Two sections of US 460 in Pike County are now open with the middle section projected to be finished in 2025.
The much-anticipated first half of the US 460 realignment project in Pike County – an 8-mile, $283 million project – was officially opened to traffic on December 18, 2014.
The 8-mile realignment project, for which construction began in 2001, includes four 12-foot lanes with two 12-foot shoulders and nine bridges at a price tag exceeding $282.5 million. The entire roadway, from U.S. 23 to the Virginia state line, is expected to cost somewhere around $700 million, which will make it the biggest road project the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has ever undertaken east of Lexington.
The U.S. 460 corridor through Pike County, called Corridor Q in ARC’s listing of Appalachian Project Development highways, is a 16.7-mile stretch which runs from U.S. 23 at Sookey’s Creek, south of Pikeville, to the Virginia state line near Breaks Interstate Park, where it meets a connector to that state’s Coalfields Expressway.
In 2004, the Kentucky General Assembly named the new U.S. 460 after Brandon Rowe and Brent Coleman, who gave the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively.
Plans for the Appalachian Corridor System began in the late 1960’s, soon after the Appalachian Regional Commission was established by the United States Congress. There are a total of 13 Appalachian states, part or all of which are included in ARC’s territory. When U.S. 460 is finished, it will complete the ARC corridor system in Kentucky, which also includes U.S. 23 and U.S. 119. The final section of U.S. 119, from the south side of Pine Mountain in Letcher County to the Harlan County line, is under construction and should be completed before the rest of U.S. 460 is finished.
The anticipated completion date for the second half of the project is 2025.
