Дорога Mountain Parkway в Кентукки откроется полностью к 2033 году

A day after the Campton to Salyersville expansion of the Mountain Parkway was officially opened, Kentucky's state highway engineer told a legislative committee that the final section, from Magoffin County to Floyd County, is expected to be open by 2033. State Highway Engineer James Ballinger told the members of the Interim Joint Committee on Transportation that work on the new four-lane parkway section from Salyersville to Prestonsburg began in August and incredible progress has been made since then. Since construction began, he said, a total of 2.3 million cubic yards of material has been moved for the project. "Over a mile of the roadbed is nearly at the mainline grade where it's going to be," Ballinger said. "They've made an incredible amount of progress on the Mountain Parkway." State Rep. Ashley Tackett Laferty, D-Martin, asked Ballinger if any portion of the roadway could be opened before the entire new section is complete. "We've talked about if we get a segment of it complete, could we possibly open a part of it and remove traffic from the existing road?" Ballinger said. "At this point, that's not the plan." Ballinger said the topography would make it difficult to build a connector to the new highway before the entire section is finished. More from this section "My recommendation will be: Let's get the project done as soon as we can open it to traffic fully all the way through," Ballinger said. The new section, Ballinger said, will be different than the existing roadway from Prestonsburg to Salyersville. "It'll be fully controlled, like the segment from Campton to Salyersville," Ballinger said. "It'll be like an interstate as you drive along it." He said construction on the Floyd County side of the project is currently expected to begin next year. The new section, Ballinger said, is being funded primarily through a $116.3 million U.S. Department of Transportation Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant and $150 million in state funding. However, he told legislators that a recent bill passed by the U.S. Congress adds an extra $36.5 million toward the construction. Part of the construction will include a new interchange near Prestonsburg Elementary School and Ky. 404 in Floyd County.