Purchase Parkway

The Julian M. Carroll Purchase Parkway was the designation for a 52.3-mile (84.2 km) freeway in the U.S. state of Kentucky that ran between the Tennessee state line at Fulton and US 62 in Calvert City. It began concurrent with U.S. Route 51 (US 51) only a few yards from an intersection with US 45W, US 45E, and US 45 at its southern terminus. It was one of seven highways that are part of the Kentucky Parkway System. The parkway was upgraded to Interstate Highway standards and incorporated into I-69 in two phases. The northern half between US 45 Bypass in Mayfield and I-24 near Calvert City was redesignated as I-69 in July 2018. The interchange with I-24 was reconstructed from a basic cloverleaf interchange to include a pair of direct high-speed connectors for I-69 through traffic continuing east concurrent with I-24, with the northernmost 1.67 miles (2.69 km) of the parkway becoming exit 51A-B (unsigned KY 2602) and facilitating access to westbound I-24 and US 62 for northbound traffic. The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) acquired and closed the nearby Kentucky Lake Motor Speedway in 2015 via eminent domain for the reconstruction of the interchange. The southern half of the parkway from the Tennessee state line in Fulton to US 45 Bypass in Mayfield was redesignated as I-69 in December 2024.