When German-based Bilstein Cold Rolled Steel was considering putting a plant in the Kentucky Transpark in northern Warren County back in 2014, a big selling point was the prospect of a new interchange off Interstate 65 that would improve access to the industrial park.

On Thursday, that prospect becomes a reality for Bilstein and other employers in the Transpark. The new interchange, called Exit 30, will be unveiled Thursday, starting with a grand opening event in the morning coordinated by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce.

The $66.8 million project, funded mostly with federal money, has been in the works since 2004, when the first federal money was appropriated. After $6.6 million in utility relocation (mostly for moving a Texas Gas pipeline) and $46.6 million in construction costs, the interchange is now ready to provide easier access for the big trucks rolling into and out of Bilstein and other Transpark businesses.

“It (the interchange) was part of our decision,” said Mark Loik, Bilstein’s president and CEO. “We calculated travel time to the site using the existing highways and with the new interchange. The shorter travel distance (with the interchange) made the site very attractive to us.

“All of our raw material comes in by truck, and all our finished product goes out by truck. Our traffic will steadily increase as we expand. We have just started production.”

Bilstein, whose main customers are automobile manufacturers, currently has 40 employees at its 107,000-square-foot plant in the Transpark. It could expand to as much as 300,000 square feet and employ more than 100 people, said Loik.

And Bilstein is only one of many Transpark employers likely to benefit from easier access to I-65. Since 2003, when Bowling Green Metalforming became the Transpark’s first tenant, the industrial park has added 12 total tenants employing some 2,600 people.

“It (the interchange) will help our existing companies grow,” said Ron Bunch, president and CEO of the Bowling Green chamber. “It will also be easier for us to land new prospects. Companies like Bilstein have known the interchange was coming, and that factored into their decisions to come here.”

The new interchange will also benefit commuters and other travelers along I-65, said Wes Watt, public information officer for the state Transportation Cabinet’s District 3 office in Bowling Green.

“The new interchange will be a tremendous asset to all the businesses in the Transpark,” Watt said. “For commuters, it will mean better access to U.S. 31-W and I-65. It will take commercial traffic and commuter traffic off 31-W and exit 28 (the Corvette plant exit off I-65). The interchange should take a lot of traffic away from an area that’s really congested now.”

Thursday’s grand opening of Exit 30 will be the culmination of the first phase of a two-part project to improve roads in northern Warren County.

This first phase includes the Exit 30 interchange, a connector road that is four lanes with a divided median and the widening of U.S. 68 from Sunnyside-Gott Road to Cosma Drive with turn lanes onto the connector road.

The second phase includes a two-lane connector road from U.S. 68 to U.S. 31-W, with the option to expand to four lanes, and widening of 31-W to include turn lanes onto the connector road.

Watt said the second phase is scheduled for completion sometime in 2018.