TN: Vintage View of 3-Lane US 41/64 on Monteagle Mountain

[Brian556]

Vintage View of 3-Lane US 41/64 on Monteagle Mountain.
This is where I-24 Eastbound is today. This original 3-lane road was restriped to be one way I-24 eastbound in the early 70's after the new westbound side was built. In the early-mid 80's, this side was closed and reconstructed to proper interstate standards.
This postcard was on ebay. Unfortunately I did not win it.

[RoadWarrior56]

I remember that old 3-lane section well from my childhood.  There were more trees and brush along the roadside when I rode it in the late 60's and beyond, but it was indeed two lanes westbound and one lane eastbound.

I have a YouTube posting of an old 8mm movie I took on Monteagle from 1976, that has that section when it was all one-way eastbound, several years before it was reconstructed.

[Brian556]

quote from RoadWarrior56:

I have a YouTube posting of an old 8mm movie I took on Monteagle from 1976

That is yours?
That is an awesome video, man! In the video, I noticed that the reassurance assembly had only US 41/64 on it with no mention of I-24. I'm wondering if that was an accidental omission (ie: they forgot to add it), or if it was intentional since this section didn't meet interstate standards at the time.

My family lives in Jasper, TN, which is close to Monteagle. We drove through there almost yearly (I was born in 1980).
I remember my father pointing out that this section was not up to interstate standards.

[ysuindy]

I remember that old 3-lane section well from my childhood.  There were more trees and brush along the roadside when I rode it in the late 60's and beyond, but it was indeed two lanes westbound and one lane eastbound.

I have a YouTube posting of an old 8mm movie I took on Monteagle from 1976, that has that section when it was all one-way eastbound, several years before it was reconstructed.

I remember that old 3-lane section well from my childhood.  There were more trees and brush along the roadside when I rode it in the late 60's and beyond, but it was indeed two lanes westbound and one lane eastbound.

I have a YouTube posting of an old 8mm movie I took on Monteagle from 1976, that has that section when it was all one-way eastbound, several years before it was reconstructed.

Can you post a link to your video?  I did a quick search and couldn't find it.

Thanks

[RoadWarrior56]

The video link to my YouTube video is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQ3RyvvP_wg

[ysuindy]

Thanks for the link.  That was neat to watch.  The downhill portion reminds me of the Pennsylvania Turnpike of the same era with the large parking areas on the side of the road.

I have had only one trip over Monteagle, Southbound sometime around 2000 to visit my now ex-in laws in Anniston.  We took 24 on the way down from Indy, came back through Birmingham.   I wish I had known the history of the road when I did drive it.

Thanks again for sharing the link.

[RoadWarrior56]

Here is some some history of this section of I-24 from an earlier post of mine from 2010. This gives a "Readers Digest" history of I-24 in this area from about 1968....................


Between 1968 and 1977, I rode on I-24 over Monteagle virtually every year from age 12 on.  Then in 1982, I moved to Atlanta and drove it even more.  Here is the history about what opened and when from '68 on.  In 1968 I-24 on the northern slope of Montagle was already open to traffic.  It presumably was constructed in the early 1960's.  On top of Monteagle, the four-lane I-24 transitioned to the old three-lane section of US 41/64 that went down the south slope.  Two lanes were westbound, for climbing traffic and one lane was eastbound down the mountain.  I recall the south slope being signed for both US 41/64 AND I-24.  At the south bottom of the mountain, the three-lane section widened back into I-24.  This situation lasted until sometime after the summer of 1972.

By the summer of 1973, the new westbound lanes were opened to traffic on the south slope, basically in their current configuration.  At that point, I-24 split the way it does now but with one difference.  The old three-lane US 41/64 section was restriped and resigned as a one-way facility going eastbound for I-24.  The old steep grade and substandard shoulders, etc remained as they were.  Only the signs and stripes were changed. This condition continued until about 1983.

As I recall from 1983 till late 1986 or early 1987, the three-lane westbound I-24 that had been constructed in the early 1970's was striped as a four-lane facility with a jersey barrier down the middle and using part of the existing paved shoulders.  All I-24 traffic used this side of the mountain while the eastbound side was totally rebuilt to modern interstate standards, complete with runaway truck ramps.  The grade now is much more gradual, and is a far safer ride.

[slorydn1]

Thanks for both the picture and the video. I just went through there this past Saturday (southbound) and man, how different it all looks now compared to the 80's when I would go there twice every year going from Chicago to Miami and back every Christmas break!