Parkways to Interstate spurs

As the leader of the organization that has led the charge the past four years to see the Audubon and Natcher parkways become Interstate spurs, it's encouraging to see local candidates for political office talk about the issue. Both Bruce Kunze, Daviess County judge executive candidate and Paul Haire, who's running for Daviess County commissioner, west district, told the Messenger-Inquirer they support those upgrades. I suspect (hope?) other candidates do as well, but it's nice to see it highlighted.

For the record, both parkways were officially designated as future Interstate spurs as part of a larger transportation bill passed by Congress and signed by President Bush in June of 2008. That happened in large part because of then Congressman Ron Lewis' work at the urging of the Chamber of Commerce. Signs indicating its Interstate 69 spur status went up on the Audubon Parkway last September. At this time, the Natcher Parkway is officially a future I-66 spur. After the Natcher becomes part of the new 100-mile, four-lane connector from I-64 to I-65, I'd like to see the Natcher become part of an I-64/I-65 spur. Confused yet?

The bottom line is that there's some serious transportation progress coming together in the Owensboro region. Taking advantage of the near-Interstate condition of the parkways to finally bring Interstate spurs to the community's front door just makes sense. This won't happen overnight, but I'm finding that a steady drum beat of support with good facts is getting politicians' attention on these projects.

Good for Kunze and Haire to realize the importance of good surface transportation to the region. Certainly, Interstates carry commerce in the U.S. This is true today and will be true in the future.