The AA Highway was constructed in the 1980s as a modern surface arterial across eastern Kentucky. Originally intended to link Alexandria and Ashland, although it starts well west of the former and ends well west of the latter, AA Highway was not intended to even be limited access like the Kentucky Parkways, let alone grade separated (some Parkways have at-grade directional intersections while others have all interchanges). KY 9 was reappropriated for the road instead of a miscellaneous three-digit route number.


Here, SB heading away from I-275, is the technical name of the highway. Like most of the Parkways, though, Kentuckians never use the name of the living politician who ended up on the shield when referring to AA Highway.


Strange SB distance sign. These are both minor routes (I'd say "of course" but you can never tell in Kentucky) and destination signs are really supposed to be for destinations. These can be signed with JCT assemblies.

All remaining photos are northbound, starting from the southeast end of KY 9.


The terrain in eastern Kentucky resembles that of West Virginia, so of course there are similar hillside destructions for building underutilized highways.


Now wait a moment, I thought KY 9 was the AA Highway. KY 10 is the Greenup Spur from here east, but gets shields just the same. West of this exit, KY 10 spends a lot of time as the old road that KY 9 bypassed.


Historical coincidence: William and Orange in the same place, but unrelated to Anglo-Dutch dynastic history.


Let's see what's wrong with the first sign. "Ky" is a name and not a state abbreviation, mileages should be left-justified, there should be a slash between 68 and 62, the lower of the two numbers should come first, and US 68/62 isn't even an exit, just an intersection. Oh, and it's not US 68 anymore. A new bypass and Ohio River bridge was built west of Maysville, and US 68 was routed onto it by 2013. For some reason, US 62 hadn't yet made the transition and still stuck it out through downtown Maysville.


Same problem NB as SB. Who cares about these mileages?


I spied the Walcott Covered Bridge, inventively known as the White Bridge, and pulled out at KY 1159 to see more of it.


Two types of industry on display.

Old KY 9/Original US 27 on the US 27 page

Onto KY 10
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