Kentucky Route80 (KY80) is a state highway in the southern part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. The route originates on the state's western border at Columbus in Hickman County and stretches across the southern portion of the state, terminating southeast of Elkhorn City on the Virginia state line. It is the longest Kentucky State Highway, though the official distance as listed in route logs is much less due to multiple concurrencies with U.S. Route 68 (US68) and US 23.

The route was split into two segments from 2003 to November 2009. Construction and relocation of KY80 in Graves, Calloway, and Marshall counties during this time caused the route to be split. A new, four-laned section of KY80 opened in Calloway County on November 25, 2009. The route is now a four-lane divided highway from Mayfield to Bowling Green after the widening to four lanes from Canton to Cadiz was completed in 2020.

Route description

Jackson Purchase region

From Columbus, the road passes through Hickman, Carlisle, and Graves counties to Mayfield. Before 2003, the road passed through Mayfield and into Marshall County before converging with US 68 in Aurora. The two-lane segment of former KY80 from Mayfield to Aurora now has two separate designations. From Mayfield to Brewers in Marshall County, the road retains its former co-designation as KY 58. The segment from Brewers to Aurora is now designated as KY 402.

From Mayfield, KY80 travels along a four-lane corridor into Calloway County and on to the northern outskirts of Murray. The route continues through eastern Calloway County and into Marshall County before converging with US68 near the eastern terminus of KY402 in Aurora.

Concurrency with U.S. 68

From Aurora, it follows US68 through Trigg County, and dissects the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. The two routes then makes their way through Christian, Todd, and Logan counties to Bowling Green (Warren County).

From Bowling Green through Glasgow to Edmonton, Kentucky Route 80 remains overlapped with US68 through eastern Warren, Barren and Metcalfe Counties until the two routes split just north of downtown Edmonton. KY 80 is part of the Kentucky Scenic Byways system for its entire concurrency with US 68.

Glasgow to Somerset

From Glasgow to Somerset, KY80 is paralleled (and largely supplanted) by the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Expressway, which was officially designated as the future route of Interstate 66 (I-66), but the interest in that project has been lost.

KY80 serves rural portions of Barren, Metcalfe, Adair (including Columbia), Russell (including Russell Springs), and southern Casey counties while en route to Somerset, in Pulaski County.

Somerset to Hazard

Between Somerset and London (Laurel County), KY80 is again the primary route. From London to Hazard, KY80 is again supplanted, this time by the Hal Rogers Parkway (formerly the Daniel Boone Parkway), a Super-two highway that acts as an expressway in the area. KY80 serves rural portions of Clay, Leslie, and Perry counties, including the cities of Manchester and Hyden, where US 421 runs concurrently with KY 80 between those two cities, before rejoining the Parkway near Hazard.

Hazard to Pikeville and the Virginia border

KY80 is a modern four-lane highway, though not controlled access, from Hazard through Knott County to Watergap in Floyd County where it joins US 23 southeastward. The section of Kentucky Route 80 from Hazard to Watergap was completely new construction; most of the remnants of KY 80's old alignment were renamed with several designations, primarily KY 550. KY80 continues, concurrent with US 23 to Pikeville, and joins US 460 until reaching Belcher in southern Pike County; it continues solo through Elkhorn City, and continues into Virginia as Virginia State Route 80.

History

Before 1980

KY80's original western terminus was located near Bristow, just east of Bowling Green from its 1929 establishment through the early 1950s; the segment from Columbus to US68 in Aurora was originally signed as KY 98. In the late 1940s, when US68 was rerouted to its current routing between Bowling Green and Perryville, KY80's western terminus was truncated to its junction with US68 in Edmonton. KY80 was extended to its late-20th century length, including the concurrency with US68, at sometime in 1954. From around 1948 through 1952, Russell S. Dyche, an editor for the London Sentinel-Echo, led a years-long effort to persuade the Kentucky Department of Highways (now the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet) to extend the KY80 designation westward onto its route from Edmonton to Columbus, including the US68 concurrency. Dyche, who also led a motorcade to KY80's current western terminus all the way from Elkhorn City, continued to promote the highway until his late 1959 death. In 1978, the segment of KY80 from Somerset to London was named the Russell Dyche Memorial Highway.

Columbus–Belmont ferry

Originally, KY80 continued westward via a ferry crossing of the Mississippi River to Belmont, Missouri, where it continued westward as Missouri Route 80, which travels west to US 61/US 62 (and I-55 in the present day) between New Madrid and Sikeston, Missouri. The toll ferry service was discontinued in 1984.

Proposed Interstate 66 in the Daniel Boone National Forest

The state's I-66 proposals called for KY80 to be bypassed in the area between Somerset and London, with the new road to share only the crossing over the Rockcastle River gorge. This proposal has met with controversy in the mid-2000s, with area residents preferring that the new Interstate be built on the existing KY80 right of way. The project has since lost interest.

Late 20th century realignments

KY80's original alignments in Knott and Perry counties were renumbered to KY 550 at some point around 1979–1980. Several other segments of KY80 were rerouted in various areas between Somerset and Prestonsburg between 1977 and 1984.

Widening project in south-central Kentucky

When the US68/KY80 four-lane realignment between Hopkinsville and Bowling Green was completed in the late 1990s, several of the route's old alignments were kept intact, notably in areas between Hopkinsville and Bowling Green. As new four-lane segments were completed, old alignments of US68/KY80 in Fairview, Elkton, Russellville, and Auburn were converted into business routes of US68 as the widening project continued. Sometime in 2007, the route was rerouted onto a bypass route around Cadiz; the original alignment in that city also became a US68 business loop. In the early 2010s, US 68 and KY 80's alignment in Bowling Green would eventually be rerouted on Veterans Memorial Boulevard. The highway's Glasgow alignment was rerouted onto much of the Veterans Outer Loop in 2015.

Rerouting in the Purchase area

The KY80 alignment from Brewers to Aurora was renumbered as KY 402 at some point during the 2002/2003 fiscal year. Around that time, KY80 was re-routed onto a four-lane highway from Mayfield to Aurora via the northern outskirts of Murray. The segment from US641 to US68 was completed in 2006, while the remainder was built during the 2008/2009 fiscal year.

Eggners Ferry Bridge collapse of 2012

On January 26, 2012, the Eggner's Ferry Bridge carrying KY80 and US68 over Kentucky Lake (Tennessee River) near Aurora collapsed because a cargo ship crashed into one of the bridge's support pillars. The bridge re-opened to traffic in May 2012, but it was replaced by a four-lane bridge that was built more than three years afterwards. A new bridge with similar design over Lake Barkley was completed in 2018 to replace the old bridge near Canton.

Major intersections

Special routes

Mayfield business route

Kentucky Route 80 Business (KY80 Bus.) is a business spur of KY80 located in Mayfield, in Graves County. The main alignment of KY80 was rerouted around Mayfield on a new four-lane alignment. Previously, KY 80 had gap within the city from the Purchase Parkway (now-Interstate 69) interchange to US 45 in downtown Mayfield. KY80's main alignment resumed beyond the US45 junction.

Pulaski County connector route

Kentucky Route 80 Connector (KY 80 Conn.) is a roadway in Pulaski County that connects KY80 with KY 3261. It is located on the west side of Somerset just outside of the city limits.

Somerset business route

Kentucky Route 80 Business (KY80 Bus.) is a business route of KY80 located in Somerset, the Pulaski County seat. It begins on the west side of Somerset at KY80's junction with the KY 914 bypass. It intersects US 27 and KY 1247 in downtown. Its eastern terminus after intersecting KY 192 is at mile point21.161 of the main route of KY80 on the east side of Somerset.

Floyd County spur route

Kentucky Route 80 Spur (KY 80S) is a spur route of KY80 in southern Floyd County. It connects KY80 with KY 1428 at Martin.

See also

References

External links

• KentuckyRoads.com KY

• KentuckyRoads.com Images along KY