Kentucky’s parkways are a distinctive part of the Commonwealth’s highway history. Built primarily as toll-funded, limited-access routes, they helped connect communities and economic centers beyond the original Interstate network. Their tolls were eventually removed as construction debts were retired, and several corridors have since been upgraded and redesignated as Interstate highways.
The historic network includes the Martha Layne Collins Blue Grass Parkway, Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway, Julian M. Carroll Purchase Parkway, and Edward T. Breathitt Pennyrile Parkway, along with other parkways across Kentucky. The Purchase Parkway corridor was incorporated into Interstate 69, with its remaining Mayfield–Fulton segment redesignated in December 2024. That same month, a 34-mile section of the former Pennyrile Parkway between I-69 and I-24 became Interstate 169. Other parkway corridors retain their familiar names and distinctive route markers.
From the rolling countryside along the Blue Grass Parkway to the major connections across western Kentucky, these highways tell the story of how the state expanded its road network. Open Road Archive preserves windshield-view driving videos of Kentucky’s parkways and related routes, showing the roads and communities as they appeared when filmed.
Cruise 71 miles east through central Kentucky on the Bluegrass Parkway from Elizabethtown to Versailles. Enjoy smooth driving, bourbon country views, and easy access to Bardstown, Lexington, and Versailles.
Cruise 25 miles west along the Western Kentucky Parkway from Elizabethtown to Clarkson. This quiet, scenic route through farmland and wooded countryside is a peaceful drive through the heart of central Kentucky.
Take a peaceful 71-mile drive on Kentucky’s Bluegrass Parkway from Versailles to Elizabethtown, enjoying scenic horse country, rolling farmland, and the charm of Bardstown, the Bourbon Capital of the World.