William H. Natcher Parkway

Infobox road
state=KY
marker_

highway_name=William H. Natcher Parkway
alternate_name=
length_mi=70.184
length_round=3
length_ref=cite web|url=http://www.planning.kytc.ky.gov/data_reports.asp|title=Kentucky Transportation Cabinet - Division of Planning - Highway Information System Official Milepoint Route Log Extract|accessdate=2007-04-08]
established=
direction_a=South
starting_terminus=
junction=
direction_b=North
ending_terminus=
counties=Warren, Butler, Ohio, Daviess
cities=Bowling Green, OwensboroThe Wiliam H. Natcher Green River Parkway is a limited-access freeway from Bowling Green, Kentucky to Owensboro, Kentucky. The Natcher is one of nine highways that are part of Kentucky's parkway system. Conceived as the "Owensboro-Bowling Green Parkway," it was instead named the Green River Parkway when it opened on December 15, 1972. It received its current name in 1994 following the death of the late William H. Natcher, a United States Congressman who represented the Second District of Kentucky for three decades. Natcher is best known for his record-setting string of 18,401 roll call votes, even being wheeled in on a hospital gurney to vote shortly before his death.

The Natcher Parkway was a toll road from its opening until November 21, 2006.

In 2006, the old and new names were combined into the current name, in order to be consistent with most of the Commonwealth's other parkways, all of which had their original names changed in the same manner to honor various Kentucky politicians. However, the newly-designed marker signs that were installed on the Natcher Parkway in the summer of 2006 do not bear the words "Green River."

The parkway begins at an interchange with Interstate 65 (exit 20) just south of Bowling Green. It travels along the west side of the city in a northwesterly direction, through rolling farmlands and near coal mines, for 70.24 miles before meeting its northern terminus at an interchange with the U.S. 60 Bypass at Owensboro. At Exit 41, the parkway intersects with the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway, the longest and oldest road in the state's parkway system. The Natcher Parkway bypasses the cities of Morgantown, Beaver Dam and Hartford. The parkway carries the unsigned designation of Kentucky Route 9007 (WN 9007).

History

Toll removal

On November 21, 2006, toll plazas on the Natcher were removed. Prior to their removal, toll plazas were located at Exit 7/Bowling Green (through cars 50 cents), Exit 34/Morgantown (40 cents), and Exit 48/Hartford (60 cents). Motorists travelling between the I-65 exit and Exit 7 in the Bowling Green area were not charged toll.

The Natcher and the nearby Audubon Parkway, were the last two roads in the Kentucky parkway system to have their tolls removed. Under Kentucky law, toll roads cease toll collection once their construction bonds are paid, either by collected tolls or other sources.

Future

Interstate 66

The parkway was designated a part of the "Future Interstate 66 Corridor," a proposed four-lane Interstate utilizing the existing Cumberland and Hal Rogers Parkway, among other routes, across the southern tier of Kentucky. It cannot be signed as an Interstate until it has permanent connections to the east and west, both of which have not been determined due to the King Coal Highway in West Virginia being demoted to a corridor-standard roadway for US 52.

All or part of the Natcher from the Western Kentucky Parkway interchange southward has been proposed to become part of the controversial proposed extension of Interstate 66 through Kentucky. Exactly how much of the southernmost 41 miles of the highway will be used has not yet been decided — various plans call for the route to diverge from the Natcher somewhere north of Bowling Green and head east toward I-65, forming a northern beltine around the city; another plan would have I-66 follow the Natcher route all the way to the current I-65 interchange, then turn north and overlap I-65 to its junction with the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway.

Exit list

References

External links

* [http://www.kytc.state.ky.us/Toll/Natcher.htm Official Kentucky Transportation Cabinet website with information and toll schedules for the Natcher Parkway]
* [http://www.kentuckyroads.com/natcher_parkway/ KentuckyRoads.com — William H. Natcher Parkway]
* [http://www.millenniumhwy.net/exitguide/natcherpkwy.html Exit Guide for Natcher Parkway]