A B727 TAXIES ONTO RWY AT SDF; KY; BECAUSE OF CONFUSING SIGNAGE AND RWY CONFIGN. AN EMB120 TAXIES ONTO ACTIVE RWY CLRED FOR TKOF; THE EMB120 CAPT SEES THE B727 AND TAXIES OFF OF RWY.

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ON TAXI OUT FROM GATE A AT SDF THE GND CTLR TOLD US TO TAKE A L TURN FROM OUR PRESENT POS ABEAM GATE B ON THE RAMP AND FOLLOW TXWY D TO RWY 35. AFTER WE CROSSED RWY 19 WE SAW THE BLACK TXWY D SIGN AND IT POINTED STRAIGHT AHEAD AND THAT COMBINED WITH THE YELLOW TAXI LINE IN THE SAME DIRECTION LEADING AWAY FROM THE PLACE WHERE WE SHOULD HAVE MADE A 'HARD' R TURN ONTO TXWY D. UPON FOLLOWING THAT YELLOW TAXI LINE WE 'THEN' REALIZED THAT WE HAD TAXIED ONTO THE OVERRUN AREA FOR RWY 35; WE EXITED AT TXWY E ON THE OTHER SIDE. I WAS THEN ASKED TO CALL THE WATCH SUPVR AT SDF. AFTER ARR AT DFW I CALLED MR X; HE INFORMED ME THAT THERE WAS A SAAB COMMUTER ON THE TKOF END OF RWY 35 WAITING TO DEPART. HE ALSO SAID THAT THE INTXN HAS BEEN A REAL PROB DUE TO THE EXTREMELY CONFUSING SIGNS AND THAT WE WERE NOT THE FIRST ACR TO MAKE THE SAME ERROR. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 371768: WE PROCEEDED TO COMPLY; BUT THE SIGNAGE WAS CONFUSING AND WHEN WE FOLLOWED THE TAXI LINE TOWARDS THE TXWY D INDICATOR WHICH WE BELIEVED DIRECTED US STRAIGHT AHEAD; IT IN FACT TOOK US ONTO THE OVERRUN OF RWY 35. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 371635: THE RWY AND TXWY CONFIGN WHERE THE INCIDENT OCCURRED IS CONFUSING. THE DEP END OF 2 RWYS; RWYS 1 AND 35; ARE CLOSE TOGETHER AND TXWYS K; D; AND R MEET; OR CROSS; OR TURN; IN THE SMALL AREA BTWN THE RWYS. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 372212: I; THE CAPT OF THE EMB120; WAS CLRED FOR TKOF ON RWY 35 BY LOUISVILLE TWR. AS I POWERED UP I NOTICED AN ACR B727 ACCIDENTALLY HAD TAXIED ONTO THE ACTIVE RWY 35/17 AT THE OTHER END OF RWY 35. AS I SAW THE ACR B727 AT THE OTHER END OF THE RWY I THROTTLED BACK AND CONTACTED TWR AT THIS TIME. I NEXT TAXIED OFF RWY 35. TWR AT LOUISVILLE STATED THAT THE ACR B727 MISSED TXWY D AND HAD TAXIED ONTO THE ACTIVE RWY. THE DISTANCE BTWN THE 2 ACFT WAS PROBABLY 7500 FT APART.