North end: US 31E in Lucas Length 45.29 km | Major
junctions: KY 100 at Fountain Run | |
South end: Akersville Road at the Kentucky-Tennessee state line North end: SR 261 at the Kentucky-Tennessee state line South end: KY 63 / KY 100 in Gamaliel Counties Barren County, Kentucky, Allen County, Kentucky, Monroe County, Kentucky | ||
Kentucky Route 87 (KY 87) is a rural secondary state highway that traverses three counties in south-central Kentucky. It has two disconnected sections, one that goes from the Barren River Lake State Resort Park to the Tennessee state line via Fountain Run, and the other near Gamaliel.
Contents
Section 1
KY 87 starts at a junction with U.S. Route 31E (US 31) opposite the entrance of the Barren River Lake State Resort Park near the Barren County community of Lucas. The highway traverses the two communities of Austin and Tracy and has intersections with KY 921 in Tracy. It enters Monroe County and intersects KY 100, a Kentucky Scenic Byway, at Fountain Run.
After Fountain Run, KY 87 continues south, and runs right on Monroe County's western boundary with Allen County, Kentucky before this county line reaches the Tennessee state line. The connection into Macon County, Tennessee, retaining the alternate name of Akersville Road, is a local-maintenance road connecting the state line at this point to Lafayette. The section from Lucas to the state line is 21.954 miles (35.332 km) long.
Section 2
Tennessee State Route 261 (SR 261) crosses the state line and becomes the second segment of KY 87 southwest of Gamaliel. KY 87 is known as Bugtussle Road, and KY 87 officially ends at an intersection with KY 63 at Gamaliel just south of KY 63's junction with KY 100. This second segment of highway runs for 6.187 miles (9.957 km).
History
From around 1949 until the 1960s, the current KY 87 from Akersville to the Tennessee state line was originally KY 870. That designation has since relocated to a route in north-central Monroe County as KY 87 was extended to the state line in that area, along with its other section near Bugtussle and Gamaliel. At one time until the 1980s, KY 87 ran concurrent with KY 63/100 east of Gamaliel and made a right turn onto lClementsville Road to end at a locally maintained county road at the Tennessee border, in this case, into Clay County, hence extending KY 87 by an additional 2.0 miles (3.2 km), plus the mileage in the KY 63/100 concurrency. That section was since turned over to the Monroe County Road Department.
Major intersections
The following is a list of KY 87's major intersections as of November 2010.
Section B (Gamaliel area)
The entire route is in Monroe County.