Hart County Kentucky Route 218 begins at the unincorporated
Hart County community of
Northtown west of
Interstate 65 (I-65). It is the beginning of state maintenance as the main road west of Northtown is actually a locally maintained road (Flint Ridge Road) that leads to the
Mammoth Cave National Park, and would provide a direct route to the park's visitor center in
Edmonson County. The official road maps issued by the KYTC do not show this section of KY 218 as its western terminus is intersecting locally maintained roads, which are not shown on any highway maps outside of city insets. It crosses I-65 at its Exit 58 interchange, and enters the town of
Horse Cave, which is part of a tourism hotbed in southern Kentucky due to its proximity to the national park. After
running concurrently with
Kentucky Route 335 for a couple of miles, it crosses
U.S. Route 31W (
Dixie Highway). About east of downtown Horse Cave, it crosses
U.S. Route 31E (
Jackson Highway), and then continues eastward to LeGrande, and enters the northernmost section of
Metcalfe County a moment after the
KY 677 junction.
Metcalfe and Green Counties KY 218 goes through a small sliver of the northernmost portion of Metcalfe County, and it intersects
KY 314 while doing so. It enters
Green County, crosses the Little Barren River, and reaches its end at
Exie, where it meets the intersection with
US 68 during that route's concurrency with
Kentucky Route 70 from
Sulphur Well all the way to
Greensburg and
Campbellsville. ==History==