# Kentucky Route 181

Kentucky Route 181 (KY 181) is a north–south state highway that traverses two counties in western Kentucky.

## Route description
### Todd County

KY 181 starts at a crossroads junction with U.S. Route 79 and Kentucky Route 2128 located near the Tennessee state line in the town of Guthrie, in southern Todd County. This is about 0.28 miles (0.45 km) north of the state line separating Todd County from Montgomery County, Tennessee. KY 181 has junctions with KY 294 and then a crossroad intersection with US 41. KY 181 goes north to intersect with KY 848, and then KY 104 before making it into the Todd County seat of Elkton. It intersects US 68 Business at the Todd County Courthouse in downtown Elkton. Further north, it crosses the divided four-lane Jefferson Davis Highway, the mainline US 68, which runs concurrently with KY 80 just north of the city limits. Kentucky Route 106's western terminus is a junction with KY 181 almost immediately after the US 68 junction. Junctions with KY 171 and KY 507 follows after KY 181 leaves the Elkton area.
At Clifty, KY 107 runs concurrent with KY 181 for 2.01 miles (3.23 km) through that community, with a junction with KY 890 located within that concurrency. At Tyewhopperty, it intersects KY 1785 shortly before entering Muhlenberg County.

### Muhlenberg County

After making its entrance into Muhlenberg County, KY 181 has a junction with Kentucky Route 973, which provides access to the Lake Malone State Park. Another junction with KY 890 follows, and then KY 1163 (Old Russellville Pike) before reaching the city of Greenville. In downtown Greenville, it meets U.S. Route 62 (US 62) and KY 176 at the town square. After the brief concurrency with US 62, KY 181 crosses the four-lane KY 189 by-pass before meeting the Exit 53 interchange of the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway. It then intersects KY 70 at Midland before reaching its northern terminus at the KY 81 junction in the community of Bremen just short of the McLean County line.

## History

As a charter route in Kentucky's state highway system when it was introduced in 1929, KY 181's original alignment through Todd and Muhlenberg Counties ran the present-day alignments of the following highways:
* KY 104 from the Tennessee state line north of Clarksville to its junction of KY 1755,
* The entire alignment of KY 1755,
* KY 181's present-day alignment to near Clifty,
* KY 107 west to Kirkmansville,
* some now-county-maintained roads between Kirkmansville and Weir, including the McKinney Bend of the Pond River, and
* most of KY 171's present-day alignment from Weir to Greenville, .
KY 181 was reallocated to its current alignment by the mid-1940s. The extension of KY 181 from Greenville to Bremen was authorized no later than 1950.

## Major intersections

| County | Location | mi | km | Destinations | Notes |
| Todd | Guthrie | 0.000 | 0.000 | US 79 / KY 2128 south to I-24 – Clarksville | Southern terminus of KY 181; northern terminus of KY 2128; road continues southward as KY 2128 |
| Todd | Guthrie | 0.100 | 0.161 | KY 294 west (Tiny Town Road) | Eastern terminus of KY 294 |
| Todd | Guthrie | 0.214 | 0.344 | US 41 to US 79 north | |
| Todd | ​ | 4.04 | 6.50 | KY 848 (Penchem Road) | |
| Todd | ​ | 8.018 | 12.904 | KY 1753 south (Elkton-Trenton Road) | Northern terminus of KY 1753 |
| Todd | ​ | 10.403 | 16.742 | KY 104 south (Old Trenton Road) | Northern terminus of KY 104 |
| Todd | Elkton | 12.021– 12.098 | 19.346– 19.470 | US 68 Bus. (West Main Street) | Roundabout around the Todd County Courthouse |
| Todd | Elkton | 13.119 | 21.113 | US 68 / KY 80 (Jefferson Davis Highway) – Hopkinsville, Russellville | |
| Todd | ​ | 13.648 | 21.964 | KY 106 east (Blue and Gray Park Road) | Western (southern) terminus of KY 106 |
| Todd | ​ | 16.252 | 26.155 | KY 171 (Allegre Road) | |
| Todd | ​ | 19.388 | 31.202 | KY 507 (Highland Lick Road) | |
| Todd | Clifty | 25.118 | 40.424 | KY 107 south (Clifty-Kirkmansville Road) | Southern end of KY 107 overlap |
| Todd | Clifty | 25.872 | 41.637 | KY 890 north (Rabbit Ridge Road) | Southern terminus of KY 890 |
| Todd | ​ | 27.128 | 43.658 | KY 107 north (Todd-Deer Lick Road) – Lewisburg | Northern end of KY 107 overlap |
| Todd | ​ | 29.867 | 48.066 | KY 1785 east (Jason Ridge Road) | Western terminus of KY 1785 |
| Muhlenberg | ​ | 32.444 | 52.214 | KY 973 east – Lake Malone State Park | Western terminus of KY 973 |
| Muhlenberg | ​ | 34.085 | 54.854 | KY 890 south | Northern terminus of KY 890 |
| Muhlenberg | ​ | 40.192 | 64.683 | KY 1163 south (Old Russellville Pike) | Northern terminus of KY 1163 |
| Muhlenberg | Greenville | 41.97 | 67.54 | US 62 west (Hopkinsville Street) | Southern end of US 62 overlap |
| Muhlenberg | Greenville | 42.113 | 67.774 | KY 176 east (East Main Cross Street) | Western end of KY 176 |
| Muhlenberg | Greenville | 42.927 | 69.084 | US 62 east (North Main Street) – Central City | Northern end of US 62 overlap |
| Muhlenberg | Greenville | 43.525 | 70.047 | KY 189 – Hopkinsville, Central City | |
| Muhlenberg | Greenville | 43.813 | 70.510 | KY 601 north | Southern end of KY 601 |
| Muhlenberg | ​ | 45.467 | 73.172 | KY 2533 south | Northern end of KY 2533 |
| Muhlenberg | ​ | 46.28 | 74.48 | Western Kentucky Parkway to I-69 / I-169 – Paducah, Elizabethtown | Western KY Parkway Exit 58 |
| Muhlenberg | Midland | 50.001 | 80.469 | KY 70 – Madisonville, Central City | |
| Muhlenberg | ​ | 50.433 | 81.164 | KY 2544 east | Western end of KY 2544 |
| Muhlenberg | ​ | 54.020 | 86.937 | KY 2551 west | Eastern terminus of KY 2551 |
| Muhlenberg | ​ | 54.949 | 88.432 | KY 175 | |
| Muhlenberg | Bremen | 56.342 | 90.674 | KY 81 – Calhoun, Central City | Northern terminus |
| 1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus ||||||