A popular rest stop on the Wendell Ford-Western Kentucky Parkway closed over the weekend. The Beaver Dam rest area, located at mile marker 75 in Ohio County, was a well known stop for western Kentucky drivers making trips to Louisville, Lexington and Frankfort.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet said in a release that the lease with the current vendor had expired and a recent bid process was terminated due to the bidder's failure to provide complete information.
Beaver Dam rest area on WKY Prkwy temporarily closed due to expired vendor lease.No gas, restrooms, food service and truck parking available
— Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (@KYTC) January 8, 2017
The state closed the rest area when an agreement between the Finance Cabinet and vendor expired. The current vendor provided an incomplete response to the state's request for proposals and was non-responsive to the state's request for further information, according to the KYTC.
The welcome center housed a gas station, convenience store and an Arby's. Vickie Morris, a shift manager at the Ohio County Travel Center at mile-marker 75 in Beaver Dam, says 13 people had been employed at the welcome center, not including Arby's employees.
Morris says the contract on the space was up and the state denied Arby's bid to keep ownership of the building.
KYTC is in a bidding process for the space. Chief of Staff Asa James Swan said the agency is eager to get a contract in place to reopen the location as soon as possible.
The now-closed location will have no services available and truck parking is prohibited.
KYTC said re-opening the location will be the agency's "top priority," though there is no time frame on when it will re open.
No timeframe on when Beaver Dam rest area will reopen; however, it's KYTC's top priority to reopen soon.
— Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (@KYTC) January 8, 2017
This story has been updated
