Kentucky Route 218


Kentucky Route 218 is a 31.113-mile-long west-east state highway that traverses three counties in south-central Kentucky. It is locally known as LeGrande Highway from Horse Cave to near Shady Grove.

Route description

Hart County

Kentucky Route 218 begins at the unincorporated Hart County community of Northtown west of Interstate 65. It is the beginning of state maintenance as the main road west of Northtown is actually a back road that leads to the Mammoth Cave National Park, and would provide a direct link to the park's visitor center. The official Kentucky road maps do not show this section of KY 218 because of its western terminus is intersecting another back road and not a major road or highway.
It crosses I-65 near a local Love's Travel Stop, and enters the town of Horse Cave, which is part of a tourism hotbed in southern Kentucky due to its proximity to the Mammoth Cave park. After being co-signed with Kentucky Route 335 for a couple of miles, it crosses US Route 31W.
Five miles after downtown Horse Cave, it crosses US Route 31E, and then continues eastward to LeGrande, and will enter Metcalfe County a moment after the KY 677 junction.

Metcalfe and Green Counties

KY 218 goes through a small sliver of the northernmost portion of Metcalfe County, and it intersects KY 314 while doing so. It enters Green County, crosses the Little Barren River, and will reach its end at Exie, where it meets the intersection with US Route 68, which at that point, is co-joined with Kentucky Route 70 from Sulphur Well all the way to Greensburg and Campbellsville.

History

KY 218 between US Route 31W and US Route 31E was formerly a portion of US Route 68.

Points of interest along the route

Related road

Flint Ridge Road is an east–west local road that connects the Mammoth Cave National Park Visitor's Center directly to Horse Cave. It traverses eastern segments of Mammoth Cave National Park, which is in eastern Edmonson County, along with southwestern Hart County. It begins at an intersection with the Mammoth Cave Parkway near the park's Visitor's Center and ends at the I-65 exit 58 interchange with KY 218. The final of the road is actually part of KY 218.
Points of interest along Flint Ridge Road include the Mammoth Cave Baptist Church, and the Dennison Ferry Day-use area.