The Audubon Parkway is a four-lane controlled-access freeway (formerly a toll road) connecting the cities of Henderson and Owensboro, Kentucky. Named for John James Audubon, an early American naturalist, the Audubon's western terminus is at US 41; the eastern terminus is US 60. The road opened on December 18, 1970, at a cost of $23.5 million (equivalent to $ in ) and, at , is the shortest of the seven roads in the state's parkway system. It is also the only road in the parkway system that has not had the name of a Kentucky politician attached to it. The road carries the unsigned designation of Kentucky Route 9005 (KY 9005). A white and gold shield was used along the Audubon Parkway until 2006, when a new, standardized blue-on-white marker was introduced for all of Kentucky's parkways. Route description History As a toll road The Audubon Parkway, as with all eight of the other parkways, was originally a toll road from its 1970 opening until 2006. The only toll plaza on the Audubon was located at the exit 10 interchange at KY 416 near Hebbardsville, in eastern Henderson County. Toll removal The Audubon and the nearby William H. Natcher Parkway, which opened in 1972, were the last two remaining tolled parkways in Kentucky’s parkway system. They both had their tolls removed on Tuesday, November 21, 2006. Ernie Fletcher, who was governor at the time, announced the removal of the tolls at the Natcher Parkway's Hartford toll plaza in Ohio County on September 27, 2006. Fletcher himself manned the end loader which demolished one of the Audubon's Hebbardsville toll booths during a press conference and ceremony which heralded the end of toll collections. With the end of toll collection, the Hebbardsville interchange was modified slightly, although its past as the parkway's only toll plaza remains in the modified-cloverleaf layout of the ramps, a trait shared by most such interchanges on Kentucky's other parkways. The islands where the toll booths were mounted were removed, and the pavement at the interchange was smoothed over, although the rumble strips approaching the interchange from both directions remain . During 2008, the former toll plaza office on the south side of the interchange was demolished. Future Interstate 69 Spur Daviess County officials first proposed in 2005 that the Audubon be upgraded to an Interstate highway, specifically suggesting the number I-369. This would, according to the proposal,