Kentucky Route 259
Kentucky Route 259 (KY 259) is a 95.91-mile-long (154.35 km) state highway that traverses five counties in west-central Kentucky.
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
KY 259 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by KYTC | ||||
| Length | 95.910 mi[1] (154.352 km) | |||
| Existed | 1930s–present | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| North end |  KY 144 near Rhodelia | |||
| ||||
| South end |   US 68 / KY 80 at Hays | |||
| Location | ||||
| Counties | Meade, Breckinridge, Grayson, Edmonson, Warren | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
Route description
Warren/Edmonson County area
KY 259's southern terminus is at the intersection with the concurrently running U.S. Route 68 (US 68) and KY 80 in Hays, in far eastern Warren County. It crosses Interstate 65 (I-65) via an overpass shortly before crossing into Edmonson County and reaches the community of Rocky Hill, where it intersects KY 1339 (Apple Grove Road). It then crosses US 31W just north of Rocky Hill, and then turns northwest to intersect KY 422 and 2325 in the Pig community. When it meets KY 101 in Rhoda, KY 259 turns right and continues on to the Edmonson County seat of Brownsville, where it runs concurrently with Kentucky Route 70 throughout its course through that city, over the Green River to a point near the Riverhill Shopping Center.
After leaving Brownsville, KY 259 then traverses the communities of Lindseyville, Sweeden (where it intersects KY 728), and Bee Spring (where it intersects KY 238). KY 259 skirts the Nolin Lake area after passing through the community of Broadway.
Three different sections of KY 259 in Edmonson and Warren counties are marked as a Kentucky Scenic Byway.
Grayson County
KY 259 enters Grayson County and continues on through Anneta and Meredith. It intersects a very short KY 226, and then enters Leitchfield. It intersects the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway at its exit 107 interchange and meets US 62 in downtown Leitchfield. It also meets the eastern terminus of KY 54 (Owensboro Road) at the public square. After the second intersection of the Leitchfield By-Pass (the first one was after the WK Parkway interchange), KY 259 continues northward.
Breckinridge and Meade Counties
After reaching Breckinridge County, and the first junction with Kentucky Route 79, KY 259 and KY 79 run concurrently while bridging parts of the Rough River Lake. They reach the US 60 junction at Harned. KY 259 turns left to run concurrently with US 60 westbound, while KY 79 makes a right turn to join US 60 eastbound. KY 259 enters the city of Hardinsburg and then continues north to reach its northern terminus at KY 144 at Rhodelia, in western Meade County. Three different sections of KY 259 in Edmonson and Warren counties are marked as a Kentucky Scenic Byway.
History
| |
|---|---|
| Location | Hays-Harned, Kentucky |
| Length | 67 mi (108 km) |
| Existed | 1929–1962? |
In the beginning, KY 259 only ran from Hardinsburg to Rhodelia. The highway from Hays to Harned began its history as Kentucky Route 65 at the time of its inception.[2][3] KY 65 originally had a total length of an estimated 65.1 miles (104.8 km).
The then-KY 65 (during its concurrency with KY 70) in Edmonson County crossed the Green River by ferry until it was re-routed onto a bridge in the 1950s.[4][5][6]
At one point between 1959 and 1963, KY 65 was redesignated as the current KY 259, extending that route to its current longevity. This was done in order to avoid confusion between it and the then-planned-and-under-construction Interstate 65 in the Edmonson/Warren/Barren County area, and its entire course through west-central Kentucky, which was completed in 1967. To date, there was never another KY 65 designation ever since.[2][7] The re-numbering to the current KY 259 also complied with the state's policy that no duplication of highway numbers were allowed in the state except for US 79 and KY 79 in west-central Kentucky. That policy was also compliant of the former KY 64 in this region of the state after Interstate 64 was under construction in north-central and northeast Kentucky, and as of May 2017, I-169 and KY 169, which are in different regions of the state.[8]
In early 2001, construction began to create a straight by-pass two-lane corridor from Brownsville to Chalybeate, including the rerouting of KY 259 from Rhoda to Brownsville, along with the final stretch of KY 101 in the Rhoda area. Once it was completed in November 2001, the old alignments the two routes were reconstructed to include intersections with the new alignment. Once those were done in 2002, the KYTC assigned the old alignment then-new state route designations of KY 3019 and KY 3021.[9][10]
Points of interest along the route
- Edmonson County Lion's Club Fairgrounds, near Rhoda. Home to the annual Edmonson County Fair (held in early September)
- Bee Spring Park.
- Moutardier Marina (via KY 2067), south of Anneta.
- Grayson County Airport, near Meredith
- Grayson Connty Fairgrounds, north of Leitchfield.
Major intersections
| County | Location | mi[1] | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Warren | Hays | 0.000 | 0.000 | US 68 / KY 80 – Bowling Green, Glasgow | Southern terminus |
| Edmonson | Rocky Hill | 3.302 | 5.314 |  KY 1339 east (Apple Grove Road) | Western terminus of KY-1339 |
| | 5.17 | 8.32 |   US 31W (Louisville Road) to I-65 – Bowling Green, Park City, Cave City | ||
| | 8.489 | 13.662 |  KY 422 south (Pig Road) | Northern terminus of KY 422 | |
| | 9.462 | 15.228 |  KY 2325 north (Silent Grove Church Road) | Southern terminus of KY 2325 | |
| Rhoda | 11.926 | 19.193 |   KY 101 south (Veterans Memorial Highway) / KY 259 north (Brownsville Road) | Northern terminus of KY-101; KY 259 right turns onto VMH | |
| 12.71 | 20.45 |  KY 3019 south (Brownsville Road) – Edmonson County Fairgrounds | Northern terminus of KY-3019 | ||
| | 13.357 | 21.496 |  KY 3021 north | Southern terminus of KY 3021 | |
| Brownsville | 14.497 | 23.331 | KY 3021 south | Northern terminus of KY-3021 | |
| 14.763 | 23.759 |  KY 70 east (Mammoth Cave Road) – Mammoth Cave National Park, Cave City | Begin concurrency with KY 70 | ||
| 14.993 | 24.129 | Wildcat Way -- to Edmonson County High School | |||
| 15.055 | 24.229 | Houchin's Ferry Road | Alternate route to Edmonson County High School | ||
| 15.403 | 24.789 |  KY 2184 north (Washington Street) – Camp Joy, Brownsville City Park, Green River Amphitheater | Southern terminus of KY-2184 | ||
| 16.142– 16.384 | 25.978– 26.367 | Bridge over CR-1203, the Green River, and Lock Road (KY 183) | |||
| 16.532 | 26.606 |  KY 183 east (Lock Road) | Western terminus of KY-183 | ||
| 17.212 | 27.700 | KY 70 west (Morgantown Road) – Roundhill, Morgantown | End concurrency with KY-70 | ||
| Sweeden | 22.652 | 36.455 |  KY 728 east (Nolin Dam Road) – Nolin Lake State Park | Western terminus of KY-728 | |
| Bee Spring | 24.082 | 38.756 |  KY 238 west (Sunfish-Bee Spring Road) – Sunfish | Eastern terminus of KY-238 | |
| Broadway | 26.236 | 42.223 |  KY 2336 east (Jock Road) | Western terminus of KY-2336 | |
| Grayson | | 28.258 | 45.477 |  KY 2067 south (Moutardier Road) | Northern terminus of KY 2067 |
| Meredith | 33.849 | 54.475 |   KY 226 east to KY 88 – Peonia | Western terminus of KY 226; KY-259 left turns to the west | |
| Leitchfield | 39.913 | 64.234 |  Western Kentucky Parkway east – Elizabethtown | Exit 107 from WK Parkway east, and ramps to WK Parkway east | |
| 39.935 | 64.269 | Western Kentucky Parkway west – Beaver Dam, Paducah | Exit 107 from WK Parkway west; and ramps to WK Parkway west | ||
| 40.308 | 64.869 |  KY 3155 north (Leitchfield Bypass) | Southern terminus of KY-3155 | ||
| 40.712 | 65.520 |  US 62 west (West Main Street) – Beaver Dam, Caneyville | Begin concurrency with US 62 | ||
| 40.898 | 65.819 |  KY 54 west (Owensboro Road) – Fordsville, Owensboro | Eastern terminus of KY-54; traffic circle around the Grayson County Courthouse | ||
| 41.221 | 66.339 | US 62 east – Clarkson, Elizabethtown | End concurrency with US-62 | ||
| 41.626 | 66.991 |  KY 737 north | Southern terminus of KY-737 | ||
| 42.732 | 68.770 | KY 3155 south (Leitchfield Bypass) | Northern terminus of KY-3155 | ||
| Breckinridge | Madrid | 51.215 | 82.423 |  KY 401 north | Southern terminus of KY-401 |
| | 53.767 | 86.530 | KY 737 south – Leitchfield | Northern terminus of KY-737 | |
| McDaniels | 57.627 | 92.742 |  KY 79 south – Rough River Dam State Resort Park, Caneyville | Begin concurrency with KY 79 | |
| | 57.627– 67.323 | 92.742– 108.346 | see KY 79 | ||
| Harned | 67.323 | 108.346 |  US 60 east / KY 79 north – Irvington, Brandenburg, Fort Knox, Louisville | End concurrency with KY 79 | |
| | 68.858 | 110.816 |  KY 1616 west (Fairgrounds Road) – Hardinsburg | Eastern terminus of KY-1616 | |
| Hardinsburg | 70.028 | 112.699 | Old U.S. 60  – Hardinsburg Business District | ||
| 70.781 | 113.911 |  US 60 west / KY 261 south – Hawesville, Owensboro, McQuady, Fordsville, Rough River Dam State Resort Park | End concurrency with US 60; Begin concurrency with KY-261 | ||
| 72.152 | 116.117 |  KY 992 west (Second Street) | Eastern terminus of KY-992; also part of Old U.S. 60 west of town | ||
| 72.244 | 116.265 | KY 261 east (First Street) | End concurrency with KY 261 | ||
| | 75.956 | 122.239 |  KY 2279 north | Southern terminus of KY-2279 | |
| Union Star | 84.820 | 136.505 | KY 144 – Stephensport, Cloverport, Brandenburg | ||
| Meade | Rhodelia | 95.91 | 154.35 | KY 144 – Brandenburg, Union Star | Northern terminus |
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
| |||||
Related routes
- Kentucky Route 3019
- Kentucky Route 3021
References
- Commonwealth of Kentucky. "Official DMI Route Log". Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- Official 1957 Kentucky State Highway Map Archived 2012-03-22 at the Wayback Machine
- Official 1939 Kentucky State Highway Map Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
- Edmonson County Highway and Transportation Map (1937 Edition)
- Edmonson County Highway and Transportation Map (1958 Edition)
- Uglybridges.com | KY-70 over GREEN RIVER AND CR-& CR 1203, Edmonson County, Kentucky
- Official 1964 Kentucky State Highway Map
- "H.B.'s Fun Facts About Kentucky Highways". Archived from the original Archived 2002-08-27 at the Wayback Machine August 27, 2002. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
- KY 259 at KentuckyRoads.com
- KY 101 at KentuckyRoads.com