Kentucky Route 218

Flint Ridge Road
Flint Ridge Road
Location	Mammoth Cave Visitors Center to Horse Cave

Kentucky Route 218
Kentucky Route 218
	KY 218 highlighted in red
Route information
	Maintained by KYTC
Length	31.113 mi (50.072 km)
Major junctions
West end	Flint Ridge Road / Mammoth Cave Park Road @ Davis Williams Road in Northtown
	I-65 near Horse Cave ; US 31W in Horse Cave ; US 31E at Wigwam ; KY 677 near LeGrande ; KY 314 near Shady Grove (Metcalfe County)
East end	US 68 / KY 70 near Exie
Location
Counties	Hart, Metcalfe, Green
Highway system

Kentucky Route 218 (KY 218) is a 31.113-mile-long (50.072 km) 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 (I-65). It is the beginning of state maintenance as the main road west of Northtown is actually a back road (Flint Ridge 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,^[promotion?] 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 (Dixie Highway). Five miles after downtown Horse Cave, it crosses US Route 31E (Jackson Highway), 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.^[2]

Points of interest along the route[]

Kentucky Down Under & Kentucky Caverns, Horse Cave
Hidden River Cave / American Cave Museum, downtown Horse Cave
Wigwam Roadside Store

Major intersections[]

County	Location	mi^[1]	km	Destinations	Notes
Hart	Northtown	0.000	0.000	Davis Williams Road north / Mammoth Cave Park Road (Flint Ridge Road) west	Western terminus; continuation as Flint Ridge Road (Mammoth Cave Park Road) Beginning of State Maintenance
	Horse Cave	5.211	8.386	I-65 south – Nashville	Exit 58 off I-65 SB and on-ramp to I-65 NB
		5.267	8.476	I-65 north – Louisville	Exit 58 off I-65 NB and on-ramp to I-65 NB
		5.423	8.727	KY 335 north (L and N Turnpike Road) to US 31W north – Rowletts	Western end of KY 335 concurrency
		7.245	11.660	KY 335 south (Old Dixie Highway) – Cave City	Eastern end of KY 335 concurrency
		7.64	12.30	US 31W (Dixie Street) – Munfordville, Cave City
		8.431	13.568	KY 1846 (Short Cut Road)
		9.241	14.872	south (Bear Wallow Road)	Northern terminus of KY 1141
		11.528	18.553	US 31E (Jackson Highway) – Hodgenville, Hardyville, Glasgow
		13.099	21.081	KY 571 north (Lonoke Road)	Western end of KY 571 concurrency
		13.543	21.795	KY 571 south (Seymour Park Road)	Eastern end of KY 571 concurrency
		14.554	23.422	KY 572 west (Oil Field Road)	Western end of KY 572
		15.045	24.213	KY 570 north (Rex Road) / KY 436 east (Hundred Acre Pond Road)	Southern terminus of KY 570; western terminus of KY 436
		17.295	27.834	KY 677 south (Hiseville Park Road) to KY 740 – Hiseville	Western end of KY 677 concurrency
		17.691	28.471	KY 677 north (Three Springs Road)	Eastern end of KY 677 concurrency
Metcalfe		19.368	31.170	south (Atwell Road)	Northern terminus of KY 1243
Metcalfe		20.98	33.76	KY 314 west (Center Peggyville Road) – Center	Eastern terminus of KY 314
Green		21.947	35.320	west	Eastern terminus of KY 1048
		24.770	39.863	KY 729 south (Little Barren Road)	Northern terminus of KY 729
	Pierce	26.635	42.865	north	Southern terminus of KY 1464
	Exie	31.113	50.072	US 68 (Edmonton Road) / KY 70 – Greensburg, Edmonton	Eastern terminus
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus

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 5+1⁄4 miles (8.4 km) of the road is actually part of KY 218.^[3]

Points of interest along Flint Ridge Road include the Mammoth Cave Baptist Church, and the Dennison Ferry Day-use area.^[4]

References[]

^ ^a ^b Commonwealth of Kentucky. "Official DMI Route Log". Retrieved November 24, 2014.
^ Kentucky Department of Highways (September 15, 1939). Road Map of Kentucky (PDF) (Map). Kentucky Department of Highways.
^ Mammoth-Cave-National-Park-Visitor-Center-Area-Map.pdf
^ National Park Service. Mammoth-Cave-National-Park-Map-Web.pdf Retrieved November 24, 2014.

External links[]

KY 218 at Kentucky Roads^{[permanent dead link]}

Route map:

( • help)

[log-1] Commonwealth of Kentucky. "Official DMI Route Log". Retrieved November 24, 2014.

[2] Kentucky Department of Highways (September 15, 1939). Road Map of Kentucky (PDF) (Map). Kentucky Department of Highways.

[3] Mammoth-Cave-National-Park-Visitor-Center-Area-Map.pdf

[4] National Park Service. Mammoth-Cave-National-Park-Map-Web.pdf Retrieved November 24, 2014.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]