The Interstate highway begins at a cloverleaf interchange with I-65 near Bowling Green. The portion of the former William H. Natcher Parkway between US 231 and I-65 is not a part of the Interstate Highway System as per federal regulations, and is designated as Kentucky Route 9007. I-165 travels along the west side of the city in a northwesterly direction, through rolling farmlands and near coal mines, for before meeting its northern terminus at an interchange with US 60 in Owensboro. At exit 41, the freeway intersects with the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway. I-165 bypasses the cities of Morgantown, Beaver Dam and Hartford.
History
The highway that is now I-165 opened in 1972 as the Green River Parkway, and later became the William H. Natcher Parkway before receiving the I-165 designation. In early 2016, funding was set aside to rebuild and restore sections of the parkway to interstate standards. From July to August 2017, construction consisting of shoulder widening, draining and repaving was completed. Additional work is underway along the entirety of the parkway. In July 2018, major modernization upgrades began in the Warren County section, consisting of ramp extensions, guardrail replacement, LED lighting updates and bridge wall replacement. Traffic flow was restricted to one lane, wide loads were prohibited and the speed limit set to 55 mph. This work continued through the end of 2018. The US 231 interchange will be partially or completely revamped, and several interchange designs are being considered, including a dual-roundabout system. A new interchange will likely be constructed between the mile markers 3.4 and 4, allowing access to Elrod Road in Bowling Green. The presumed number for the parkway was I-565, but on September 24, 2017, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials' Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbering approved the Natcher Parkway as I-165 instead. On September 5, 2018, it was announced that the entire parkway would be signed with I-165 shields by the end of 2019, even before completion of the parkway's upgrades, thus officially bringing it to Interstate status. On March 6, 2019, the resigning of the freeway began, thus officially designating it as I-165, with exit numbers reverting to the parkway's original exit numbers prior to its extension to US 231 in November 2011. In 2018, Representative Suzanne Miles of Owensboro introduced a bill that would have given the highway an honorary designation of "William H. Natcher Expressway", but the bill did not make it out of committee.
