The end of a highway project more than 50 years in the making is just beginning, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday.
Beshear joined former Gov. Steve Beshear (his father) and a group of local, state and federal officials to cut the ribbon on a segment of the Mountain Parkway Expansion in Wolfe County. The segment is one of the last pieces to the construction effort that will finish 32 miles of four-lane highway to better connect Eastern Kentucky to jobs, schools, healthcare and economic opportunities.
“Team Kentucky is proud to mark another milestone in this project that Kentuckians have been waiting half a century to see come to life,” Gov. Andy Beshear said. “This took a tremendous amount of work, and the end result means we have taken another step forward in making it safer, easier and faster for families to live, learn, work and connect across Eastern Kentucky.”
The 11 miles in Wolfe County was initiated in 2022. That construction effort ran from Campton to Helechawa and included the reconstruction of two interchanges – at Kentucky Highway 191/Campton (Exit 46) and Kentucky Highway 1010/Hazel Green (Exit 53). The nearly $100 million investment included a $55 million in federal infrastructure for Rebuilding America grant in 2020. Completion of the Wolfe County section leaves only one remaining segment to build – the 130mile Magoffin-Floyd segment, for which Beshear broke ground in 2025. That piece of the expansion will provide a four-lane connection from Salyersville to Kentucky Highway 144 near Prestonsburg.
That final segment is expected to take several years to complete and will entail moving approximately 30 million cubic yards of earth.
“The Mountain Parkway Expansion is not only a 45-mile project through Magoffin, Floyd, Morgan and Wolfe counties; it is a grand opening to Kentucky’s Appalachian region, interlocking a 400-mile corridor across the commonwealth that will spur economic development and industrial opportunities for generations to come,” U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers said. “The expansion on Restaurant Row in Salyersville is also a reflection of the resilience of our region, proving once again, that we will continue to thrive through every storm and rebuild stronger than ever before. I was proud to work with our state and local leaders to secure federal funding for this project over the last decade to ensure construction moved forward through every segment. I celebrate with the people of Eastern Kentucky and applaud every construction worker, project manager and engineer who got the job done.”