The Daniel Boone Parkway is atwo-lane limited-access highway with truck passing lanes on hills.There are short four-lane portions at London and at Hazard, and thereare also portions of the road at the terminus cities with at-gradeintersections. There were three toll plazas on the highway. Amainline plaza was located east of the KY 192 intersection nearLondon, and there were also plazas at Exit 34 (KY 66) and Exit 44(Hyden Spur, the unsigned KY 118). These exits are actually at-gradeintersections with unusual toll plaza configurations. All photostaken June 7, 2003, unless otherwise noted.

These photos, of the sign atthe entrance to the parkway at the intersection of KY 80 and US 25 atLondon, show a "before and after." The one on the left was taken in2000; the one on the right on June 7, 2003. It doesn't show up wellin the photo, but there is a shadow visible where the words "TollRoad" used to be on the sign.

Just east of the parkway'sintersection with KY 192, there was a standalone toll plaza. Allthese photos are taken looking eastward from the eastboundlanes.

An electronic message signalerted motorists that no toll would be collected at the upcomingtoll booth. The "Stop Ahead Pay toll" signs and the signs posting thefares had been removed, along with their support posts.

This view shows the tollplaza with the metal structure atop it. The two-lane road widens tofour lanes, with two booths in each direction. The booth on the leftcould handle traffic in either direction, and could be either mannedor unmanned. Note that the sign above the left lane has been removed.It normally read "Thru Cars Exact Change Only" or something similarbut could be changed manually if the booth was staffed. The boothsfor the outside lanes were always staffed and they handled cars withtrailers, trucks, or drivers who didn't have exact change. The tollplaza's office can be seen at left.

A view of the toll plaza froma different angle. Note how the metal structure has been blackenedfrom years of exhaust from trucks passing through the tollplaza.

A closer view of the tollplaza office.

Note that the traffic lightand the collection basket has been removed from the booth in thiscloseup view. The "Toll Free Slow" notation has been taped to thewindow. It looks crude,but it's cheaper than specially buiding asign.

Exit 34 is for KY 66. Thisexit in eastern Clay County allows traffic in that portion of thecounty to easily reach the county seat, Manchester, without using US421. The toll plazas and exits for Exit 34 and also Exit 44 were of aunique design. Here's hoping these photos and the accompanyingnarrative will be sufficiently explanatory.

Let's start by looking atthis photo, taken looking east on the parkway. The roadway on theright is the eastbound lane of the parkway; the one on the left isthe westbound lane. The toll booth on the right serves all eastboundtraffic, both thru traffic and traffic turning left onto the accessroad to KY 66. On the left is a booth which serves only trafficentering the parkway westbound toward Manchester. In the center ofthe photo, in the distance, is one booth to serve all westboundparkway traffic -- either going straight through or exiting onto KY66 -- plus traffic entering the parkway eastbound.

This photo shows the tollbooth for all eastbound traffic. Notice how stained the concrete roofand support structure is from the truck exhausts. At this booth,tolls were collected for traffic staying on the parkway or fortraffic leaving to connect to KY 66. KY 66 traffic stopped at thestop sign, then made a left turn across the eastbound lane onto theaccess road leading to KY 66. Thru traffic continuedstraight.

This photo shows the twobooths at the left and center of the previous one. The left booth isfor traffic entering the eastbound parkway.

This shows the same twobooths, but from a different angle.

This photo shows the tollplaza's office building and the three lanes of traffic here. The carheading toward the camera is traveling west and can either gostraight on the parkway or make a right turn onto the KY 66connector. The center lane is for eastbound traffic which has justentered the parkway. The lane on the right is for eastbound trafficthat has already passed through the toll booth.

---

Here's a closeup view of thecenter booth from the first picture. The lane on the left is forwestbound traffic. The lane in the center, which passes through thebooth, is for traffic that has just entered the eastbound parkwayfrom KY 66. The rightmost lane is for eastbound parkwaytraffic.

This is the same tollbooth asshown in the previous photo, but at a wider angle, showing more ofthe eastbound through traffic lane.

Now we've turned around andare looking westward. The right lane is for all westbound traffic.The center lane is for traffic entering the eastbound parkway from KY66, and the leftmost lane is for through eastbound traffic. The boothin the distance on the right is the one for traffic entering theparkway westbound; the one on the left is for all eastbound traffic.The toll plaza office building is on the right.

This is a closer view of thesame subject as immediately above.

The red SUV has just passedthrough the westbound toll booth and can either continue straight orturn right onto the KY 66 connector.

Here, the white car isheading east and has the option of making a left turn onto the KY 66connector or continuing straight toward Hyden and Hazard.

This is the toll booth in thecenter of the above photos. The white truck is heading east in thefar right lane, outside the booth's sheltered area. The center laneis for traffic that has entered the eastbound parkway from KY 66. Theside of the booth that is visible served all westbound traffic. The"toll free" sign is where the collection basket used tobe.

This is the toll booth thatserved traffic entering the parkway westbound from KY 66.

The office building for theBig Creek Toll Plaza.

This sign, on the KY 66connector approaching the parkway, used to read "Stop Ahead Pay Toll"and shadows from the former lettering can faintly be seen. Now astandard "T" warning sign has been placed on the sign and theflashing yellow lights are no longer working.

The easternmost toll plaza onthe Daniel Boone Parkway is at Exit 44, for the Hyden Spur. Thisroute is unsigned KY 118 and was built at the same time as theparkway, to link it to US 421/KY 80 at Hyden, four miles and onemountain crossing to the south. It's located at the small communityof Thousandsticks. The configuration is pretty much the same as theBig Creek Toll Plaza, except that the road turns to the south insteadof to the north.

 

This photo was taken in March2003, when the toll booths were still operational, and lookingeastward. The booth in the distance on the left is for westboundtraffic. You can see the white car making a left turn onto the HydenSpur. The booth in the distance, visible through the two-lane boothin the center, is for traffic entering the parkway eastbound from theHyden Spur. The two-lane booth in the foreground serves trafficentering the parkway going west (the center lane, with the car facingthe camera) and all eastbound traffic (where the rear of the vehicleis visible.) The toll plaza's office building is to the right of thephoto, the brick building with the blue door.

This sign used to read "StopAhead Pay Toll" and the shadows where those letters were attached tothe sign are faintly visible. Now there is a "side road" warning signattached to the yellow guide sign. The "Reduced Speed 25" was for theperiod while the toll booths were being demolished.

Note the difference betweenthis sign on the Hyden Spur, and a similar sign on the KY 66connector at Big Creek. On this sign, the "Stop Ahead" letters werekept in place, possibly because the toll plaza sits at the bottom ofa hill at the end of the Hyden Spur. The shadows where the "Pay Toll"letters were attached are faintly visible, and the "T" warning signwas placed below the "Stop Ahead" text.