A nearly $50 million highway improvement project is underway on Kentucky Highway 15 in Breathitt County.
The project will widen the road to four lanes with a center turn lane and add sidewalks to a stretch of the highway within Jackson city limits that carries more than 13,000 vehicles daily.
Additional work will include further strengthening and stabilizing the dam that holds Panbowl Lake. Other stability improvements were completed in June 2023.
“This is a dam that we were worried would break in both the 2021 and 2022 floods,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. “We are proud to stand with Breathitt County as we get this $50 million project underway and greatly improve the safety for folks living in this area.”
The project received a $21.6 million federal Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant.
Highway 15 is part of the Appalachian Development Highway System. It was built in the early 1960s in conjunction with construction of the Mountain Parkway.
Utility relocation work is underway. A portion of the northbound lane of KY 15 is closed, and traffic is shifted into the center turn lane.
The work zone runs for slightly longer than a mile from the intersection with Kentucky Highway 30 to the intersection of Kentucky Highway 1812 and a portion of Washington Street.