Kentucky Route 8 is a east–west
state highway divided into two distinct segments across northern
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 ...
. The western terminus of the route is at
KY 237
Kentucky Route 237 (KY 237) is a state highway in Boone County, Kentucky, connecting the Florence/ Burlington area with Hebron. The southern terminus of the route is at KY 536 in Florence. The northern terminus is at KY 8 near Hebron. Most of th ...
near
Francisville. The eastern terminus is at
U.S. Route 23
}
U.S. Route 23 or U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) is a major north–south U.S. Highway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It is an original 1926 route which originally reached only as far south as Portsmouth, Ohio, and has sinc ...
in
South Portsmouth. The two distinct segments of this route were not meant to be connected together. KY 8 from its west end in Boone County to Augusta in Bracken County is designated as a part of an identified corridor for bikes named the Ramblin' River Tour by the
(AASHTO).
KY 8 is named the
Mary Ingles Highway for part of its length. It is rumored that she was the first white woman in Kentucky. Captured by Indians in Virginia in 1755 and taken to Ohio, she later escaped a salt-making party at
Big Bone Lick
Big Bone Lick State Park is located at Big Bone in Boone County, Kentucky. The name of the park comes from the Pleistocene megafauna fossils found there. Mammoths are believed to have been drawn to this location by a salt lick deposited around t ...
and made her way across the Kentucky wilderness back home to
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
.
Route description
Western segment
The western segment of KY 8, the longer of the two, extends between rural
Boone County and
Maysville. KY 8 begins 1.5 miles west of
Kentucky Route 237
Kentucky Route 237 (KY 237) is a state highway in Boone County, Kentucky, connecting the Florence/ Burlington area with Hebron. The southern terminus of the route is at KY 536 in Florence. The northern terminus is at KY 8 near Hebron. Most of t ...
along River Road near
Francisville.
The route runs parallel to the
Ohio River as it heads eastward, passing through
Covington,
Newport, and
Augusta before ending at an intersection with
US 62
U.S. Route 62 or U.S. Highway 62 (US 62) runs from the Mexican border at El Paso, Texas, to Niagara Falls, New York, near the Canadian border. It is the only east-west United States Numbered Highway that connects Mexico and Canada ...
in Maysville.
KY 8 has been re-routed from its original path along Mary Ingles Highway in
Fort Thomas due to a landslide.
According to Mike Bezold, a member of the Kentucky Transport Cabinet, the cost to repair the damaged section of road would be $50 million despite having a low amount of drivers. Now, KY 8 follows
KY 1998
KY or Ky may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Ky Kiske, a fictional character in the ''Guilty Gear'' video game series
* Kashiyatra, a festival in India
People
* Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (1930-2011), South Vietnamese general and prime minister
* ...
out of
Silver Grove until it meets up with
US 27
U.S. Route 27 (US 27) is a north–south United States Highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus is at U.S. Route 1 in Florida, US 1 in Miami, Florida. The northern terminus is at Interstate 69 in India ...
in
Cold Spring. It then returns to its original route in Newport, but creates a small spur through
Bellevue Bellevue means "beautiful view" in French. It may refer to:
Placenames
Australia
* Bellevue, Western Australia
* Bellevue Hill, New South Wales
* Bellevue, Queensland
* Bellevue, Glebe, an historic house in Sydney, New South Wales
Canada ...
and
Dayton
Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...
. Its previous route along Mary Ingles Highway in Fort Thomas has since been replaced with
KY 445 to between Industrial Road and River Road. The rest of the route up to Dayton has since been reclassified as
KY 6335.
The Ramblin' River Tour which inhabits the part of the KY 8 that has been closed has not been redesignated as bicycles are still able to pass the landslide with ease.
Eastern segment
The eastern segment of KY 8 extends for from Concord-Trinity Road west of
Concord
Concord may refer to:
Meaning "agreement"
* Pact or treaty, frequently between nations (indicating a condition of harmony)
* Harmony, in music
* Agreement (linguistics), a change in the form of a word depending on grammatical features of other ...
to
U.S. Route 23
}
U.S. Route 23 or U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) is a major north–south U.S. Highway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It is an original 1926 route which originally reached only as far south as Portsmouth, Ohio, and has sinc ...
in
South Portsmouth west of
South Shore.
The western terminus of this portion is a very narrow two-lane road that becomes gravel.
From
Kentucky Route 3037 in
Vanceburg to its eastern terminus at US 23, KY 8 was formerly designated
Kentucky Route 10
Kentucky Route 10, also known as KY 10, is a highway maintained by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet that runs from Alexandria, Kentucky (a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio) to the Jesse Stuart Memorial Bridge at Lloyd, roughly north of Greenup, ...
, with KY 8 ending at KY 3037 (then KY 10). The road became part of KY 8 in the late-1990s after KY 10 was rerouted onto the
AA Highway
The AA Highway is a state highway maintained by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The mainline route parallels the Ohio River from Interstate 275 (I-275) in Wilder to Vanceburg; it is cosigned as Kentuc ...
to the south.
Major intersections
Western segment
Eastern segment
References
{{Reflist
External links
KentuckyRoads.com KY 8
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