Transportation

Interstate

Interstate 24 (east to west) runs through the heart of Paducah. The interstate makes up the majority of a high-traffic corridor between St. Louis, Missouri and Atlanta, Ga. and provides Paducah with direct access to Nashville, Tenn.

The following are mileages from Paducah along the corridor:

• Nashville (135 miles)
• St. Louis (172 miles)
• Chattanooga (266 miles)
• Atlanta (381 miles)

I-24 provides access to interstates 40 (east to west), 55 (north to south), 57 (north to south), 64 (east to west), 66 (east to west) and 69 (north to south) within 150 miles of Paducah.

River

Paducah is at the center of multiple waterways linking Pittsburgh, Mobile, the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans, St. Louis and Minneapolis/St. Paul. Only New Orleans, with its ships, tugboats and petrochemical industry, has a bigger inland river presence.

Rail

Paducah has low rail costs because of its access to five Class I railroads. Paducah is directly serviced by two Class I railroads, the Canadian National (CN) and the Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF). The Paducah and Louisville (P&L) short line provides low-cost access to two additional Class I railroads, CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern (NS). Additionally, the Union Pacific (UP) has trackage rights through Paducah. The P&L provides freight service between Paducah and Louisville.  It interchanges with the BNSF and CN in Paducah; CSX in Madisonville, Ky. and Louisville, Ky.; and the NS in Louisville.

Air Service

Barkley Regional Airport provides two daily nonstop flights from Paducah to Chicago-O’Hare via United/SkyWest. Barkley features two runways at lengths of 5,500 ft. and 6,500 ft. by 150 ft. wide. Western Kentucky and southern Illinois residents also frequently fly from Nashville International Airport, located two hours from Paducah. Paducah is also home to Midwest Aviation, which offers a fleet of charter aircraft and FAA certified pilots that can move any number of passengers or freight to any destination at a moment’s notice.

Utilities

Water

Paducah Water supplies the area with treated water.  Excess capacity is in the 8 million gallons per day range.

Wastewater

The Paducah-McCracken Joint Sewer Agency supplies the area with wastewater services.  Excess capacity is in the 9 million gallons per day range.

Natural Gas

Atmos Energy supplies natural gas to the area. Paducah also has two major gas trunklines that run near the city.

Electric Power

The Tennessee Valley Authority Shawnee Fossil Plant is located roughly 4 miles miles from the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant site. It was built to service the plant when it was first constructed in 1952. Shawnee generates roughly 8 billion kilowatt hours of electricity a year, enough to supply 540,000 homes. The facility provided power to the PGDP for many years and still services a smaller load to the plant as it powers down Three other power distributors – Kentucky Utilities, Jackson Purchase Energy Corporation and the Joppa Steam Plant – also offer competitive rates to service the PGDP site area.

Telecommunications

AT&T provides state-of-the art telecommunications services including central offices, fiber optics, ISDN, POPS, high speed internet, and other services.