Nashville\ Middle Tennessee Regional Road Meet!!!

[A.J. Bertin]

I've always found Louisville lodging to be overpriced. If you want to stay in one of the nice hotels downtown, you might be able to find a deal on Priceline. (You don't have to worry about getting a smoking room because Louisville's smoking ordinance applies to motel rooms as well as restaurants).

I recently spent a night in Louisville for a work meeting and stayed at the Red Roof just off Hurstbourne Lane and I-64. It was decently priced and not bad quality-wise. (I'd stay there again if I had another meeting in that part of town). There's a Baymont Inn in that same area that is also reasonably priced and gets good reviews on TripAdvisor.

Good to know. Thanks for these tips, H.B.!

[hbelkins]

AJ,you indicated you're staying in E-town on Friday night. That, of course, means you'll be crossing the river sometime in the PM and thus may get hung up in Louisville traffic. Also, a concrete pavement repair project is starting up for all of Bullitt County along I-65 and the normally three-lane route is going to be down to two lanes. I don't know if they've gotten started yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if traffic pattern changes are already underway. This might cause further heartburn.

Possible alternative: Take I-265 west to I-64, cross on the Sherman Minton Bridge, then take I-264 around to US 31W and follow that south to E-town. It's longer, but it gets you off the interstate (and also gets you Meade County if you're looking to add some counties on this trip).

[jpi]

Just a reminder if anyone will still be in the Nashville area Sunday night 3/30 and is a hockey fan, the Nashville Predators have a home game with the Washington Capitols at Bridgestone Arena at 7pm, tickets are still avalable. I personally have never been to a hockey game but I am up for anything, I will keep all day Saturday and Sunday wide open. Steph will have to work Sunday night so she won't be able to attend, I plan to post some more info on this on the facebook page later this evening. Also I am going to do a "dry run" of the first part of the tour which will consist of Hartsville Pike (TN 141) north to Hartsville to TN 25 west to Gallatin and the Cumberland River Bridge tomorrow before work.

I am still fine tuning the 2nd part of the tour with the options of either running 109 south to I-40 west to see the widening project on there and then south on 65 to another widening project or run TN 109 north from Gallatin which is now a 4 lane highway to I-65 around Portland, TN then south to Nashville and see that 4 lane widening so if anybody has suggestions feal free to let me know :-)

[A.J. Bertin]

AJ,you indicated you're staying in E-town on Friday night. That, of course, means you'll be crossing the river sometime in the PM and thus may get hung up in Louisville traffic. Also, a concrete pavement repair project is starting up for all of Bullitt County along I-65 and the normally three-lane route is going to be down to two lanes. I don't know if they've gotten started yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if traffic pattern changes are already underway. This might cause further heartburn.

Possible alternative: Take I-265 west to I-64, cross on the Sherman Minton Bridge, then take I-264 around to US 31W and follow that south to E-town. It's longer, but it gets you off the interstate (and also gets you Meade County if you're looking to add some counties on this trip).

Thanks for these suggestions. My plan at this point is to leave Grand Rapids around 3 p.m. on the Friday (with my friend Chris who is joining me at this meet). I'm thinking it will be between 10 and 11 p.m. that I cross into Kentucky. Do you think I'll still run into delays at that hour on southbound I-65 (given the lane closure)? I'll have to consider this.

[hbelkins]

Thanks for these suggestions. My plan at this point is to leave Grand Rapids around 3 p.m. on the Friday (with my friend Chris who is joining me at this meet). I'm thinking it will be between 10 and 11 p.m. that I cross into Kentucky. Do you think I'll still run into delays at that hour on southbound I-65 (given the lane closure)? I'll have to consider this.

You'll be fine at that hour, unless there is an incident in the work zone. The plan is to set up one of those 1-1-2 schemes where one lane is still maintained on the side where the work is taking place, and then one lane contraflow to the other two lanes.

Info at https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=804542146226632&set=a.220408937973292.71999.220385521308967&type=1&stream_ref=10 and http://transportation.ky.gov/District-5/Pages/PressReleasePage.aspx?&FilterField1=ID&FilterValue1=148

[jpi]

THIS JUST IN!!!!  Per the Lebanon Democrat news paper, the TN 109 bridge is now set to open a week from today!! :-) TDOT will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony for TN 109 bridge on Friday March 21 at 10am. I do plan on making the ribbon cutting since this is only 15 minutes from my house and I don't have to be at work until 1pm. Hopefully the weather works out and will try to get some pics. I did not realize this was this far along, this bridge will be 4 lanes wide with a center median so traffic will be moved to one of the carriage ways while the other one will be worked on. Eventually 109 will be 4 to 5 lanes from US 70 north to the Gallatin by-pass. The bridge is the cornorstone of this meet\ tour and I would like to take our group pic there too.

[Alps]

In the spirit of the St Louis meet, where are people staying? I haven't booked yet but am expecting to be just off I-40 by the meet location.

[hbelkins]

Haven't decided yet. If I stay in Lebanon, it will most likely be either at the Ramada or the Days Inn, and for Friday night only.

Cookeville and Somerset are also options for me for Friday night. Saturday night will be somewhere in Kentucky (Bowling Green, Glasgow, E-town and Somerset are all under consideration).

[jpi]

Just to give you guys an idea, the motel rates here in Lebanon are anywhere from 40.00 to 110.00, we have Comfort Suites, Laquinta, Econo Lodge, Super 8, Days Inn, Americas Best Value, Quality Inn, Hampton Inn, Ramada Inn and a Sleep Inn about 5 miles down I-40 closer to Nashville. Itinerary is coming soon. :-)

[Alps]

Just to give you guys an idea, the motel rates here in Lebanon are anywhere from 40.00 to 110.00, we have Comfort Suites, Laquinta, Econo Lodge, Super 8, Days Inn, Americas Best Value, Quality Inn, Hampton Inn, Ramada Inn and a Sleep Inn about 5 miles down I-40 closer to Nashville. Itinerary is coming soon. :-)

40.00 sounds awesome. If no one else is chiming in, I'll just make my own reservation and play by ear.

[A.J. Bertin]

In the spirit of the St Louis meet, where are people staying? I haven't booked yet but am expecting to be just off I-40 by the meet location.

My friend Chris and I will be staying at the Sleep Inn off I-40 near the airport on the east side of the Nashville area.

[jpi]

And this will be my first road meet since the last Nashville are meet  5 years ago that I did not have to reserve a motel room :-) In fact when we first leave demo's and embarke on our tour we may drive past my house.

[Brandon]

The real question for Friday night is...

Which one has an indoor pool we can crash? 

[jpi]

I know Comfort Suites has one, not sure of the others, unfortunently I will not be able to partake in Friday night activity becuase of work but I will be wide open all weekend. :-)

[jpi]

Hi Guys,
I managed to attend the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new TN 109 Cumberland River Bridge, I can tell you it is a nice modern structure that is 4 lanes wide (will be 2 lanes for now) with plaques in the center indicating Wilson County and Sumner County. I took some pics and will post them on face book this weekend. So far weather is looking good for next Saturday, there is a cu-da-sac off 109 near the north end of the bridge we will try to park at unless we can access the future south bound lanes. There is side walks and we will be able to walk the length of the bridge and I hope to get our group pic there and speaking of, I do have a digital camera but no tri pod and my camera is not the best so if anyone can help with that would be great, also "send help" sign is optional I will try to get the full tour itinerary together this weekend, so far our head count is around a dozen, my mini van can seat 7 including myself so I don't for see more then 3 cars in our tour plus we will be on mostly primary state highways and interstates. Also if time allows we may check out the Natchez Trace bridge over TN 96 in Williamson County inbetween our drive on the new 840 and the TN 155 White Bridge Rd\ BRiley PKWY exit on the west side of Nashville which was the center piece of the last Nashville region meet. :-)

[hbelkins]

The itinerary will determine if I ride along with someone, or if I drive for part of the tour and then split away. I will definitely do the latter if we end up in or west of Nashville during the tour. I'd like to be on the road and headed back this way by about 5:30 or 6 Eastern. (4:30 or 5 Central).

Not sure where I will be Friday night, but I know what I will be doing wherever I am -- watching the UK/Louisville game.

[jpi]

Copied and pasted it from MS word but here is the officail itinerrary-
Directions to Demo's-

Take exit 238 off I-40 (US 231 Lebanon) Go north on US 231 to 2nd light (Legends DR) Make a right, Demo's will be on right at 4 way stop. Demo's is close to a mile off I-40 but has a big tower sign so it is easy to see and is close to Cracker Barrel.

Road Meet Tour-

Leaving Demo's we will take US 231 north through Lebanon, we will go through the town square traffic circle which TDOT plans to make a round-a-bout out of this. After going through the Lebanon Square we will turn right on to US 70 by-pass (High ST) David's Pizza is on the right with a "pizza guy" statue in front of the building. We will take by-pass 70 east to the next light, this is Hartsville Pike (TN 141) we will turn left and follow Hartsville Pike\ TN 141 north for about 17 miles to Hartsville, 3/4 of this highway is under construction with lots of earth moving happening and a number of places we can pull off and take pics.

When we get into Hartsville we will follow TN 141 to TN 25 and go west. We follow TN 25 west for 17 miles to the east side of Gallatin. We will turn left on to Airport Rd, this will take us to TN 109, and there will be a Kangaroo convenience store on the right. We will turn left on to TN 109 south to Cumberland River Bridge.

When we get to the Cumberland River Bridge we will pull into a cul-de-sac on the left and park and proceed to bridge VIA sidewalk, if weather and traffic permits I would like to take our group pic here. Next we will proceed south on TN 109 to I-40 west, a distance of 15 miles. We will go west on I-40 where there is a widening project from 109 to Mt Juliet. We will stay on I-40 west to TN 155\ Briley PKWY north; we will take this to I-65 south and go south toward downtown. There is another widening project taking place on 65 from Briley PKWY south to the start of the downtown loop. We will follow I-65 south to I-24 east past LP Field and get a good view of downtown Nashville. Then we will go back on I-40 west to the south end of the downtown loop then back to I-65 south.

We will follow I-65 south through the I-440 4 level stack interchange and proceed about 20 miles south to TN 840. We will see the 3rd Nashville area widening project taking place on I-65 from Franklin to TN 840. Next we will take TN 840 west; this is the newest stretch of TN 840 which opened a year and a half ago. This is 29 miles to I-40 east. We will take I-40 east back towards Nashville and if time allows we will get off at the Pegram\ McCrory Lane exit (exit 192) and follow the signs to the Natchez Trace PKWY and take this about 5 miles to where it crosses TN 96 at the Natchez Trace Bridge. This bridge rises around 50ft high above TN 96. After this we will head back to I-40 east, travel through the west side of TN 155\ Briley PKWY\ White Bridge RD interchange with some high fly-overs. We will then start working our way back to Demo's VIA I-40 east to I-440 east to I-40 east back to Lebanon.

The approximate time for the tour should be around 4 hours. Weather is looking ok but a chance of rain is in the forecast for Saturday but I do not see it as a wash out. We will be on all major state highways and interstates so if anybody needs to make a drink\ snack or most important restroom stop we will have a number of opportunities to do so. If anyone needs to get in touch with me and does not have my phone # it is 615-519-3686 I do have to work on Friday night before the meet day and if anyone needs to get in touch with me then, my work# is 615-443-9134 since I do not get a cell signal in my office.

I look forward to seeing everyone this weekend, it should be a fun time! :-)

[jpi]

Quick weather update, on Friday we will be under an elevated risk for strong storms but will be hitting 70 so anyone traveling on Friday be careful, it should be dry and cleared up at least in time for our tour and should have a high of 58 to 60, Sunday is looking very nice. Just 2 days to go!

[hbelkins]

I still don't know where I will be staying tomorrow night. I may go all the way to Lebanon, or I may stop short in Cookeville, or elsewhere along the route. I want to check out the new section of US 127 between Albany and the state line.

I won't be doing the entire tour. I will probably break off after the tour comes south on 109 and hits I-40. I've already driven the new portion of TN 840. I want to check out the new US 68 bypass of Glasgow on my way home.

[Alps]

I still don't know where I will be staying tomorrow night. I may go all the way to Lebanon, or I may stop short in Cookeville, or elsewhere along the route. I want to check out the new section of US 127 between Albany and the state line.

I won't be doing the entire tour. I will probably break off after the tour comes south on 109 and hits I-40. I've already driven the new portion of TN 840. I want to check out the new US 68 bypass of Glasgow on my way home.

If you do make it to Lebanon, come meet me for some BBQ.

[Brandon]

I will be in Lebanon, & will meet folks for BBQ.  Wound up at the Knights Inn.  Could be better, could be worse.

[jpi]

I am at work with 5 hours to go , have fun guys, see you all around 11!

[Alps]

I will be in Lebanon, & will meet folks for BBQ.  Wound up at the Knights Inn.  Could be better, could be worse.

My smoking room smells better than Brandon's non-smoking room. I am up for whatever goes down tomorrow.

[froggie]

After a major detour (forgot important gear in Norfolk), I managed to get to Knoxville for the night.  Looking forward to catching folks (however briefly) for lunch.  As noted before, I'm skipping the tour.

[froggie]

Many thanks to Jason  and the gang for accommodating my tardy, frustrated, eat-and-run craziness!  And thanks to Brandon for the maps!