Kentucky Route 101

KY 101 begins at KY 100 in Scottsville's courthouse square within the Scottsville Downtown Commercial Historic District. KY 100 heads east along Main Street and south on Court Street. KY 101 heads north from downtown along Court Street. North of Plum Street on the northern edge of the street grid, the highway's name becomes Smiths Grove Road. KY 101 leaves the city of Scottsville immediately before its intersection with US 31E (New Glasgow Road), which bypasses the city to the west and north. North of the U.S. Highway, the route meets the eastern end of KY 1332 (Halifax Road) and crosses Bays Fork and the North Prong of Bays Fork. KY 101 meets the east end of KY 234 (Cemetery Road) as it passes to the west of Gainesville. The highway intersects KY 1533 (Meadow-Port Oliver Road) at Meador before the route crosses the Barren River into Warren County.[7]

KY 101 northbound on the border of Warren and Edmonson counties

KY 101 continues as Smiths Grove-Scottsville Road, which passes to the northeast of Martinsville and meets the east end of KY 1402 (Porter Pike) at Three Forks. The highway intersects KY 1297 (Gotts Hydro Road) at Kepler. KY 101 intersects US 68 and KY 80, which run concurrently on Glasgow Road, south of KY 101's diamond interchange with I-65 (Abraham Lincoln Memorial Highway) at the southern edge of the city of Smiths Grove.[8] The portion of KY 101 between US 68 and I-65 is the most heavily traveled portion of KY 101; as of 2015, this segment's annual average daily traffic is more than three times that of the portion of the highway between KY 1297 and US 68.[10] Since I-65's interchange with US 68 is partial, traffic from southbound I-65 to westbound US 68 and from eastbound US 68 to northbound I-65 must use KY 101 to connect.[8]

KY 101 follows Main Street through the city, in the center of which the highway intersects CSX's Main Line Subdivision rail line. KY 101 continues through the Smiths Grove Historic District. The highway passes a block to the east of the J.L. Wright House and a block to the west of Smiths Grove Presbyterian Church. KY 101 passes the Smiths Grove Baptist Church one block south of where the route turns west onto 6th Street for two blocks. At the west city limit of Smiths Grove, the highway turns north and leaves the city along Smiths Grove-Scottsville Road. KY 101 passes through a pair of more-than-right-angle curves to the west and then north before reaching US 31W (Louisville Road), which the state-numbered highway joins heading west.[8]

KY 101 splits from US 31W onto Chalybeate Road, which heads north and then northeast as the route ascends The Knobs onto a plateau. Near the top of the climb, on which northbound KY 101 gains a climbing lane, the highway enters Edmonson County.[8] The route intersects KY 743 (New Grove Road) and then runs concurrently with the highway to Chalybeate, where KY 743 splits west onto Chalybeate School Road. KY 101 meets the north end of KY 3611 (Chalybeate Road) next to the site of the Chalybeate Springs Hotel Springhouse. The highway intersects the south end of KY 3019 (Chalybeate Road) south of Rhoda and continues along Veterans Memorial Highway, which crosses Beaverdam Creek, a tributary of the Green River. On the east side of Rhoda, KY 101 reaches its northern terminus at KY 259, which heads east along Brownsville Road and north along a continuation of Veterans Memorial Highway toward Brownsville.[9]