William H. Natcher Parkway

William H. Natcher Parkway

The Wiliam H. Natcher Green River Parkway is a limited-access freeway from Bowling Green to Owensboro in the US state of Kentucky. The Natcher is one of nine highways that are part of Kentucky's parkway system. Conceived as the "Owensboro–Bowling Green Parkway," it was instead named the Green River Parkway when it opened on December 15, 1972. It received its current name in 1994 following the death of the late William H. Natcher, a United States Congressman who represented the Second District of Kentucky for three decades. Natcher is best known for his record-setting string of 18,401 roll call votes, even being wheeled in on a hospital gurney to vote shortly before his death.

The Natcher Parkway was a toll road from its opening until November 21, 2006.

In 2006, the old and new names were combined into the current name, in order to be consistent with most of the Commonwealth's other parkways, all of which had their original names changed in the same manner to honor various Kentucky politicians. However, the newly-designed marker signs that were installed on the Natcher Parkway in the summer of 2006 do not bear the words "Green River."

The parkway begins at an interchange with US Route 231 (US 231) south of Interstate 65 (I-65, exit 20) near Bowling Green. It travels along the west side of the city in a northwesterly direction, through rolling farmlands and near coal mines, for 70.24 miles (113.04 km) before meeting its northern terminus at an interchange with US Highway 60 Bypass (US 60 Byp.) at Owensboro. At exit 41, the parkway intersects with the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway, the longest and oldest road in the state's parkway system. The Natcher Parkway bypasses the cities of Morgantown, Beaver Dam and Hartford. The parkway carries the unsigned designation of Kentucky Route 9007 (WN 9007).