Kentucky Route 17 (KY 17) is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. It connects U.S. Route 27 in rural Pendleton County to the

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

state line in Covington.

Route description

KY 17 begins at an

intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, their i ...

with U.S. Route 27 (US 27) in unincorporated Pendleton County, approximately north of Falmouth. The road heads north with a slight bend to the west. The road takes a sharp turn west with an intersection with KY 467 in DeMossville. The road then heads in a western/northwestern direction, up to

Walton Walton may refer to: People * Walton (given name) * Walton (surname) * Susana, Lady Walton (1926–2010), Argentine writer Places Canada *Walton, Nova Scotia, a community ** Walton River (Nova Scotia) *Walton, Ontario, a hamlet United Kingdom ...

, where it meets KY 14. Having picked up the name Madison Pike at the

Kenton County Kenton County is a county located in the northern part of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 169,064, making it the third most populous county in Kentucky (behind Jefferson County and Fayette County). Its ...

line several miles south of KY 14, it heads north toward

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

. Approcaching Independence, the road intersects KY 16, where that highway undergoes a name change: it is known as Walton–Nicholson Road to the west of KY 17, and Taylor Mill Road to the east of KY 17. KY 17 was rerouted to the south of downtown Independence. The old section of KY 17 continues through the heart of Independence, containing landmarks such as

Simon Kenton High School Simon Kenton High School is a high school located at 11132 Madison Pike in Independence, Kentucky. The school's mascot is the Pioneers. History On June 19, 1935, an application was filed with the Public Works Administration for Kenton County, K ...

and the Kenton County Courthouse where it is now called KY 17 Business. Just north of downtown Independence, KY 17 transitions from a two-lane road to a four-lane divided highway. The name "Madison Pike" stays with the older road that KY 17 was formerly routed along until 2002, and the split occurs at the corner where Summit View Elementary and

Middle Schools A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

are located. KY 17 picks up the name "Madison Pike" again when the old road meets up with the current route a little over north. KY 17 passes a park named "Pioneer Park" as it continues north, to its intersection with Interstate 275 (I-275). The road then continues north into Covington. Less than north of its intersection with KY 16, Holmes High School is located on the east side of KY 17. The road then continues north to the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

, where it crosses the river along the

John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge (formerly the Cincinnati-Covington Bridge) is a suspension bridge that spans the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio, and Covington, Kentucky. When opened on December 1, 1866, it was the longest suspension ...

. Now in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, the route terminates near US 52.

Major intersections

References

0017 {{Kentucky-road-stub