Kentucky Route 9
AA Highway | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alexandria to Ashland Highway | ||||
KY 9 highlighted in red | ||||
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by KYTC | ||||
| Length | 116.285 mi[1] (187.143 km) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end |   KY 1 / KY 7 in Grayson | |||
| ||||
| North end |  KY 8 in Newport | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | United States | |||
| State | Kentucky | |||
| Counties | Carter, Lewis, Mason, Bracken, Pendleton, Campbell | |||
| Highway system | ||||
| ||||
The AA Highway is a 116.285-mile-long (187.143 km) state highway maintained by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. The highway extends from Grayson to Newport (a city in Kentucky across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio), roughly paralleling the Ohio River between Vanceburg and Newport.
Most of its path, from Grayson to the Interstate 275 loop in Wilder, is also known as the AA Highway (officially, the John Y. Brown Jr. AA Highway). KY 10 forms a branch of the AA Highway between Vanceburg and the Jesse Stuart Memorial Bridge in Grays Branch, near Greenup. Its name is a contraction of the earlier name Alexandria to Ashland Highway.[2]
Route description
The AA Highway follows a general northwest–southeast orientation. For most of its length, the AA Highway is a two lane road that passes through a sparsely populated rural area of Northern Kentucky. While the highway passes through terrain that is rolling to hilly, the highway is generally level with moderate grades and no steep grades. Except for Carter County, all counties that the AA Highway passes through border the Ohio River. The only municipalities on the highway are Vanceburg and Maysville and suburban areas of Cincinnati at its western terminus. Those areas are also the only areas with any services used by motorists such as motels, gas stations, restaurants, convenience stores, etc. The only traffic signals on the AA Highway are near Maysville (along a commercial strip with many retail establishments and restaurants), suburban Cincinnati, and at its eastern terminus just north of Interstate 64 near Grayson. There are no rest areas on the AA Highway. Other than the portions that traverse the edge of Maysville and enter suburban Cincinnati, there are no shopping centers or major retail stores along the AA Highway.
While the AA highway is not an expressway, it nonetheless serves as the shortest highway link between Cincinnati and Ashland, Kentucky. As such, it provides a link between Cincinnati and other Midwestern cities such as Chicago, Indianapolis, and Dayton and cities south and east of Ashland such as Huntington and Charleston in West Virginia, Charlottesville and Richmond in Virginia, and Charlotte and Winston-Salem in North Carolina.
High accident rate
The AA Highway is a rural two-lane highway for most of its length and traverses through some desolate terrain.[3] Driver inattention and speeding, in combination with the numerous side road entrances and at-grade intersections have made it a dangerous and deadly road. To address these issues, guide signs comparable to interstate-styled signs have been installed along the highway at major intersections, along with additional overhead lighting. Other measures to improve safety and increase capacity are under consideration.
History
The AA Highway was envisioned as a modern highway from Alexandria to Ashland.[4]
Construction began in 1985 on the first segment of the AA Highway.[4] Estimated to cost $266 million to complete, it was designed primarily as a two-lane controlled-access facility. The first phase included the construction of 86 miles (138 km) of the AA Highway from the junction of Interstate 275 and Licking Pike (existing KY 9) in Campbell County east to Vanceburg. The first phase also included the design of two twenty-five mile-long spurs running east from Vanceburg, one ending at US 23 near Lloyd and the Jesse Stuart Memorial Bridge, the other ending near Interstate 64 in Grayson.
When construction began, the costs for the first phase had risen to $292.7 million;[4] the state had sold $300 million in bonds to pay for it. Segments of the highway, from Clarksburg just west of Vanceburg to Tollesboro was routed on an earlier relocated alignment of KY 10.
It officially opened in 1995; however, it was not formally dedicated until 2003.
Numbering quagmire
The AA Highway including the Greenup spur was originally designated as KY 546, and the Grayson spur was signed as KY 694. On May 26, 1988, the designation, "AA Highway," was proposed to be signed along with KY 546 and KY 694. A few years later, this designation was put in place with the AA Highway being co-signed with KY 546 and KY 694, however, many motorists were soon confused by the ever-changing designations.
To solve this issue, the AA Highway was renumbered in late 1995. The AA Highway including the Grayson spur was renumbered KY 9, and the Greenup spur was renumbered as KY 10. KY 10 also overlaps portions of the AA Highway throughout the entire highway's existence. Old KY 9 in Campbell county was renumbered as KY 915, and old KY 10 between Vanceburg and South Portsmouth was redesignated as KY 8.
Major intersections
| County | Location | mi | km | Destinations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carter | | 0.000 | 0.000 |   KY 1 / KY 7 to I-64 – Grayson, Greenbo Lake State Resort Park, Grayson Lake State Park | Southern terminus |
| | 1.078 | 1.735 |  KY 1959 | ||
| | 5.486 | 8.829 |  KY 7 south | Southern end of KY 7 overlap | |
| | 6.498 | 10.458 |  KY 7 north – Carter City | Northern end of KY 7 overlap | |
| | 11.324 | 18.224 |  KY 2 / KY 7 – Carter City | ||
| | 12.821 | 20.633 |   KY 1773 east | Northern terminus of KY 1773 | |
| Lewis | | 22.690 | 36.516 |  KY 1149 south | Southern end of KY 1149 overlap |
| | 22.899 | 36.852 |  KY 1306 north | Western terminus of KY 1306 | |
| | 26.310 | 42.342 |    KY 10 (AA Hwy.) east – South Shore, Greenup, Ashland | Southern end of KY 10 overlap | |
| | 27.265 | 43.879 | KY 1149 north | Northern end of KY 1149 overlap | |
| Vanceburg | 29.467 | 47.423 |  KY 59 – Olive Hill, Vanceburg | ||
| | 31.011 | 49.907 |  KY 2523 north | Southern terminus of KY 2523 | |
| Clarksburg | 32.827 | 52.830 |  KY 3037 north | Southern terminus of KY 3037 | |
| Charters | 36.815 | 59.248 |  KY 989 south | Northern terminus of KY 989 | |
| Ribolt | 42.518 | 68.426 |  KY 10 west | Northern end of KY 10 overlap | |
| | 46.642 | 75.063 |  KY 57 – Flemingsburg, Tollesboro | ||
| Mason | | 49.685 | 79.960 |  KY 1234 east | Southern end of KY 1234 overlap |
| | 50.078 | 80.593 |  KY 1237 | ||
| | 50.222 | 80.824 | KY 1234 west | Northern end of KY 1234 overlap | |
| | 50.979 | 82.043 |  KY 3161 north | Southern terminus of KY 3161 | |
| | 53.261 | 85.715 |  KY 1449 – Orangeburg | ||
| | 55.955 | 90.051 |  KY 3313 | ||
| | 56.832 | 91.462 |  KY 1448 east | Southern end of KY 1448 overlap | |
| Maysville | 57.040 | 91.797 |  KY 11 / KY 1448 west – Flemingsburg, Maysville | Northern end of KY 1448 overlap | |
| 58.451 | 94.068 | KY 1448 | |||
| 59.736 | 96.136 |    US 62 / US 68 Bus. / KY 10 east – Lexington, Maysville | south end of KY 10 overlap | ||
| 61.875 | 99.578 | US 68 – Lexington, Aberdeen, OH, Ripley, OH | interchange | ||
| | 65.378 | 105.216 |  KY 3056 east | Western terminus of KY 3056 | |
| | 65.606 | 105.583 | KY 10 west – Germantown | Northern end of KY 10 overlap | |
| | 66.545 | 107.094 |  KY 435 – Minerva | ||
| Bracken | | 72.799 | 117.159 |  KY 2370 (Dutch Ridge Road) | |
| | 74.567 | 120.004 |  KY 19 – Brooksville, Augusta, Mount Olivet, Augusta Historic District | ||
| | 76.772 | 123.553 |  KY 875 – Chatham, Gertrude | ||
| Woolcott | 79.280 | 127.589 |  KY 1159 – Brooksville, Mount Olivet | ||
| | 82.606 | 132.941 |  KY 1109 – Bradford, Johnsville | ||
| | 85.877 | 138.206 |  KY 1019 – Lenoxburg, Foster | ||
| | 87.830 | 141.349 |   KY 2228 east to KY 8 – Foster | Western terminus of KY 2228 | |
| Pendleton | | 89.174 | 143.512 |  KY 159 south – Kincaid Lake State Park | Northern terminus of KY 159 |
| | 91.711 | 147.595 |  KY 154 to KY 8 – Peach Grove | ||
| Campbell | | 93.717 | 150.823 |  KY 2828 east (Ivor Road) – Carntown | Western terminus of KY 2828 |
| Flagg Spring | 94.941 | 152.793 |  KY 735 to KY 10 – Mentor | ||
| | 99.316 | 159.834 |  KY 1996 (Carthage Road) | ||
| | 101.238 | 162.927 |   KY 1997 to KY 10 / KY 547 | ||
| | 103.405 | 166.414 | KY 547 – Alexandria, Silver Grove | interchange | |
| | 105.348 | 169.541 |  KY 709 west (East Alexandria Pike) | ||
| Cold Spring | 107.148 | 172.438 |  US 27 | interchange (exit 14) | |
| 109.337 | 175.961 |  KY 915 south (Licking Pike) to KY 10 | Northern terminus of KY 915 | ||
| Wilder | 109.755 | 176.634 |  KY 1998 east | Western terminus of KY 1998 | |
| 111.037 | 178.697 |     I-275 to I-71 / I-75 / I-471 – Airport | I-275 exit 77; north end of AA Highway | ||
| 113.196 | 182.171 |  KY 2345 east (Johns Hill Road) | Northern terminus of KY 2345 | ||
| 113.400 | 182.500 |  KY 1632 east (Moock Road) | Western terminus of KY 1632 | ||
| Newport | 115.666 | 186.146 |  KY 1120 (West Eleventh Street) | ||
| 116.231 | 187.056 | KY 8 east (5th Street) | |||
| 116.285 | 187.143 | KY 8 west (4th Street) | Northern terminus | ||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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References
- ^ Division of Planning. "Official Milepoint Route Log Extract". Highway Information System. Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Retrieved July 2, 2013.
- ^ Flynn, Terry (1993-11-27). "AA Highway filling a gap". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. 13. Retrieved 2023-05-29.
- ^ Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Possible KY 9 Improvements. Division of Planning. 2004 [1]. Archived August 4, 2004, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ a b c Davis, Merlene. "SEVERAL PROJECTS HELPING TO EASE AREA'S TRAFFIC WOES." Herald-Leader [Lexington] 27 January 1985. 10 January 2007.