PADUCAH, Ky. (June 26, 2019) — Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) engineers are seeking the help of Paducah area drivers during a planned five-week closure of U.S. 60 and its connecting ramps at the Interstate 24/U.S. 60 Paducah Exit 4 interchange.
The closure, scheduled to start at 6:00 a.m., CDT, Monday, July 8, will allow for construction of final connecting points for a new Double Crossover Diamond (DCD) interchange to increase road capacity and improve safety. Traffic will be detoured to the I-24/KY 305 Paducah Exit 3 Interchange.
“Local commuters and businesses can do a lot to reduce potential gridlock at the Exit 3 interchange and along the detour as we prepare for this closure,” said KYTC District 1 Chief Engineer Kyle Poat. “We’re urging commuters to start thinking now about alternate routes they can take to avoid congestion along the marked detour.”
With the official marked detour directing out of town traffic to use I-24/KY 305 Paducah Exit 3, Poat says local commuters can reduce traffic along the official detour by diverting to the U.S. 45/U.S. 62 Paducah Exit 7 interchange and using alternate local routes to get to businesses in the mall shopping area.
Local commuters are encouraged to travel to and from the mall area via New Holt Road, Pecan Drive, and James-Sanders Boulevard. This will reduce the number of vehicles traveling through the Exit 3 Interchange along the marked detour for U.S. 60.
Poat had a special request for commuters, businesses, and commercial drivers.
“If you are a regular commuter, start checking out alternate routes now. If you are a delivery truck driver, start looking at alternate legal truck routes to reach customers to avoid delays. If you are a business owner, start alerting customers and suppliers so they can identify alternate routes to and from your business.”
A map of the marked detour has been shared with the Paducah Hospitality Association for distribution to restaurants and hotels that may be impacted by the temporary closure. KYTC engineers will be meeting with the McCracken County Sheriff’s Department and Paducah Police Department to ensure an enhanced police presence along the official detour.
With the current closure of U.S. 45 Ohio River “Brookport” Bridge for maintenance and repairs, local commuters traveling between Metropolis and Downtown Paducah should consider using Exit 7 or Exit 11 to avoid heavy traffic at Exit 3. Message boards will be placed at Wickliffe advising through traffic traveling into Paducah from the U.S. 51 Ohio River “Cairo” Bridge to use KY 286 and U.S. 62 to avoid the U.S. 60 closure at Exit 4.
Travelers on I-24 will be detoured to the I-24/KY 305 Paducah Exit 3 interchange. Traffic seeking to connect to U.S. 60 East to access businesses near Exit 4 and into Paducah will detour via Charter Oak Drive and Coleman Road. Motorists seeking to connect to U.S. 60 West and businesses near the west side of the Exit 4 interchange will detour via KY 998/Olivet Church Road and New Holt Road to reconnect with U.S. 60 near Kentucky Oaks Mall.
“We’ll also be placing extra detour signage and extra message boards in Paducah to help divert local traffic to Exit 7. This should further reduce volume along the official detour. My best advice to drivers is to have an alternate travel plan in place before July 8,” said Poat.
I-24 traffic through the Paducah Exit 4 interchange will remain open, but entry and exit ramps, as well as U.S. 60 through the interchange, will close with a marked detour via the I-24/KY 305 Exit 3 interchange.
Work will take place along U.S. 60 between James-Sanders Boulevard and Coleman Road, but access will be maintained to businesses on each side of the interchange. U.S. 60 will remain open west of James-Sanders Boulevard along the mall shopping area.
The contractor is required to reopen U.S. 60 and the ramps at the Paducah Exit 4 Interchange by August 12.
Approximately 28,500 vehicles travel U.S. 60 through the Exit 4 interchange each day. In comparison, KY 305 carries about 5,000 vehicles through the Exit 4 interchange in an average day.
KYTC staff is working with popular navigational tools like the WAZE App, Google Maps, GPS-based systems, as well as the KYTC traffic page at goky.ky.gov to provide notice of the ramp closures and U.S. 60 at Exit 4.
Jim Smith Contracting of Grand Rivers, Ky., is the prime contractor on this $9,179,425 highway improvement project. The target completion date is November 20, 2019.