Existed: 1929 – c. 1969 Length 34.59 km | North end: KY 70 at Windyville Constructed 1929 | |
South end: US 68 (Kentucky Street) / KY 80 in Bowling Green Major cities Bowling Green, Windyville, Kentucky Counties Edmonson County, Kentucky, Warren County, Kentucky | ||
The original alignment of Kentucky Route 67 (KY 67) was a north–south primary state highway that traversed Edmonson and Warren counties in south central Kentucky. It was one of the original state routes of the state highway system maintained by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. It was established in 1929 and was officially decommissioned in 1969. At the time of its removal from the state route system, it was estimated to be 21.491 miles (34.586 km) long as determined by the KYTC's state route logs and county road logs.
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Route description
KY 67's original route began at an intersection with U.S. Route 68 (US 68 in downtown Bowling Green) a few blocks northeast of the campus of Western Kentucky State College (now Western Kentucky University). It followed Main Street (now Main Avenue) for 0.3 miles (0.48 km) before making a turn on Gordon Avenue to exit the city and cross the Barren River. The highway originally ran through parts of northern Warren County, including the unincorporated community of Anna, but passing just east of Richardsville.
At Glenmore, KY 67 intersected KY 185, which branched into the far eastern part of Butler County. KY 67 then crossed the Green River into Edmonson County via Honaker's Ferry (later Bear Creek Ferry), which was a toll ferry situated extremely close to the point where Edmonson and Warren counties meet Butler County, and a little bit upstream from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-operated Green River Lock and Dam Number 5. Most traffic from northern and western Edmonson County heading to Bowling Green used this ferry for convenience. The original tolls ranged from 20 to 40 cents each time the driver went one way on the ferry. After crossing the ferry, KY 67 went further north to Segal, where it had a junction with the original KY 555 (Segal Road), which is now present-day KY 655. After that, KY 67 followed the present-day KY 655 for the remainder of the course when it passed through Segal and Asphalt and it finally met its northern terminus at Windyville, where it intersected KY 70.
Road history
One of the state's charter state routes formed in 1929, KY 67 underwent some changes throughout its estimated 38-year-long existence, including some reroutings to straighten out the highway in one spot on the north side of Bowling Green. At one point sometime around the 1966/67 fiscal year, the Bear Creek Ferry was discontinued, so KY 67 no longer connected from the Asphalt–Segal area to Warren County, which was the reason the Edmonson County section of KY 67 was decommissioned in 1967. The Warren County section was still signed as KY 67 until sometime around 1970, when the KY 185 alignment in Warren County was rerouted to follow KY 67's original course. Ownership of the road from Glenmore to the ferry site on the Warren County side reverted to the Warren County Road Department, while the road on the Edmonson County side reverted to the Edmonson County Road Department, and became Mouth of Bear Creek Road.
The ferry site is now just a boat ramp, but local residents (mainly on the Edmonson County side) still use that area for recreational purposes such as boating or fishing.
Change of routes from Edmonson to Warren County
Since the discontinuation of the Bear Creek Ferry, residents of northern Edmonson County were forced to make alternate routes that adds more time to their commute, depending on where the resident lives in. Option A was for Edmonson County residents to use KY 70 westbound to Roundhill to turn left on KY 185 for their commute to Bowling Green. This option was used for many residents along Edmonson County's western boundary with Butler County. Option B, on the other hand, is to go through Brownsville (the Edmonson County seat) using Kentucky Routes 259 and 101 to enter Warren County, and to make a right turn on US Route 31W. That option is mainly used by people traveling to Bowling Green from the central part Edmonson County (i.e. Brownsville, Lindseyville, Sweeden, and Bee Spring).
The new KY 67
The KY 67 designation returned to the Kentucky highway system in 2002, but it was assigned to the then-new Industrial Parkway in northeastern Kentucky. KY 67 now follows a route from the exit 179 interchange of Interstate 64 (I-64) in northern Carter County to US 23 near Greenup.
Mouth of Bear Creek Road
Mouth of Bear Creek Road is a locally maintained road located in Edmonson County, Kentucky. The road was part of an original alignment of the original KY 67 from that state highway's 1929 establishment until its decommissioning in 1967. The road is 3.0 miles (4.8 km) long.