| State: | KY |
| Type: | KY |
| Route: | 54 |
| Map Custom: | yes |
| Map Notes: | KY 54 highlighted in red |
| Maint: | KYTC |
| Length Mi: | 54.329 |
| Length Round: | 3 |
| Length Ref: | [1] |
| Direction A: | West |
| Terminus A: | in Owensboro |
| Junction: | in Owensboro |
| Direction B: | East |
| Terminus B: | in Leitchfield |
| Counties: | Daviess, Ohio, Grayson |
| Previous Type: | KY |
| Previous Route: | 53 |
| Next Type: | KY |
| Next Route: | 55 |
Kentucky Route 54 (KY 54) is a 54.329adj=midNaNadj=mid state highway in the U.S. state of Kentucky.
The highway, which begins at the intersection of Frederica Street and Parrish Avenue in Owensboro, which is also its junction with Kentucky Route 81 and Kentucky Route 2831 (formerly US 431), begins to follow East Parrish Avenue. With its southeasterly course through Daviess, northeastern Ohio, and northwestern Grayson Counties, KY 54 connects Owensboro to Leitchfield, while also serving the smaller communities of Philpot, Whitesville and Fordsville.
From Leitchfield Road to Kentucky Route 1456 (also known as Thruston-Dermont Road and Millers Mill Road), the highway is five lanes wide and serves as the backbone of the growing retail and service area which has grown up in the area surrounding the highway's interchange with the Wendell H. Ford Expressway (US 60 and US 231). Where between KY 2831 and KY 1456, KY 54 is designated as a state primary road.
Not only does the road's number equal its rounded mileage, each of the three counties through which it passes (Daviess, Ohio and Grayson) have 18 of the 54 miles.
Initially, KY 54 also ran a course from US 41/60 in downtown Henderson[2] to its present-day western terminus in Owensboro via Hebbardsville[3] and Sorgho,[4] and crossing the Green River via a tolled ferry.[5] This alignment included a brief concurrency with KY 81, and a traversal through downtown Owensboro.[6] By 1980, the Henderson County portion of the KY 54 designation was replaced by parts of KY 351 and KY 416 west and east of Hebbardsville, respectively, while the Daviess County portion from the ferry site to Sorgho was mostly transferred to the Daviess County Road Department, with a small portion of that alignment became KY 1554 from the Audubon Parkway interchange to the current KY 56. This event also extended KY 56 to its eastern terminus at a junction with KY 81.[7] [8] Today, KY 81 has its northern terminus at KY 54's current western terminus at a junction with KY 2831 (formerly US 431).
At one time, KY 54 traversed the Yeaman community in northwestern Grayson County.[9] KY 54 was rerouted to bypass that area by 1949.[10]
In Owensboro proper, the route has over the years been straightened and widened, particularly toward the eastern reaches of the city.