The Cumberland Parkway hadthree toll plazas on the mainline highway, plus a set of toll rampsat Exit 78 for traffic entering the parkway eastbound from KY 80, orexiting from the parkway westbound onto KY 80.

Mainline toll plazas werelocated at Mile Marker 3, just east of the highway's western terminusat I-65; at Exit 27 (US 68/KY 80 at Edmonton); and at Exit 62 (US 127for Jamestown and Russell Springs).

At the two plazas at theexits, cloverleaf interchanges were used. Traffic exiting stoppedunder the bridge, paid the appropriate toll, then looped around theexit ramp. Similarly, traffic entering the toll road had to stopunder the bridge and pay toll before continuing on the parkway.Identical designs were used for both exit plazas.

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This photo from several yearsago (late 1990s) shows the Edmonton toll plaza. The left lane has anunmanned booth for thru-traffic passenger vehicles with exact changeonly. The center lane's booth could be either manned or unmanned, andthe sign on the bridge above the booth was changeable. In this photo,it reads "Thru Cars 80 ¢ Exact Change No Trailers," the same asthe sign for the left lane. The sign above the right lane reads "AllOther Vehicles" and that booth was always staffed. Traffic using thatlane included trucks, cars with trailers, thru cars without exactchange and exit/entrance traffic.

All photos on this page,except the one above, taken June 7, 2003.

Nancy is a small community inwestern Pulaski County. The toll booths on the ramps were not staffedand required exact change, and were tolled so that the state couldcollect money from motorists who wanted to use the CumberlandParkway, instead of KY 80, to travel to the county seat ofSomerset.

This photo shows the emptysignposts on the westbound parkway, where information on the tollramp was previously posted. The sign read "20 Cents Cars 20 Cents --Do Not Exit Without Exact Coins -- No Change Made."

Contractors had alreadydemolished the unattended toll booth as of Saturday, June 7. This isthe spot where the booth used to be. You can tell the spot from theconcrete pavement and the wide shoulder on the left where the boothactually sat.

These blank signposts are onKY 80 eastbound, just as you get ready to cross the bridge over theparkway. No doubt they contained information on the toll required tobe paid before motorists could enter the parkway.

These photos are from thetoll plaza at the US 127 exit. At the time they were taken, the lefttwo lanes of the parkway were closed, leaving only the rightmost laneopen. A posted speed limit of 25 mph was in effect. These views areall looking west from the westbound lanes.

These posts used to support ayellow guide sign reading,"Stop Ahead Pay Toll." The sign had beenremoved but the flashing yellow lights were stilloperational.

This wide-angle view showsthe entire overpass with the three booths for each direction. Notethat the signs directing traffic into each lane have been removed,but they were identical to the signs shown in the photo near the topof the page.

This view gives a moreclose-up view of the westbound plaza. The collection baskets hadalready been removed but the red-green "stop-go" light past the boothwas still up and operational, as can be noted by the perpetual greenlight just past the booth for the right lane.

This view from the rightshoulder gives another angle.

"Toll Free" signs wereinstalled in the booths and the baskets were removed, and the signallight was set to stay on green. At this booth, for the right lane, anattendant made change or collected money from vehicles with more thantwo axles. Typically, if you were entering or exiting the parkway,you told the attendant so and he or she punched up the amount due ona flashing message board beside the collection basket. Having donethis ritual many times at Exit 33 on the Mountain Parkway, I alwayssaid "just got on" or "getting off" when entering orexiting.