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Project Overview
US 68/KY 80 is the only east-west gateway into the Land
Between the Lakes. The highway also serves as the
primary east-west connector for Murray and Cadiz.
The project calls for the four-lane reconstruction of
the route from Mayfield, Ky. through the Land Between
the Lakes to Cadiz. As of January 2011, most of
the project is now complete.
Kentucky Highway 80 is now complete
from Mayfield to Murray to Aurora. At Aurora, US
68 joins Kentucky 80 at Kentucky Lake. The 80
year-old Eggner's Ferry Bridge, which carries US 68/KY
80 across Kentucky Lake, still remains and is waiting to
be replaced by a new, modern
four-lane bridge.
In November 2010 the new four-lane US
68/KY 80 opened between Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley
in the Land Between The Lakes. The highway
bottlenecks one more at the equally antiquated Henry
Lawrence Bridge across Lake Barkley. From there,
the road is two-lanes to Cadiz with plans to widen it to
four later this decade.
The bridges spanning Kentucky Lake &
Lake Barkley have been labeled as "Functionally
Obsolete" by transportation officials. The bridges
are nearly 80 years of age (built in 1932) and will be
over that mark when the new bridges are completed.
Continuing budget constraints have put the
new bridges in jeopardy but
as of now construction will start on Kentucky Lake's new
bridge in 2012 and Barkley's is 2011. The bridges
will take about two years to complete.
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Eggner's Ferry Bridge at Kentucky
Lake
Courtesy
www.lakebridges.com
The Final Bridge Design
Courtesy
Michael Baker, Inc. and the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet |
