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US 72 just south of the TN/MS state line

Started by capt.ron, January 06, 2017, 01:14:13 PM

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capt.ron

I noticed on Google Earth that the new overpass / interchange over Gateway Global Dr. is proceeding nicely. I drove through the area last May (May, 2016) and they just started clearing out the ROW and had a few bridge supports built. I'm glad to see that MSDOT got smart and put an interchange there. Now if they do that [grade separate] to the state highways between MS 302 to Corinth, that would be nice.


froggie

It likely has something to do with a fairly new Norfolk Southern intermodal facility just across the Tennessee line from that location and the volume of trucks that can be expected to enter/exit US 72 there because of that facility.

Tomahawkin

Does anyone know if there is still talks of making 72 a 4 lane highway all the way to northwest Chattanooga?

NE2

Quote from: Tomahawkin on January 08, 2017, 06:00:06 PM
Does anyone know if there is still talks of making 72 a 4 lane highway all the way to northwest Chattanooga?
It's not one?
pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

hbelkins

Quote from: NE2 on January 08, 2017, 07:45:26 PM
Quote from: Tomahawkin on January 08, 2017, 06:00:06 PM
Does anyone know if there is still talks of making 72 a 4 lane highway all the way to northwest Chattanooga?
It's not one?

Technically, no, but the combination of 72 and Alt. 72 is.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

NE2

Quote from: hbelkins on January 08, 2017, 08:28:21 PM
Quote from: NE2 on January 08, 2017, 07:45:26 PM
Quote from: Tomahawkin on January 08, 2017, 06:00:06 PM
Does anyone know if there is still talks of making 72 a 4 lane highway all the way to northwest Chattanooga?
It's not one?

Technically, no, but the combination of 72 and Alt. 72 is.

72 proper is all 4+ lanes too, and has been at least since the 1970s per Alabama official maps.
pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

clong

Quote from: NE2 on January 08, 2017, 09:15:49 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on January 08, 2017, 08:28:21 PM
Quote from: NE2 on January 08, 2017, 07:45:26 PM
Quote from: Tomahawkin on January 08, 2017, 06:00:06 PM
Does anyone know if there is still talks of making 72 a 4 lane highway all the way to northwest Chattanooga?
It's not one?

Technically, no, but the combination of 72 and Alt. 72 is.

72 proper is all 4+ lanes too, and has been at least since the 1970s per Alabama official maps.

I can't speak to the current status of the remainder of the route, but I recall 72 being 2 lanes well into the late 80s and possibly very early 90s Northeast of Scottsboro near Stevenson and Bridgeport.

NE2

Quote from: clong on January 09, 2017, 02:05:26 PM
I can't speak to the current status of the remainder of the route, but I recall 72 being 2 lanes well into the late 80s and possibly very early 90s Northeast of Scottsboro near Stevenson and Bridgeport.
You're right; I was looking at Florence to Huntsville. In any case, 72 is now all 4+ lanes in Alabama.
pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

Brian556

US 72 in South Pittsburg, TN was two lane until the bypass was built in the early 2000's. I assume the portion in NE AL was upgraded around the same time

capt.ron

I used to buy Rand McNally atlases and watched as US 72 was 4 laned northeast of Scottsboro in sections.
In Mississippi, it was 2 lanes for the longest time until the mid 1980's when it became 4 lane in phases. Corinth was 4 lanes first, then the section in Burnsville in the early 1980's. Mid-late 1980's had the concrete secton bypassing Iuka. Then MSDOT upgraded US 72 in phases in the 1990's west of Corinth. Early 2000's had 72 4 lanes to MS 302 then it went to a 2 lane to the state line.
I have heard MSDOT difficulty acquiring ROW from northwest of MS 302 to the state line, hence the slowness (until recently) of them upgrading it to a 4 lane. Finally, the ball moves forward.
I know the road quite well. I live in central Arkansas and have relatives that live in northwest Georgia so we of course took US 72 (and ALT 72) out of Memphis over to Scotttsboro, then AL 40 / 117 over to Georgia.
I hated the 2 lane section of 72 in Mississippi with a passion. It was hard to pass vehicles at times and hard to see with the trees close to and kudzu right up against the road.

lordsutch

FYI I don't know when exactly this opened to traffic, but as of yesterday the US 72 four-lane is fully open to traffic from MS 302 to the state line, including the Gateway Global Drive folded-diamond interchange (but it's signed as Industrial Drive / Wingo Road from US 72). The replacement signal at Cayce Road has a doghouse westbound - I guess that was decided by Piperton or TDOT, since MDOT has already transitioned to using FYAs instead.

The work isn't entirely done; the 45 mph construction speed limit is still in place (and there was a lack of "covered" speed limit signs, at least westbound) and it looks like there's still more some work to be done on the road under the overpass.

US71

Quote from: lordsutch on November 26, 2018, 11:45:17 PM
FYI I don't know when exactly this opened to traffic, but as of yesterday the US 72 four-lane is fully open to traffic from MS 302 to the state line, including the Gateway Global Drive folded-diamond interchange (but it's signed as Industrial Drive / Wingo Road from US 72). The replacement signal at Cayce Road has a doghouse westbound - I guess that was decided by Piperton or TDOT, since MDOT has already transitioned to using FYAs instead.

The work isn't entirely done; the 45 mph construction speed limit is still in place (and there was a lack of "covered" speed limit signs, at least westbound) and it looks like there's still more some work to be done on the road under the overpass.

Looks like late October
https://wreg.com/2018/10/23/u-s-72-now-four-lanes-from-tennessee-to-alabama/
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

mgk920

From a quick look/see of Google aerial images of that area, am I correct in that that road will feed into nothing but the intermodal terminal in Tennessee?  That seems like a bit of an 'odd' layout to me.

Mike

lordsutch

Quote from: mgk920 on November 27, 2018, 10:03:45 AM
From a quick look/see of Google aerial images of that area, am I correct in that that road will feed into nothing but the intermodal terminal in Tennessee?  That seems like a bit of an 'odd' layout to me.

There's a bunch of warehouses that have gone in north and south of US 72 along the road since most of the imagery was captured. (I think most of the online mapping services' imagery in that area was collected for the 2016 NAIP contract, which was down-rezzed for the public domain NAIP release.)

They have massively overbuilt the overpass by normal standards, both in length and height; there's enough room for 8+ lanes of roadway with plenty of space leftover on the east side for a rail line - the folded diamond design only makes sense if they plan to put something like that in eventually. There's probably 25+ feet of vertical clearance too.

I suppose there might be a long-term plan to build a spur down to the BNSF line along old 78, even though it's a NS facility. There has been some talk of trying to put in a rail bypass so they can cut down on the train traffic along Poplar through East Memphis, Germantown, and Collierville, with the eventual goal of extending the light rail line on this corridor.

Henry

Perhaps this should be a nice consolation prize after losing out on an Interstate link between Memphis and Atlanta (which is handled by both I-20 and I-22).
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

hotdogPi

Quote from: Henry on November 28, 2018, 09:37:28 AM
Perhaps this should be a nice consolation prize after losing out on an Interstate link between Memphis and Atlanta (which is handled by both I-20 and I-22).

I-20 and I-22 is almost perfectly direct. If a more direct link was created, it would be considered redundant.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

NE2

Quote from: Henry on November 28, 2018, 09:37:28 AM
Perhaps this should be a nice consolation prize after losing out on an Interstate link between Memphis and Atlanta (which is handled by both I-20 and I-22).
You make no sense.
pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

sparker

Quote from: 1 on November 28, 2018, 09:45:07 AM
Quote from: Henry on November 28, 2018, 09:37:28 AM
Perhaps this should be a nice consolation prize after losing out on an Interstate link between Memphis and Atlanta (which is handled by both I-20 and I-22).

I-20 and I-22 is almost perfectly direct. If a more direct link was created, it would be considered redundant.

Pretty much any corridor plans for US 72 (HPC #7, IIRC) were promulgated by Huntsville backers who have long felt left out of the regional connectivity game.  A second Memphis-Atlanta corridor based on US 72 and Alternate 72, AL 35, AL 9, and GA 20 was the gist of that HPC.  But I-22 has long since taken the air out of any such proposal -- along with MS' development of their portion of US 72 as a "twinned" facility lacking access control; the concept has been functionally shelved.   

Tom958

Quote from: capt.ron on January 10, 2017, 02:10:37 PM
I used to buy Rand McNally atlases and watched as US 72 was 4 laned northeast of Scottsboro in sections.

According to bridgereports.com, AL 35 over US 72 in Scottsboro was built in 1971, the rest of the bridges in and west of Scottsboro in 1975, AL 279 east of Scottsboro in 1986, and the last ones near the Tennessee line in 1997. All of the numbered state routes from Scottsboro to Tennessee have interchanges with 72, which is very unusual for Alabama. Or for most places, actually.

I drove that part of 72 within the past couple of years, and I found it both pleasant and impressive.



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