Funding to improve transportation issues in Trigg and Christian counties continues to be a high priority heading into 2025.
Christian County Judge-executive Jerry Gilliam says three main areas will receive the most funding from the state. One is the continued roadwork on Kentucky 115 from the industrial parks near Pembroke to I-24.
click to download audioAnother area that will see improvements is the Breathitt Parkway which recently was designated as an I-169 corridor that connects I-69 in Hopkins County to I-24 in Christian County.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet awarded a $13.9-million project to upgrade the highway to federal interstate standards along its 34-mile length. The improvements include raising the vertical bridge clearance heights at three overpasses and interchange improvements at three exits in Hopkins County.
The state has also set aside $11.4 million to reconstruct the clover-leaf interchange at Concord Lane to meet interstate standards.
Perhaps the biggest project facing the counties down the road is the proposed widening of I-24 from Nashville north into southern Kentucky.
Both Gilliam and Trigg County Judge-executive Stan Humphries have been in touch with the Congressional delegations in both Kentucky and Tennessee about the project to widen the interstate from four to six lanes.
Tennessee has already acted on that project, allocating $511 million to widen a corridor of I-24 from Exit 1 near the Kentucky state line to exit 11 from four lanes to six. Construction is expected to begin in 2033.
Kentucky meanwhile allocated $750,000 in 2024 for an I-24 widening study. Humphries said earlier in 2024 that conversations between West Kentucky and Tennessee officials have been going well regarding the project.