collection ceases when enough tolls are collected to pay off the parkway's construction bonds, which in the case of the Western Kentucky Parkway, had occurred in 1987. It is constructed similar to the
Interstate Highway System, though sections do not currently meet all interstate design requirements. Prior to toll removal, staffed toll plazas were located at mile 10 (now mile 78 of I-69) just west of
Princeton, exit 24 (now I-69 exit 92) in
Dawson Springs, exit 58 in
Central City, and exit 107 in
Leitchfield.
Interstate 69 On May 15, 2006, the section between the Breathitt (Pennyrile) Parkway at Nortonville and
Interstate 24 became part of future
Interstate 69; crews installed "Future I-69 Corridor" signs along this segment during the last week of May 2006. From the Pennyrile Parkway in Nortonville to Interstate 24, the Western Kentucky Parkway officially became part of I-69 with the signing of federal highway legislation (see below) on June 6, 2008. By using an existing expressway for I-69, Kentucky officials avoided years of federal environmental studies since the upgrades are concurrent with the existing highway. The decision to use it ended talk of a new route for I-69 through Union, Crittenden and Livingston counties along the Ohio River. On May 2, 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives passed HR 1195 (
SAFETEA-LU Technical Corrections Act of 2008) which designates the Pennyrile Parkway from Henderson to Nortonville, and the Western Kentucky Parkway from Nortonville to I-24 at Eddyville as I-69. It further designates the
Audubon Parkway as a future spur (likely to be I-369) of I-69 once necessary upgrades are completed. President George W. Bush signed the bill on June 6, 2008. In September 2011, Governor
Steve Beshear, a native of Dawson Springs, announced an agreement with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), officially designating this section as I-69, effective September 30, 2011. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet unveiled I-69 signs along the route on October 25, 2011. Signage and mile markers were replaced on the 38-mile (61 km) westernmost stretch of the Western Kentucky Parkway in mid-December 2012. The mileposts on the rest of the parkway remained unchanged with the original exit numbers. In a project that began in 2014 and ended in late 2015, the interchange between the parkway and the Pennyrile Parkway was extensively modified to create a curve in the northwest quadrant (for eastbound-to-northbound and southbound-to-westbound traffic on I-69) to meet federal design requirements. Previously, I-69 thru traffic had to exit through tight ramps in a substandard cloverleaf. ==Future==