Kentucky planning for six-lane I-71 between Zorn Avenue and Gene Snyder

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – Kentucky is taking the first steps toward a major widening of Interstate 71 in Jefferson County to six lanes, a project that also could include rebuilding the highway’s interchange with the Watterson Expressway.

The state transportation cabinet expects to hire a firm by May to study a seven-mile section of I-71 from Zorn Avenue to the Gene Snyder Freeway and prepare preliminary design plans for expanding an interstate that essentially has two lanes in each direction.

Among other aspects, engineers would determine whether any widening would take place in the median or outside of the existing lanes. They would also report back to state officials how much all the work would cost.

The $1.7 million, federally-funded study also will create options for improving the I-71/I-264 interchange, “starting with small changes to individual ramps and building up to a complete rebuild based on traffic and safety needs.” State lawmakers approved the money in last year's highway spending budget.

It is the latest in a series of interstate plans in the Louisville region.

State lawmakers last year approved $30 million in construction funds for widening I-71 to six lanes from the Snyder to Ky. 329. A transportation cabinet contractor is studying a possible interstate bypass that would connect I-71 in Oldham or Henry counties with I-65 in Bullitt County.

The state also is designing a new interchange at I-64 and the Snyder.

Closer to downtown Louisville, officials have targeted the area on I-71 between Zorn and the Snyder Freeway for years, concluding in a 2014 study that the state needed to ease congestion and improve traffic flow there.

That review classified the Zorn Avenue and I-264 interchanges as “high-crash” locations and recommended that I-71 between I-64 and the Watterson grow to three lanes in both directions.

The work now being commissioned would be complete by June 2020.