Road trip - Day Six - TN KY and home

[brianreynolds]

After my less-than-satisfying motel breakfast, loaded up and hit the road before daybreak.  I-140 to I-40 west into Cumberland County.  Paused for a rest stop at Crab Orchard.  My official Tennessee map showed a potential short-cut that I took advantage of.  On US-70 just west of the I-40 underpass (no interchange here) there is a local road to TN-68 to US-127.  I took advantage. 

US-127 south to Pikeville, and a hot breakfast at McDonalds.  Continued south on US-1257 to TN-8 northwest to McMinnville.  US-70S west to Woodbury.

At the west edge of Woodbury, CR-145 north.  This road features two noteworthy items.  One is a brief 11% grade, the other is a warning sign, a diamond-shaped yellow wildlife (?) crossing sign with the silhouette of a goat.  This is the first such sign I have ever seen.  Now, admittedly, I have seen similar signs with the silhouette of a cow, and, no, I don't imagine that it was wild cattle I was being warned about.  So, I presume that it is domesticated goats that presented the potential hazard.

East on TN-96 and US-70 to Sparta.  I had never noticed before that US-70 had two alternates, US-70S and US-70N.  Are there other places with multiple US-bannered alternates?

TN-111 north to the state line.  This happens almost every long county-collecting road trip.  As the trip progresses, and I am paying less attention to detail, I have an easy opportunity to collect a county, and drive right on by.  With a short diversion down TN-325, I could have added Fentress County to my collection.  Oh well.

US-127 north from the state line to Albany.  Construction is underway to replace the existing road with a divided highway along a new-terrain alignment.  After traveling the current road, I can easily see the need.  The new road will by-pass Albany, reconnect with existing US-127 just west of town.

Took KY-1590 and KY-90 to Burkesville, then KY-61 north to Greensburg.  KY-61 is apparently on a new alignment west of and roughly parallel with the old road.  The reason I say this is because the Garmin must be working with old maps.  The graphic showed the vehicle traveling off-road, but parallel with the road.

From Greensburg, US-68 to Lebanon, KY-55 and KY-155 north from there to I-265.  Another instance of apparently outdated data occurred at Springfield.  I missed the turn to stay on KY-55, but it was easy to correct north of town.  Took the US-150 by-pass west to reconnect.  This by-pass is newer than the Garmin's internal maps.  As I traveled along US-150, the Garmin had no idea what road this was.

Got into the Louisville area just in time for the worst of the afternoon rush.  It was awful.  Once on the north side of the river, it was a focused high-speed beeline for home.

[hbelkins]

US-127 north from the state line to Albany.  Construction is underway to replace the existing road with a divided highway along a new-terrain alignment.  After traveling the current road, I can easily see the need.  The new road will by-pass Albany, reconnect with existing US-127 just west of town.

Took KY-1590 and KY-90 to Burkesville, then KY-61 north to Greensburg.  KY-61 is apparently on a new alignment west of and roughly parallel with the old road.  The reason I say this is because the Garmin must be working with old maps.  The graphic showed the vehicle traveling off-road, but parallel with the road.

From Greensburg, US-68 to Lebanon, KY-55 and KY-155 north from there to I-265.  Another instance of apparently outdated data occurred at Springfield.  I missed the turn to stay on KY-55, but it was easy to correct north of town.  Took the US-150 by-pass west to reconnect.  This by-pass is newer than the Garmin's internal maps.  As I traveled along US-150, the Garmin had no idea what road this was.

Got into the Louisville area just in time for the worst of the afternoon rush.  It was awful.  Once on the north side of the river, it was a focused high-speed beeline for home.

Yes, US 127 is being reconstructed in the Albany region. About half the bypass was open last May when I was last there. Don't know how far along they are on the southern leg.

KY 61 is pretty much newly-built between Burkesville and Columbia, as is KY 61-Cumberland Parkway interchange as well as the KY 55 bypass of Columbia. The portion on to Greensburg is not as modern but it's not a bad route.

US 68 is of much more recent vintage, and the KY 55 bypass of Lebanon is fairly new (I think the route carries a four-digit state number but it functions as a KY 55 bypass). The KY 55 intersection with KY 555 and the old US 150 route is oddly-configured. It used to be that you turned left at the traffic light, onto westbound US 150, then immediately right onto KY 55 to continue northward. KY 555 is the through route north to the Bluegrass Parkway. The US 150 bypass west of KY 555 is fairly new. I think it opened early last year. Of interest on that route is the concrete pavement.

KY 55 is a typical older route from Lebanon to Taylorsville. A faster route would have been to continue north on KY 555. It's been extended north of the Bluegrass Parkway. The through route continues as US 62 east and KY 248 north, which connects to KY 44 near Taylorsville Lake and then KY 55 at Taylorsville. From there you could have continued north on 155 into Louisville.

[A.J. Bertin]

Brian - I thoroughly enjoyed reading about your trip and was often looking at Google Maps to see what you were referencing throughout your journey. Thanks for sharing!!! 

I'm jealous; I want to take a similar multi-day road trip like that by myself one day. 

[djsinco]

This is a nice part of the country for meandering, thanks for sharing.
However, in my experience, Kentucky is my lowest-rated state for reasonably marking state and county highways and confirming destinations. I have gone off track (notably) more than a couple of times in rural Kentucky. OTOH, how could you not love the randomness of the "AA" Highway (now re-designated?)

[NE2]

OTOH, how could you not love the randomness of the "AA" Highway (now re-designated?)

Redesignated? As what?

[hbelkins]

Either the "John Y. Brown Jr. AA Highway," or KY 9 and KY 10 instead of the original numbers it carried, is what he means, I'm sure.

[djsinco]

Either the "John Y. Brown Jr. AA Highway," or KY 9 and KY 10 instead of the original numbers it carried, is what he means, I'm sure.

Correct on both counts - the last time I drove the AA (about 2005 or 2006,) it looked like "improvements" were coming...

[hbelkins]

Either the "John Y. Brown Jr. AA Highway," or KY 9 and KY 10 instead of the original numbers it carried, is what he means, I'm sure.

Correct on both counts - the last time I drove the AA (about 2005 or 2006,) it looked like "improvements" were coming...

I drove from NKY to Maysville last year, and from Greenup to Maysville last month. Only improvements that I know of that have been made are the interchange at new US 68 and a traffic light at KY 57. I haven't been on the Grayson Spur (KY 9 southeast of Vanceburg) in many years so I can't speak to what may have been done on it.

[djsinco]

hbelkins -- thanks for the update. I have a cousin in Florence, perhaps I will someday traverse the AA again.