Kentucky Route 728

Kentucky Route 728 (KY 728) is an east–west state highway that traverses Edmonson and Hart Counties in south-central Kentucky.

Route description
KY 728 has its western terminus at an intersection with KY 259 between the communities Bee Spring and Sweeden, just north of Kyrock Elementary School. It bypasses the original site of the old town called Kyrock, and it then traverses Nolin Dam, with the tail water of the Nolin River on the right, and Nolin Lake on the left. About 3 mi afterward, it meets its first intersection with KY 1827, which starts near Nolin Lake State Park. It then runs concurrently with KY 1827 for a few miles; they split after the intersection with Ollie Road, which goes to the Houchin's Ferry. KY 1827 goes straight, while KY 728 makes a diagonal left turn at the second intersection of the two state routes. KY 728 goes through more countryside before reaching the Hart County line.

KY 728 makes its entrance into Hart County and then has one more intersection with KY 1827, which marks KY 1827's eastern terminus. KY 728 goes on into Cub Run to intersect with KY 88. KY 728 continues into the northwestern part of Hart County, and then makes a right turn to the east to meet U.S. Route 31W (US 31W) in Bonnieville. After Bonnieville, KY 728 has a junction with Interstate 65 (I-65) at the exit 71 interchange, and a few miles later, KY 728 would meet its eastern terminus at an intersection with KY 357 in Hammonville, just south of the Hart–LaRue county line.

History
From the late 1940s through as late as 1965, KY 728 initially served solely as a rural supplemental highway between Cub Run and Bonnieville. When construction of Nolin Dam began construction in 1962, officials in Edmonson County, including those of that county's Board of Education, have urged the state highway department (known today as the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet) to build a state-maintained highway over the dam to connect the Lincoln/Ollie area to KY 65 (now KY 259) in the Bee Spring area; construction of that roadway began by mid-1963. A portion of what would become KY 728 prior to 1963 was signed as KY 1029, which followed a path from the present-day location of the Great Onyx Job Corps Center in the northwestern portion of Mammoth Cave National Park to the community of Lincoln, and then onto KY 728's current course from Lincoln to the KY 88 junction in Cub Run. The KY 728 designation was extended onto its current route into Edmonson County, including the route over Nolin Dam to KY 259 by 1967. This event also coincided with the KY 1827 designation being assigned to become a supplemental, alternative southern route between Lincoln and Cub Run. Parts of the decommissioned KY 1029 that did not become part of KY 728 were turned over to the Edmonson County Road Department, and are known currently as Ollie Ridge and Ollie Roads.

KY 728 would be extended to its current length with the eastern extension from US 31W in Bonnieville to KY 357 in Hammonville around the time that the Hart County segment of I-65 was completed.