Shifted west from North Carolina to Tennessee with updates, in preparation for a roadtrip hopefully in the Fall. There are still a handful of old html pages in the Volunteer State still posted on southeastroads.com. Started going through these and replacing them with new php driven pages. Replaced guides for I-124, I-140, U.S. 27 and U.S. 321 so far.

Have not shot Interstate 124 since 2013, which was completely reconstructed from December 2015 until now. That will be one of the routes to redocument. The designation remains unsigned. Looking over some of our old Tennessee Highway Maps, I-124 was displayed on the Chattanooga inset until U.S. 27 was realigned from Market Street westward onto the freeway. Insets on the 1970s official highway map showed the freeway north along the Olgiati Bridge to Red Bank first as SR 27 Spur. The 1986 edition of the Tennessee Official Highway map showed it as SR 29, the hidden counterpart of U.S. 27. I-124 was removed by the 1993 edition, with U.S. 27 taking its place.

Replaced 2003 photos of Interstate 140 with ones taken in January 2019. Still no progress on the Extension of Pellissippi Parkway (SR 162), which whenever it is built, will connect the east end of I-140 to U.S. 321 outside Maryville. The FHWA approved a Record of Decision for the project in August 2017.

While updating Interstate 140, discovered that the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is well underway with a project to both upgrade and realign U.S. 129/SR 115 (Alcoa Highway) into a controlled access expressway. Construction is currently underway to upgrade U.S. 129 south from SR 335 in Alcoa and north into Knox County. Right of way acquisition is underway for the realignment of Alcoa Highway east of McGhee Tyson Airport (TYS) and west of Rockford. A number of documents are posted on the TDOT web site showing the new design:

  • Replacing the folded diamond interchange at SR 335 with an extension of Tyson Boulevard to a new diamond interchange.
  • The new alignment of U.S. 129/SR 115 will branch east from Alcoa Highway to a new interchange for McGhee Tyson Airport. This will replace a portion of old Alcoa Highway and the existing trumpet interchange to Terminal Loop Drive.
  • Wright Road will be realigned to meet the new freeway at a diamond interchange west of Cusick Road.
  • A cloverstack interchange will join the freeway along U.S. 129/SR 115 with I-140/SR 162 (Pellissippi Parkway) where a half diamond interchange currently joins SR 162 with Cusick Road.
  • The new alignment of U.S. 129/SR 115 will rejoin Alcoa Highway at a split diamond interchange with Singleton Station Road, which will be realigned as well.
  • A dogbone ramp system will join frontage roads with Lakemont Drive south of the dogbone interchange with SR 333 (Topside Road).
  • RIRO intersections with ramps to Topside Road north of the Cates bridge.
  • Upgrading the grade separated intersection with SR 168 into a trumpet interchange.
  • Dumbbell interchange with Maloney Road and RIRO intersection with Power Drive.
  • RIRO ramps from U.S. 129 north to Woodson Drive
  • Replacing the trumpet interchange with Cherokee trail to UT Medical Center with a parclo interchange.

The cloverleaf interchange joining the east end of Interstate 140 and SR 162 (Pellissippi Parkway) with U.S. 129 (Alcoa Highway) will be all but eliminated.

New pages in Tennessee added for the following routes:

  • U.S. 11 – photos covering southbound at Chattanooga, including the McCallie Tunnel from 2013. Also added photos of U.S. 11W west from Bristol to Kingsport.
  • U.S. 41 – photos covering Broad Street, Main Street, Dodds Avenue and the Bachman Tunnels from 2013.
  • U.S. 64 – photos covering the overlaps with U.S. 11 and U.S. 64. Have much more content to post from south central Tennessee from 2017.
  • U.S. 72 – photos of the east end in Chattanooga. Have the west end photographed from 2010 to add later.
  • U.S. 76 – added photos of the unsigned western leg from U.S. 41/Main Street to MLK Boulevard on Market Street.
  • U.S. 127 – photos covering the unsigned portion from Downtown Chattanooga to Red Bank, including the Stringers Ridge Tunnel.
  • U.S. 321 – photos covering eastbound from I-26/U.S. 19W-23 at Johnson City to Watauga Lake and westbound from Watauga Lake to Hampton from 2015.

Updated guide with complete coverage of both directions of Interstate 840, the 76 mile long beltway around the Nashville metropolitan area.

 

Updated Interstate 269 with photos covering all of southbound in Mississippi.