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Kentucky to Lebanon, Tenn.

Started by hbelkins, March 31, 2014, 03:21:16 PM

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hbelkins

Following Brandon's lead, I'll post a trip report on my brief jaunt down to Lebanon, Tenn. for the meet this past weekend.

I took my typical route to London, Ky. from home, except I used a county route (Big Barn Road) and KY 1431 in Jackson County instead of KY 30 to get to Tyner. It looks like the new section of KY 30 between Tyner and the existing reconstruction in Annville will open as soon as the final layer of pavement can be applied and the turn lanes on US 421 can be paved.

Gas was $3.399 at the Speedway in London (just south of KY 80/Hal Rogers Parkway on US 25) and with a 3-cent discount with my Speedy Rewards card, I got it for $3.369. It was $3.759 here at home and $3.599 in Somerset.

KY 80 is still lightly-traveled to the point where a four-lane upgrade to I-66 seems unnecessary to me. I think they should complete the northern Somerset bypass because now, going straight to hit the Cumberland Parkway is impossible, but after that, the existing KY 80 serves the purpose just fine.

Took the Somerset Bypass (KY 914) and noticed early progress on the design-build project to widen the portion from KY 80 to KY 1247 to four lanes. Then I took the bypass of the bypass (KY 1247) to connect with KY 90 at Burnside, south of Somerset.

The US 127 relocation between Albany and the state line is complete except for one portion that requires final paving. The intersection of US 127 and TN 111 is now just inside the Kentucky state line but is fully signed as TN 111. The through route is now 127 to 111 and to stay on 127 requires a 90-degree turn. It's interesting that you encounter TN 111 signage in Kentucky, then KY 1076 signage in Tennessee. The 127/1076 intersection is just a bit south of the state line.

There are still a few mile markers along TN 111 that are left over from the days when the route was TN 42.

I hopped on I-40 at Cookeville, then got off at TN 56 at Baxter. I wanted to drive across US 70N, which I had done about 15 years ago, and also wanted to get away from the heavy traffic on I-40. There's one truss bridge being replaced on 70N and another still in use.

Pulled into Lebanon and apparently ended up at the same hotel as Steve Alpert and the infamous "necromancer" from MTR, but I had something to do on Friday night that precluded socializing -- watching UK beat Louisville.

It was raining Saturday morning so I didn't drive around Lebanon as I had planned. Instead I slept in, as the restaurant was visible from my motel room.

I stayed on the tour up until the new Cumberland River bridge at Gallatin. The rest of the crew was going to have a late evening and I had seen everything they were going to see (except the Natchez Trace Parkway bridge) so I lagged behind going down TN 109 to I-40. I made a quick run over to Mt. Juliet to visit the Ross store (my wife loves that store and we have none nearby). That's a rather large development adjacent to I-40 with a huge shopping area.

I had secured a free motel room for Saturday night in Danville, so I let my GPS route me to Glasgow. It took me back up TN 109 and around Airport Road to US 31E. I've driven 31E (and 231) in that area few times, but I wanted to check out the new US 68 bypass north of Glasgow. I don't see why this road was necessary. A decent bypass already exists by using US 31E and the Cumberland Parkway, and indeed that has been signed as Truck US 68 and Truck KY 90 for years. The new exit east of town and the connector to US 68 would have sufficed for a US 68 bypass.

From there, it was east on the Cumberland Parkway in a pouring rain and steadily decreasing temperatures to US 127, then north to Danville, where I arrived after dark. Nothing really new to report for that leg of the trip.


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