After two years, I-69 in Graves, Hickman, Fulton counties is complete

Western Kentucky will start the new year with newly completed upgrades of the Purchase and Pennyrile parkways, and 55 miles of new western Kentucky interstate.

In Graves, Hickman and Fulton counties, the two-year project to upgrade 21 miles of the Julian Carroll-Purchase Parkway to interstate standards is now complete. The highway has been redesignated Interstate 69 from Mayfield to Fulton. 

The $33.9 million extension included widening culverts, modernizing guardrails and improving drainage as well as reconstructing bridges, overpasses and exits. One of the most significant modernizations was to KY 339's Exit 14 cloverleaf interchange. 

Meanwhile, the nearly $14 million project to upgrade 34 miles of the Pennyrile Parkway in Hopkins County and Christian County, which began in 2023, is also complete.

It added improved bridges, newly designed ramps, rehabilitated road surfaces, and guardrails – meeting standards that allowed the parkway to be redesignated as Interstate 169.

The new I-169 will now serve as a direct interstate link from I-24 to I-69, and also shortens the distance between the Indiana and Tennessee state lines by 44 miles.