U.S. 27

U.S. 27

U.S. 27 through Kentucky travels 191 miles from the Tennessee state line at Isham to the Taylor Southgate Bridge across the Ohio River into Cincinnati. The US highway winds through Daniel Boone National Forest to Whitley City and southern Pulaski County. Several segments of old U.S. 27 parallel the route nearby, including KY 759 to Strunk and KY 1651 to Stearns.

Approaching the Cumberland River, U.S. 27 leaves the forested hills for agricultural and industrial areas through Tatesville and Burnside on the outskirts of Somerset. Expanding into a divided arterial, U.S. 27 crosses Lake Cumberland to an interchange with KY 1247, which forms an at-grade bypass alongside KY 914 north around Somerset. The US highway stays to the west along a commercialized route through the Pulaski County seat.

Cumberland Parkway, the long touted future I-66 corridor, ties into U.S. 27 north of Somerset and south Science Hill. Prior to 2015, the limited access road transitioned into Kentucky 80 (Hal Rogers Parkway) an at-grade roadway across the city of Somerset. Continuing north, U.S. 27 travels to Stanford, Lancaster and Bryantsville where it expands into a four-lane divided highway.

Through Nicholasville, U.S. 27 splits with U.S. 27 Business (Main Street) for an expressway bypass along the west side of the growing bedroom community. The expressway ends as U.S. 27 transitions into a five-lane arterial to the southern suburbs of Lexington. Within Lexington, U.S. 27 follows South Limestone north to the University of Kentucky, where a couplet along with Bolivar Street brings the route north to U.S. 68 (Broadway) for an overlap through Downtown. The U.S. 27 northbound turns at Euclid Avenue north, Upper Street west and Bolivar Street north are unmarked.

U.S. 27 & 68 share a 18.6 mile concurrency from Lexington northeast to Paris. The two partition on a bypass of the Bourbon County seat, with U.S. 27 turning north to Cynthiana, Falmouth and Alexandria. Alexandria Pike carries the route northward to the Northern Kentucky urban area, where U.S. 27 meets the south end of Interstate 471.

Through traffic follows I-471 north to Newport and Bellevue while U.S. 27 winds through the cities of Fort Thomas and Southgate. Navigating through the Newport street grid, U.S. 27 partitions into a couplet of Monmouth and 3rd Streets for northbound and York and 11th Streets for southbound. The split route converges at the Taylor Southgate Bridge by Newport on the Levee on the Ohio Riverfront. The continuous truss bridge across the Ohio River opened to traffic in 1995 with four overall lanes and pedestrian walkways on each side. The span replaced the Central Bridge, a cantilever bridge demolished in 1992.

Alexandria Pike

Licking Pike north from U.S. 27 (Alexandria Pike) and west of Campbell County Line, to Claryville and Main Street at Scaffold Creek, was incorporated into the US highway in 1928.2 Main Street (KY 10) east to Washington Street north through Alexandria represented the continuation of U.S. 27 north, with the current alignment directly overlaying the old route north to Low Gap Road. Low Gap Road turned the route northeast to Alexandria Pike (KY 2925) for the route into Cold Spring.

A hazardous location along this route, south of Dodsworth Lane in Cold Spring, was regarded as "Devil's Elbow" due to the grade and a series of sharp curves. This section was eventually bypassed by a new terrain alignment to the west along the ridge line between Alexandria and Cold Spring. Work to build the new straighter alignment started in 1939 and ran through the early 1940s. It coincided with work to improve or realign U.S. 27 northward from Cythiana to Newport. The corridor was rededicated on September 14, 1949.2

References:

  1. Bridgehunter.com | Taylor-Southgate Bridge.
  2. "Road construction in Northern Kentucky accelerated in 1929." The Kentucky Post, September 27, 1990.

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Page Updated Friday September 23, 2016.