Kentucky Route 61


Kentucky Route 61 is a long Kentucky State Highway extending north from the Tennessee state line in Cumberland County to Columbia in Adair County through to Greensburg in Green County. From there, the route traverses LaRue, Hardin and Bullitt counties to terminate in Jefferson County at the junction of U.S. Route 31E in downtown Louisville.

Route description

Cumberland and Adair County

The first of KY 61 is considered part of the Appalachian Development Highway System’s Corridor J project. That stretch of highway is one of five segments of that ADHS project, along with KY 90, US 27, KY 914, and KY 80 going from Burkesville through Burnside to London.
KY 61 runs concurrently with KY 90 into downtown Burkesville. KY 90 branches westward, while KY 61 goes onto a northwestward course, and turns northeast near the tripoint of the Cumberland, Metcalfe, and Adair County lines. Going north, the route crosses the Adair County line twice, and enters the far eastern tip of Metcalfe County before entering Adair County the second time.
KY 61 has junctions with the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway and KY 80 on the west side of Columbia. KY 55 also has a concurrency with KY 61 near Columbia as well.

Green, LaRue, Hardin, and Nelson Counties

KY 61 goes on a northwestward course to Green and LaRue counties, traversing Greensburg and Hodgenville, respectively. US 68 and KY 70 runs concurrently with KY 61 in Greensburg, then US 31E gets co-signed with KY 61 near Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park.
At Hodgenville, KY 61 continues northwest into Hardin County to the US 31W and Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway junction in Elizabethtown, and runs concurrently with the northbound lanes of the U.S. route there. In downtown Elizabethtown, KY 61 begins a concurrency with US 62 from there through the I-65 Exit 94 interchange, all the way to just past Boston, in western Nelson County.

Bullitt County and Metro Louisville

KY 61 then runs further northward to Bullitt County and then the Louisville-Jefferson County metro area, with major junctions with I-65, and then I-265 and I-264, along with US 150 before terminating in downtown Louisville at a junction with US 31E at Louisville Slugger Field.

Major intersections