UPDATE
The Purchase Pkwy/KY 348 Exit 43 Interchange at Benton is OPEN.
As a reminder, it now functions as a diamond interchange. Motorists should be prepared to encounter changes in traffic flow the new ramps will create at the interchange.
Appropriate caution is required.
UPDATE: This closure of ramps at the Purchase Pkwy/KY 348 Exit 43 Benton Interchange will start at 7 a.m. instead of 8 a.m. This earlier start time will help assure the contractor has time to complete the transition to the new ramps during daylight hours. The traffic advisory below has been updated to reflect this change. Please update any web postings. – Keith
To facilitate moving traffic to the new ramps at the Julian Carroll-Purchase Parkway/KY 348 Exit 43 Interchange at Benton, the interchange will be closed to all traffic most of the day Friday, December 16, 2016. The Purchase Parkway/KY 348 Exit 43 Benton Interchange is expected to close to all traffic starting at approximately 8:00 a.m., CST, Friday morning and remain closed for about 7 to 8 hours. Closing the interchange during the transition to the new ramps will improve safety for construction workers involved in final preparations for the traffic shift. Motorists seeking to connect to the Purchase Parkway northbound from Benton during the closure should self-detour via US 641 to the Purchase Pkwy/US 68 Exit 47 Interchange at Draffenville. Motorists seeking to connect to the Purchase Parkway southbound during the closure should self-detour via the Purchase Pkwy/US 641 Spur Exit 41 Interchange at Benton. Once the new ramps are open and fully functional, they will dramatically change the way the interchange functions. It will change the direction motorists turn to access the Parkway from KY 348. Motorists who regularly travel through this interchange should be prepared to adapt to changes in traffic flow the new ramps will create. The Purchase Parkway/KY 348 Exit 43 Interchange is at Purchase Parkway mile point 42.555 and KY 348/Symsonia Highway/5th Street mile point 7.439 at the west edge of Benton in Marshall County. Approximately 23,500 vehicles pass through the interchange in an average day. This work to bring the Purchase Parkway/KY 348 Benton Exit 43 Interchange up to current FHWA Interstate standards is among several projects aimed at allowing Interstate 69 to eventually be extended southward along the Purchase Parkway to Mayfield. The existing cloverleaf was designed for slow-speed traffic exiting after a stop at the interchange toll both. The new design is a modern diamond interchange that provides additional space for acceleration and deceleration of traffic entering and leaving the main line of the 4-lane parkway. The contractor plans to allow traffic to run on base courses of asphalt through the winter months. The contractor will then return in the spring to place a final driving surface along the ramps and the parkway lanes within the project area. Jim Smith Contracting of Grand Rivers is the prime contractor on this $8.1 million project. As a reminder, work zones along the Purchase Parkway at the I-24 Exit 25 Interchange at Calvert City and at the US 45-Bypass Exit 21 Interchange in Mayfield continue to be active. Both of those projects, also aimed at allowing I-69 to be extended southward along the parkway in the future, have a July 1, 2018, target completion date.