111-638: The Interstate Highways in Tennessee are those parts of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways owned and maintained by the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) the US state of Tennessee . Currently the state has 1,233 miles (1,984 km) of Interstate Highways. Tennessee's Interstate Highways are designated as the " Senator Albert Gore Sr. Memorial Interstate System" after
222-522: A concurrency or overlap. For example, I‑75 and I‑85 share the same roadway in Atlanta ; this 7.4-mile (11.9 km) section, called the Downtown Connector , is labeled both I‑75 and I‑85. Concurrencies between Interstate and US Highway numbers are also allowed in accordance with AASHTO policy, as long as the length of the concurrency is reasonable. In rare instances, two highway designations sharing
333-637: A 28-year-old brevet lieutenant colonel, accompanied the trip "through darkest America with truck and tank," as he later described it. Some roads in the West were a "succession of dust, ruts, pits, and holes." As the landmark 1916 law expired, new legislation was passed—the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 (Phipps Act). This new road construction initiative once again provided for federal matching funds for road construction and improvement, $ 75 million allocated annually. Moreover, this new legislation for
444-484: A U.S. Senator from Tennessee who sponsored the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 that created the Interstate Highway System. Tennessee contains a total of 1,233 miles (1,984 km) of interstate highways, all of which are maintained by the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT). Tennessee's interstate system is designated as the " Senator Albert Gore Sr. Memorial Interstate System." Albert Gore Sr.
555-476: A change in the numbering system as a result of a new policy adopted in 1973. Previously, letter-suffixed numbers were used for long spurs off primary routes; for example, western I‑84 was I‑80N, as it went north from I‑80 . The new policy stated, "No new divided numbers (such as I-35W and I-35E , etc.) shall be adopted." The new policy also recommended that existing divided numbers be eliminated as quickly as possible; however, an I-35W and I-35E still exist in
666-562: A final Norfolk Southern rail line before reaching its terminus at a half diamond interchange with SR 33 (Old Knoxville Highway) near the Eagleton Village community. This interchange is graded to allow future extension of the parkway. When Oak Ridge was established by the federal government in 1942 for the uranium enrichment operations of the Manhattan Project , SR 62 became the main route between Oak Ridge and Knoxville. After
777-517: A length of 11.17 miles (17.98 km) from the junction with I-40 and I-75 to US 129 in Alcoa. The southern segment of SR 162 begins at US 129 and runs 2.74 miles (4.41 km) to SR 33 within Alcoa. The entire highway is a part of the National Highway System . The northernmost 4.6 miles (7.4 km) of the parkway is a four-lane limited-access highway , and the remainder
888-580: A national road grid with the passage of the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 . In 1926, the United States Numbered Highway System was established, creating the first national road numbering system for cross-country travel. The roads were state-funded and maintained, and there were few national standards for road design. United States Numbered Highways ranged from two-lane country roads to multi-lane freeways. After Dwight D. Eisenhower became president in 1953, his administration developed
999-680: A new four-lane controlled-access highway to the Interstate, including a new bridge over the Clinch River. During the planning phase, a decision was made to have the route terminate with SR 62 at Solway. The new bridge over the Clinch River would then replace the two-lane bridge on SR 62 in a separate project. The route's alignment was approved on January 25, 1967, by the Knoxville-Knox County Highway Coordinating Committee, which allowed for it to be budgeted by
1110-591: A number of science and technology firms. The central portion of the Pellissippi Parkway is included in the Interstate Highway System and is designated Interstate 140 ( I-140 ), while the remainder is designated as State Route 162 ( SR 162 ). The entire highway is part of the National Highway System , a national network of roads identified as important to the national economy, defense, and mobility. It takes its name from an older name for
1221-576: A numbering scheme in which primary Interstates are assigned one- or two-digit numbers, and shorter routes which branch off of longer ones are assigned three-digit numbers where the last two digits match the parent route. The Interstate Highway System is partially financed through the Highway Trust Fund , which itself is funded by a combination of a federal fuel tax and transfers from the Treasury's general fund. Though federal legislation initially banned
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#17330926953301332-481: A proposal for an interstate highway system, eventually resulting in the enactment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 . Unlike the earlier United States Numbered Highway System, the interstates were designed to be all freeways, with nationally unified standards for construction and signage. While some older freeways were adopted into the system, most of the routes were completely new. In dense urban areas,
1443-472: A report called Toll Roads and Free Roads , "the first formal description of what became the Interstate Highway System" and, in 1944, the similarly themed Interregional Highways . The Interstate Highway System gained a champion in President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was influenced by his experiences as a young Army officer crossing the country in the 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy that drove in part on
1554-670: A shopping center. A few miles later the Pellissippi Parkway veers south onto a peninsula within Toole's Bend, a bend of the Tennessee River, then curves southeast and crosses the Fort Loudoun Lake impoundment of the river, which forms the Knox–Blount County line, on the Lt. Alexander "Sandy" Bonnyman Memorial Bridge . On the east side of the river, the highway enters the northern outskirts of
1665-409: A single digit prefixed to the two-digit number of its parent Interstate Highway. Spur routes deviate from their parent and do not return; these are given an odd first digit. Circumferential and radial loop routes return to the parent, and are given an even first digit. Unlike primary Interstates, three-digit Interstates are signed as either east–west or north–south, depending on the general orientation of
1776-769: A speed limit of 45 mph (70 km/h) because it is a parkway that consists of only one lane per side of the highway. On the other hand, Interstates 15, 80, 84, and 215 in Utah have speed limits as high as 70 mph (115 km/h) within the Wasatch Front , Cedar City , and St. George areas, and I-25 in New Mexico within the Santa Fe and Las Vegas areas along with I-20 in Texas along Odessa and Midland and I-29 in North Dakota along
1887-456: A speed limit of 80 mph (130 km/h). Other Interstates in Idaho, Montana, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming also have the same high speed limits. In some areas, speed limits on Interstates can be significantly lower in areas where they traverse significantly hazardous areas. The maximum speed limit on I-90 is 50 mph (80 km/h) in downtown Cleveland because of two sharp curves with
1998-467: A suggested limit of 35 mph (55 km/h) in a heavily congested area; I-70 through Wheeling, West Virginia , has a maximum speed limit of 45 mph (70 km/h) through the Wheeling Tunnel and most of downtown Wheeling; and I-68 has a maximum speed limit of 40 mph (65 km/h) through Cumberland, Maryland , because of multiple hazards including sharp curves and narrow lanes through
2109-607: Is I-55 , at a length of 12.28 miles (19.76 km) in Memphis. The longest auxiliary interstate highway in Tennessee is I-840 , an outer southern bypass around Nashville, at a length of 77.28 miles (124.37 km). The shortest interstate highway in Tennessee is the 1.97 miles (3.17 km) I-124 in Chattanooga, which is unsigned; the shortest signed interstate highway is I-275 in Knoxville, at 2.98 miles (4.80 km) long. Tennessee
2220-481: Is a controlled-access highway . Running in a diagonal southeast–northwest alignment, the I-140 stretch is signed as an east–west route, and both SR 162 sections are signed as north–south. In 2022, annual average daily traffic volumes ranged from 69,195 vehicles north of I-40/I-75 to 14,905 vehicles at the eastern terminus. The Pellissippi Parkway begins at a directional interchange with SR 62 (Oak Ridge Highway) at
2331-655: Is a major highway in Knox and Blount counties in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Tennessee that extends 19.75 miles (31.78 km) from State Route 62 at Solway to SR 33 in Alcoa . It provides access to the cities of Oak Ridge and Maryville from Interstates 40 and 75 in the western part of Knoxville and also serves a major corridor that includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory , Y-12 National Security Complex , and
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#17330926953302442-534: Is also commonly believed the Interstate Highway System was built for the sole purpose of evacuating cities in the event of nuclear warfare . While military motivations were present, the primary motivations were civilian. The numbering scheme for the Interstate Highway System was developed in 1957 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). The association's present numbering policy dates back to August 10, 1973. Within
2553-572: Is currently planned to be extended approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) to US 321 . This plan has been the subject of intense community opposition from locals, however, and has been repeatedly delayed as a result. The Pellissippi Parkway comprises I-140 and two sections of SR 162 that seamlessly extend from either end of the Interstate Highway segment. The northern segment of SR 162 runs 5.84 miles (9.40 km) from SR 62 at Solway south to I-40 and I-75 in Knoxville . I-140 has
2664-472: Is to have the highway route extend from Tamaulipas , Mexico to Ontario , Canada. The planned I-11 will then bridge the Interstate gap between Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada , and thus form part of the CANAMEX Corridor (along with I-19 , and portions of I-10 and I-15 ) between Sonora , Mexico and Alberta , Canada. Political opposition from residents canceled many freeway projects around
2775-530: The Clinch River of Native American origin. The Pellissippi Parkway was initially constructed between I-40/I-75 and Solway from 1970 to 1973 in order to improve access between Knoxville and Oak Ridge. A proposal to extend the highway to US 129 arose while the initial section was under construction, and this occurred in multiple segments between 1987 and 1996. The parkway was extended to its current eastern terminus in two sections, which opened in 1996 and 2005, and
2886-474: The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex in Texas, and an I-35W and I-35E that run through Minneapolis and Saint Paul , Minnesota, still exist. Additionally, due to Congressional requirements, three sections of I-69 in southern Texas will be divided into I-69W , I-69E , and I-69C (for Central). AASHTO policy allows dual numbering to provide continuity between major control points. This is referred to as
2997-538: The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 into law. Under the act, the federal government would pay for 90 percent of the cost of construction of Interstate Highways. Each Interstate Highway was required to be a freeway with at least four lanes and no at-grade crossings. The publication in 1955 of the General Location of National System of Interstate Highways , informally known as the Yellow Book , mapped out what became
3108-538: The Grand Forks area have higher speed limits of 75 mph (120 km/h). As one of the components of the National Highway System , Interstate Highways improve the mobility of military troops to and from airports, seaports, rail terminals, and other military bases. Interstate Highways also connect to other roads that are a part of the Strategic Highway Network , a system of roads identified as critical to
3219-760: The Interstate Highway System , or the Eisenhower Interstate System , is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States . The system extends throughout the contiguous United States and has routes in Hawaii , Alaska , and Puerto Rico . In the 20th century, the United States Congress began funding roadways through the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 , and started an effort to construct
3330-515: The Lincoln Highway , the first road across America. He recalled that, "The old convoy had started me thinking about good two-lane highways... the wisdom of broader ribbons across our land." Eisenhower also gained an appreciation of the Reichsautobahn system, the first "national" implementation of modern Germany's Autobahn network, as a necessary component of a national defense system while he
3441-514: The Tennessee River . The parkway crosses a Norfolk Southern Railway line and the Sinking Creek arm of Fort Loudon Lake ahead of its diamond interchange with Westland Drive. A short distance later, the freeway curves east within a diamond interchange with SR 332 (Northshore Drive); the interchange includes a ramp from the eastbound parkway to Town Center Boulevard, providing access to
List of Interstate Highways in Tennessee - Misplaced Pages Continue
3552-499: The US Department of Defense . The system has also been used to facilitate evacuations in the face of hurricanes and other natural disasters. An option for maximizing traffic throughput on a highway is to reverse the flow of traffic on one side of a divider so that all lanes become outbound lanes. This procedure, known as contraflow lane reversal , has been employed several times for hurricane evacuations. After public outcry regarding
3663-464: The US Highways , which increase from east to west and north to south). This numbering system usually holds true even if the local direction of the route does not match the compass directions. Numbers divisible by five are intended to be major arteries among the primary routes, carrying traffic long distances. Primary north–south Interstates increase in number from I-5 between Canada and Mexico along
3774-541: The West Coast to I‑95 between Canada and Miami, Florida along the East Coast . Major west–east arterial Interstates increase in number from I-10 between Santa Monica, California , and Jacksonville, Florida , to I-90 between Seattle, Washington , and Boston, Massachusetts , with two exceptions. There are no I-50 and I-60, as routes with those numbers would likely pass through states that currently have US Highways with
3885-794: The 1.1-mile (1.8 km) segment between US 129 and Cusick Road, was contracted in December 1995 and opened on December 19, 1996, and was partially funded by the city of Alcoa. Work on the next section, located between Cusick Road and SR 33, began in November 2000 and was completed on August 15, 2005. The final section is a proposed 4.4-mile (7.1 km) extension past SR 33 to US 321, which would include an interchange with US 411 . This final section has been met with much controversy and opposition from locals, causing multiple delays, redesigns, and court reviews. In 1999, TDOT conducted an environmental assessment to evaluate alternatives to
3996-559: The Congress Hotel in Chicago. In the plan, Mehren proposed a 50,000-mile (80,000 km) system, consisting of five east–west routes and 10 north–south routes. The system would include two percent of all roads and would pass through every state at a cost of $ 25,000 per mile ($ 16,000/km), providing commercial as well as military transport benefits. In 1919, the US Army sent an expedition across
4107-712: The FHWA notified TDOT that they were withdrawing the FONSI, but this action was blocked by the District Court on October 1, due to TDOT's intent to proceed with the project without federal funding. On July 7, 2004, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the District Court's ruling and modified the injunction one month later to allow TDOT to prepare an environmental impact statement. On September 27, 2004, TDOT announced plans to do so. The draft environmental impact statement
4218-599: The FONSI violated provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act that require an environmental impact statement . On June 22, the FHWA informed TDOT of an intent to suspend federal funding for the extension in response to the lawsuit. On July 17, Judge Todd J. Campbell of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee issued an injunction against TDOT, prohibiting them from proceeding with construction activities. On August 29,
4329-506: The Interstate Highway System. Assisting in the planning was Charles Erwin Wilson , who was still head of General Motors when President Eisenhower selected him as Secretary of Defense in January 1953. Some sections of highways that became part of the Interstate Highway System actually began construction earlier. Three states have claimed the title of first Interstate Highway. Missouri claims that
4440-424: The Interstate Highway program. The Interstates of Alaska and Puerto Rico are numbered sequentially in order of funding without regard to the rules on odd and even numbers. They also carry the prefixes A and PR , respectively. However, these highways are signed according to their local designations, not their Interstate Highway numbers. Furthermore, these routes were neither planned according to nor constructed to
4551-602: The Tennessee Department of Highways, the predecessor agency to the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), to construct the route as a fully controlled-access highway, but they chose a limited-access design that incorporated both interchanges and at-grade intersections. Work on the first section, located between I-40/I-75 and Hardin Valley Road, began in June ;1970 and was completed in late 1972. This section
List of Interstate Highways in Tennessee - Misplaced Pages Continue
4662-486: The Tennessee General Assembly passed a resolution authorizing TDOT to study the possibility of extending the route to US 129. Environmental reviews and location studies began in late 1980, and the first public hearings were held in January 1981. Then-Governor Lamar Alexander included the extension as part of a plan to develop a science and technology corridor in the region in the early 1980s. The extension
4773-775: The US to determine the difficulties that military vehicles would have on a cross-country trip. Leaving from the Ellipse near the White House on July 7, the Motor Transport Corps convoy needed 62 days to drive 3,200 miles (5,100 km) on the Lincoln Highway to the Presidio of San Francisco along the Golden Gate . The convoy suffered many setbacks and problems on the route, such as poor-quality bridges, broken crankshafts, and engines clogged with desert sand. Dwight Eisenhower , then
4884-759: The United States, including: In addition to cancellations, removals of freeways are planned: The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has defined a set of standards that all new Interstates must meet unless a waiver from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is obtained. One almost absolute standard is the controlled access nature of the roads. With few exceptions , traffic lights (and cross traffic in general) are limited to toll booths and ramp meters (metered flow control for lane merging during rush hour ). Being freeways , Interstate Highways usually have
4995-473: The act was signed, and paving started September 26, 1956. The state marked its portion of I-70 as the first project in the United States completed under the provisions of the new Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. The Pennsylvania Turnpike could also be considered one of the first Interstate Highways, and is nicknamed "Grandfather of the Interstate System". On October 1, 1940, 162 miles (261 km) of
5106-411: The at-grade intersection. As part of this project, the flyover ramp from the southbound lanes of the parkway was rebuilt, nearby frontage roads were modified, the at-grade intersection with Dutchtown Road was converted into an interchange, and the nearby Mabry Hood Road interchange on I-40/75 was removed. Although the initial plan was to extend the Pellissippi Parkway to US 129, a concept for extending
5217-519: The bridge over the Tennessee River was dedicated as the Alexander "Sandy" Bonnyman Medal of Honor Memorial Bridge in honor of a United States Marine Corps officer who was killed in action in the Battle of Tarawa during World War II . Between December 2, 2009, and June 30, 2010, the southbound on-ramp from SR 131 was lengthened and straightened, which required closing the ramp to all traffic and widening of
5328-648: The cancellation of the Somerset Freeway . This situation was remedied when the construction of the Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project started in 2010 and partially opened on September 22, 2018, which was already enough to fill the gap. However, I-70 remains discontinuous in Pennsylvania , because of the lack of a direct interchange with the Pennsylvania Turnpike at
5439-406: The choice of routing destroyed many well-established neighborhoods, often intentionally as part of a program of " urban renewal ". In the two decades following the 1956 Highway Act, the construction of the freeways displaced one million people, and as a result of the many freeway revolts during this era, several planned Interstates were abandoned or re-routed to avoid urban cores. Construction of
5550-412: The city of Alcoa, within which it remains to its eastern end. The freeway has a diamond interchange with SR 333 (Topside Road) and crosses a CSX rail line. The Pellissippi Parkway then curves southeast through a cloverleaf interchange with US 129 (Alcoa Highway) north of McGhee Tyson Airport . The freeway then has a southbound-only exit and northbound-only entrance with Cusick Road and crosses
5661-650: The city. In some locations, low speed limits are the result of lawsuits and resident demands; after holding up the completion of I-35E in St. Paul, Minnesota , for nearly 30 years in the courts, residents along the stretch of the freeway from the southern city limit to downtown successfully lobbied for a 45 mph (70 km/h) speed limit in addition to a prohibition on any vehicle weighing more than 9,000 pounds (4,100 kg) gross vehicle weight . I-93 in Franconia Notch State Park in northern New Hampshire has
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#17330926953305772-401: The collection of tolls, some Interstate routes are toll roads , either because they were grandfathered into the system or because subsequent legislation has allowed for tolling of Interstates in some cases. As of 2022 , about one quarter of all vehicle miles driven in the country used the Interstate Highway System, which has a total length of 48,890 miles (78,680 km). In 2022 and 2023,
5883-490: The completion of the adjoining section of I-40/I-75 in 1961, Oak Ridge officials began pushing for a connector route to the Interstate to improve access between Oak Ridge and Knoxville, citing inadequacies in the two-lane stretch of SR 62. On December 2, 1965, a delegation of Oak Ridge residents met with the Knox County Highway Technical Advisory Committee and presented their proposal for
5994-431: The construction and improvement of highways. The nation's revenue needs associated with World War I prevented any significant implementation of this policy, which expired in 1921. In December 1918, E. J. Mehren, a civil engineer and the editor of Engineering News-Record , presented his "A Suggested National Highway Policy and Plan" during a gathering of the State Highway Officials and Highway Industries Association at
6105-407: The contiguous United States, primary Interstates—also called main line Interstates or two-digit Interstates—are assigned numbers less than 100. While numerous exceptions do exist, there is a general scheme for numbering Interstates. Primary Interstates are assigned one- or two-digit numbers, while shorter routes (such as spurs, loops, and short connecting roads) are assigned three-digit numbers where
6216-415: The controlled-access section begins at a partial cloverleaf interchange with Dutchtown Road. Here, the Pellissippi Parkway enters the western end of the city of Knoxville and is paralleled on both sides by frontage roads south for about one mile (1.6 km) to a large interchange with I-40 and I-75. This interchange is a near-complete cloverleaf interchange , with three loop ramps and a flyover ramp from
6327-567: The discontinuity, but they have been blocked by local opposition, fearing a loss of business. The Interstate Highway System has been expanded numerous times. The expansions have both created new designations and extended existing designations. For example, I-49 , added to the system in the 1980s as a freeway in Louisiana , was designated as an expansion corridor, and FHWA approved the expanded route north from Lafayette, Louisiana , to Kansas City, Missouri . The freeway exists today as separate completed segments, with segments under construction or in
6438-448: The dissemination of public information. As a result, the 2005 evacuation of New Orleans, Louisiana, prior to Hurricane Katrina ran much more smoothly. According to urban legend , early regulations required that one out of every five miles of the Interstate Highway System must be built straight and flat, so as to be usable by aircraft during times of war. There is no evidence of this rule being included in any Interstate legislation. It
6549-610: The east end of the unincorporated community of Solway in western Knox County. This is on the east side of the Clinch River a short distance from Oak Ridge. Here, there is no direct access from westbound SR 62 to the parkway. The parkway then heads southeast as a limited-access four-lane divided highway. It crosses Beaver Creek and has a five-ramp partial cloverleaf interchange with Hardin Valley Road, which provides access to Pellissippi State Community College . The Pellissippi Parkway then has another partial cloverleaf interchange with SR 131 (Lovell Road). A short distance later,
6660-445: The eastern end of the concurrency near Breezewood . Traveling in either direction, I-70 traffic must exit the freeway and use a short stretch of US 30 (which includes a number of roadside services) to rejoin I-70. The interchange was not originally built because of a legacy federal funding rule, since relaxed, which restricted the use of federal funds to improve roads financed with tolls. Solutions have been proposed to eliminate
6771-450: The economy. Not just as a public works measure, but for future growth. Clay's committee proposed a 10-year, $ 100 billion program ($ 1.13 trillion in 2023), which would build 40,000 miles (64,000 km) of divided highways linking all American cities with a population of greater than 50,000. Eisenhower initially preferred a system consisting of toll roads , but Clay convinced Eisenhower that toll roads were not feasible outside of
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#17330926953306882-439: The existing, largely non-freeway, United States Numbered Highways system. By the late 1930s, planning had expanded to a system of new superhighways. In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave Thomas MacDonald , chief at the Bureau of Public Roads, a hand-drawn map of the United States marked with eight superhighway corridors for study. In 1939, Bureau of Public Roads Division of Information chief Herbert S. Fairbank wrote
6993-438: The extension began in January 1987, with work on the Tennessee River bridge piers. The bridge was completed in the autumn of 1989 but not opened to traffic; as a result, it faced multiple acts of trespassing and vandalism afterwards. The short segment between Wrights Ferry Road and the Tennessee River was let in May 1988 and completed in August 1990 but also not opened to traffic. In December 1989, construction began on
7104-439: The extension had been proposed since before his Governorship began. On December 21, 1984, the alignment for the extension was selected using a combination of two of the four proposed routings. This route had been determined to circumvent all dangerous sinkholes and caves and was judged to have the least detrimental environmental impact. The final environmental impact statement was approved on September 25, 1985, and funding for
7215-433: The extension was authorized under the Better Roads Program of 1986, an initiative by Alexander to fund a backlog of needed road projects throughout the state. The extension was one of six freeway projects under this program, dubbed "Bicentennial Parkways", and was initially expected to cost $ 151.7 million (equivalent to $ 358 million in 2023 ). The program also proposed that the extension be numbered Interstate 140, which
7326-426: The federal government, Interstate Highways are owned by the state in which they were built. With few exceptions , all Interstates must meet specific standards , such as having controlled access, physical barriers or median strips between lanes of oncoming traffic, breakdown lanes , avoiding at-grade intersections , no traffic lights , and complying with federal traffic sign specifications. Interstate Highways use
7437-411: The first three contracts under the new program were signed in Missouri on August 2, 1956. The first contract signed was for upgrading a section of US Route 66 to what is now designated Interstate 44 . On August 13, 1956, work began on US 40 (now I-70) in St. Charles County. Kansas claims that it was the first to start paving after the act was signed. Preliminary construction had taken place before
7548-429: The first time sought to target these funds to the construction of a national road grid of interconnected "primary highways", setting up cooperation among the various state highway planning boards. The Bureau of Public Roads asked the Army to provide a list of roads that it considered necessary for national defense. In 1922, General John J. Pershing , former head of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during
7659-402: The following year, the extension began to be listed as a long-term plan and was first added to the Knoxville Regional Transportation Planning Organization's long-range transportation plan in 1995. After the completion of the stretch to US 129, Alcoa officials began lobbying for the extension to US 321, arguing that the eastern terminus had become a bottleneck. The first stretch of this extension,
7770-429: The highest speed limits in a given area. Speed limits are determined by individual states. From 1975 to 1986, the maximum speed limit on any highway in the United States was 55 miles per hour (90 km/h), in accordance with federal law. Typically, lower limits are established in Northeastern and coastal states, while higher speed limits are established in inland states west of the Mississippi River . For example,
7881-435: The highly populated coastal regions. In February 1955, Eisenhower forwarded Clay's proposal to Congress. The bill quickly won approval in the Senate, but House Democrats objected to the use of public bonds as the means to finance construction. Eisenhower and the House Democrats agreed to instead finance the system through the Highway Trust Fund , which itself would be funded by a gasoline tax. In June 1956, Eisenhower signed
7992-607: The highway now designated I‑70 and I‑76 opened between Irwin and Carlisle . The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania refers to the turnpike as the Granddaddy of the Pikes, a reference to turnpikes . Milestones in the construction of the Interstate Highway System include: The initial cost estimate for the system was $ 25 billion over 12 years; it ended up costing $ 114 billion (equivalent to $ 425 billion in 2006 or $ 618 billion in 2023 ) and took 35 years. The system
8103-454: The inefficiency of evacuating from southern Louisiana prior to Hurricane Georges ' landfall in September 1998, government officials looked towards contraflow to improve evacuation times. In Savannah, Georgia , and Charleston, South Carolina , in 1999, lanes of I-16 and I-26 were used in a contraflow configuration in anticipation of Hurricane Floyd with mixed results. In 2004, contraflow
8214-431: The last two digits match the parent route (thus, I-294 is a loop that connects at both ends to I-94 , while I-787 is a short spur route attached to I-87 ). In the numbering scheme for the primary routes, east–west highways are assigned even numbers and north–south highways are assigned odd numbers. Odd route numbers increase from west to east, and even-numbered routes increase from south to north (to avoid confusion with
8325-450: The mainline. Some auxiliary highways do not follow these guidelines, however. The Interstate Highway System also extends to Alaska , Hawaii , and Puerto Rico , even though they have no direct land connections to any other states or territories. However, their residents still pay federal fuel and tire taxes. The Interstates in Hawaii, all located on the most populous island of Oahu , carry
8436-737: The maximum speed limit is 75 mph (120 km/h) in northern Maine, varies between 50 and 70 mph (80 and 115 km/h) from southern Maine to New Jersey, and is 50 mph (80 km/h) in New York City and the District of Columbia. Currently, rural speed limits elsewhere generally range from 65 to 80 miles per hour (105 to 130 km/h). Several portions of various highways such as I-10 and I-20 in rural western Texas, I-80 in Nevada between Fernley and Winnemucca (except around Lovelock) and portions of I-15 , I-70 , I-80 , and I-84 in Utah have
8547-404: The number of fatalities on the Interstate Highway System amounted to more than 5,000 people annually, with nearly 5,600 fatalities in 2022. The United States government's efforts to construct a national network of highways began on an ad hoc basis with the passage of the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 , which provided $ 75 million over a five-year period for matching funds to the states for
8658-433: The official Interstate Highway standards . On one- or two-digit Interstates, the mile marker numbering almost always begins at the southern or western state line. If an Interstate originates within a state, the numbering begins from the location where the road begins in the south or west. As with all guidelines for Interstate routes, however, numerous exceptions exist. Pellissippi Parkway The Pellissippi Parkway
8769-561: The original Interstate Highway System was proclaimed complete in 1992, despite deviations from the original 1956 plan and several stretches that did not fully conform with federal standards . The construction of the Interstate Highway System cost approximately $ 114 billion (equivalent to $ 618 billion in 2023). The system has continued to expand and grow as additional federal funding has provided for new routes to be added, and many future Interstate Highways are currently either being planned or under construction. Though heavily funded by
8880-424: The overpass, removing a hazardous accident-prone merge with the parkway. In June 2020, work began to modify the interchange with Hardin Valley Road by lengthening and straightening the ramps, adding turn lanes to the ramps, removing an intersection with the northbound ramps, placing a concrete island between the on- and off-ramps, and adding a new northbound entrance ramp from Hardin Valley Road westbound. The project
8991-586: The planning phase between them. In 1966, the FHWA designated the entire Interstate Highway System as part of the larger Pan-American Highway System, and at least two proposed Interstate expansions were initiated to help trade with Canada and Mexico spurred by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Long-term plans for I-69 , which currently exists in several separate completed segments (the largest of which are in Indiana and Texas ),
9102-411: The prefix H . There are three one-digit routes in the state ( H-1 , H-2 , and H-3 ) and one auxiliary route ( H-201 ). These Interstates connect several military and naval bases together, as well as the important communities spread across Oahu, and especially within the urban core of Honolulu . Both Alaska and Puerto Rico also have public highways that receive 90 percent of their funding from
9213-489: The project. On April 24, 2002, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a " finding of no significant impact " (FONSI), which would have allowed TDOT to proceed with the project. On June 7, 2002, a group of local citizens, who had reorganized Citizens Against the Pellissippi Parkway Extension (CAPPE), filed a lawsuit against TDOT, the FHWA, and the U.S. Department of Transportation , arguing that
9324-436: The roadbed would likely be plagued by geological problems due to large numbers of sinkholes and unstable geological formations in the area. In addition, some critics alleged that Alexander, who is from Maryville, was pushing the extension for his personal financial benefit, citing land he co-owned nearby. Alexander denied these allegations—stating that he purchased the land for preservation, not development—and pointed out that
9435-610: The route to US 321 (Lamar Alexander Parkway) near Walland has existed since March 1977, when Blount County, Maryville, and Alcoa officials jointly requested funding for the then-proposed extension from the Tennessee General Assembly. The approximately 7-mile (11 km) extension to US 321 was included in a preliminary draft of the Better Roads Program in January 1986 but was removed by Governor Alexander two months later, who stated that it would not be included in any proposals during his administration. After Alexander left office
9546-524: The route, without regard to the route number. For instance, I-190 in Massachusetts is labeled north–south, while I-195 in New Jersey is labeled east–west. Some looped Interstate routes use inner–outer directions instead of compass directions, when the use of compass directions would create ambiguity. Due to the large number of these routes, auxiliary route numbers may be repeated in different states along
9657-419: The same numbers, which is generally disallowed under highway administration guidelines. Several two-digit numbers are shared between unconnected road segments at opposite ends of the country for various reasons. Some such highways are incomplete Interstates (such as I-69 and I-74 ) and some just happen to share route designations (such as I-76 , I-84 , I‑86 , I-87 , and I-88 ). Some of these were due to
9768-503: The same roadway are signed as traveling in opposite directions; one such wrong-way concurrency is found between Wytheville and Fort Chiswell , Virginia, where I‑81 north and I‑77 south are equivalent (with that section of road traveling almost due east), as are I‑81 south and I‑77 north. Auxiliary Interstate Highways are circumferential, radial, or spur highways that principally serve urban areas . These types of Interstate Highways are given three-digit route numbers, which consist of
9879-467: The short segment between US 129 and Wrights Ferry Road, and eight months later, work began on the section between the river and SR 332. On December 4, 1992, the 6.6-mile (10.6 km) segment between US 129 in and SR 332 opened. The next segment completed was the four-mile (6.4 km) segment between SR 332 and US 11/US 70 (Kingston Pike), which was contracted in November 1990 and opened on October 6, 1993. This segment
9990-411: The southbound lanes of the parkway to eastbound I-40/northbound I-75, which head concurrently toward downtown Knoxville. The Pellissippi Parkway continues south through a near-complete cloverleaf interchange with Kingston Pike about 1 ⁄ 2 mile (0.80 km) beyond, which carries U.S. Routes 11 and 70 . Here, the city limits of Knoxville begin snaking along the freeway's right-of-way to
10101-615: The state. Other alignments would have had the route terminate at I-40/75 near the interchanges with SR 131 and Cedar Bluff Road, respectively. Initially referred to as the "Oak Ridge Connector", the highway was named the "Pellissippi Parkway" by an act of the Knox County Commission on December 7, 1971, which was subsequently recognized by the Tennessee General Assembly on March 15, 1976. Local officials and residents in 1968 and 1969 unsuccessfully tried to pressure
10212-490: The war, complied by submitting a detailed network of 20,000 miles (32,000 km) of interconnected primary highways—the so-called Pershing Map . A boom in road construction followed throughout the decade of the 1920s, with such projects as the New York parkway system constructed as part of a new national highway system. As automobile traffic increased, planners saw a need for such an interconnected national system to supplement
10323-488: Was a three-term United States Senator from Tennessee who co-sponsored the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 , also known as the Interstate Highway Act. The longest interstate highway in Tennessee is Interstate 40 , at a length of 454.81 miles (731.95 km). The segment of I-40 in Tennessee is also the longest segment of all of the states the route traverses. The shortest mainline interstate highway in Tennessee
10434-560: Was abandoned, and a nearby section of I-240 was redesignated as part of I-40. Since the completion of Tennessee's original Interstates, additional segments of highway in the state have been added to the system. An extension of I-26 into Tennessee was approved by AASHTO in 1988, and officially incorporated in August 2003. I-140 is a designation that was applied to a section of the Pellissippi Parkway in Knox and Blount counties that
10545-474: Was accessed via a partial Y-interchange along I-40/I-75 adjacent to the interchange with Mabry Hood Road; the Pellissippi Parkway was only accessible from the westbound lanes of the Interstate, and only the eastbound Interstate lanes were accessible from the Pellissippi Parkway. The section between Hardin Valley Road and SR 62 in Solway was completed in late 1973, after months of delays caused by rain. The highway
10656-408: Was allocated approximately 1,047.6 miles (1,685.9 km) of Interstate Highways by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 . I-24 was originally planned to run between Nashville and Chattanooga; it was approved to be extended to I-57 in southern Illinois in August 1964. The first section of Interstate Highway in Tennessee was a short freeway in Knoxville, completed in two segments in 1952 and 1955, that
10767-523: Was approved by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) on June 15, 1992, but not allowed to be signed until it was linked to I-40/75. On December 18, 1986, a group of landowners submitted a request to TDOT for an interchange with Tooles Bend Road, but this was rejected on October 27, 1988, after several local residents and the Knox County Commission had expressed opposition earlier that year. Construction on
10878-540: Was approved on April 14, 2010. On July 27, 2013, TDOT announced that the alignment for the extension, which includes a westward shift of the southern end from the original plan, had been chosen. The final environmental impact statement was approved on September 10, 2015, and the FHWA approved the route on August 31, 2017. This extension, which TDOT is not expected to be able to begin construction on until at least 2025, has continued to be met with fierce community opposition, however. On September 7, 1997,
10989-508: Was completed in January 2022. The Pellissippi Parkway, alongside other landmarks throughout Eastern Tennessee, derives its name from an older name for the Clinch River. The name "Pelisipi River" was present on older maps with such variant spellings as "Pelisippi" and "Pellissippi", and the variant form "Fiume Pelissipi". In fact, the Mitchell Map (1755–1757) labels a tributary of the "Pelisipi River" as "Clinch's River". The word "Pellissippi"
11100-565: Was constructed in the 1990s. I-840 was first proposed by the state legislature in 1986 and constructed between 1991 and 2012; it officially became an Interstate Highway on August 12, 2016. A segment of SR 385 in the Memphis area became I-269 in 2018. An extension of I-69 into Tennessee was proposed in the 1990s. In 2005, I-3 was also proposed into Tennessee as a Third Infantry Division Highway. Interstate Highway System [REDACTED] The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways , commonly known as
11211-560: Was constructed on the former location of the Mabry Hood House , an antebellum home located on Kingston Pike that was demolished in 1983 after falling into disrepair. The contract for the last major section of the extension, located between Kingston Pike and I-40/I-75, was awarded in September 1993 and included construction of part of the interchange with I-40/75. After repeated delays, this section opened on December 16, 1996, along with four ramps connecting to I-40/75, one of which
11322-496: Was dedicated by Governor Winfield Dunn on May 31, 1974. Although intended to initially improve access to Oak Ridge, the Pellissippi Parkway was envisioned from the start to be eventually extended from I-40/I-75 to US 129 in Alcoa in order to provide more efficient access to McGhee Tyson Airport . State plans for extending the Pellissippi Parkway first appeared in a 1973 statewide transportation program, and in April ;1975,
11433-629: Was dedicated on July 24, 1966. Most of I-40 between Nashville and Knoxville was also complete by this time. On December 20, 1974, the final segments of I-40, I-75, and I-81 in Tennessee opened to traffic, opening the final segments of mainline Interstate Highway initially allocated to Tennessee in 1956. At this time, however, work was not fully complete on these sections of I-81 and I-40; this occurred on August 27, 1975 and September 12, 1975, respectively. The last segment of I-24 in Tennessee, located west of Nashville, opened on January 5, 1978. The last segment of Interstate Highway in Tennessee to be completed that
11544-541: Was employed ahead of Hurricane Charley in the Tampa, Florida area and on the Gulf Coast before the landfall of Hurricane Ivan ; however, evacuation times there were no better than previous evacuation operations. Engineers began to apply lessons learned from the analysis of prior contraflow operations, including limiting exits, removing troopers (to keep traffic flowing instead of having drivers stop for directions), and improving
11655-457: Was integrated into the Interstate Highway System, becoming part of I-40 and I-75. The first initial segment of Interstate Highway in Tennessee was a short portion of I-65 near the Alabama state line that opened on November 15, 1958. The first section of Interstate to be complete between two major cities in Tennessee was I-40 between Memphis and Nashville, the last segment between these cities of which
11766-693: Was long said to have been the Cherokee name for the river and was purported to mean "winding waters" in the Cherokee language . However, research completed in 2017 instead concludes that the Miami-Illinois name Mosopeleacipi ("river of the Mosopelea " tribe) was first applied to what is now called the Ohio River . Shortened in the Shawnee language to pelewa thiipi , spelewathiipi , or peleewa thiipiiki ,
11877-591: Was planned by the Interstate Highway Act was on I-440 in Nashville, which opened on April 3, 1987. Due to citizen opposition, a short segment of I-40 in Memphis planned to pass through the city's Overton Park was never built. Opposition began after the routing was proposed in the 1950s, and citizens waged a multi-year legal battle that culminated in the U.S. Supreme Court case Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe in 1971. After this case, TDOT continued to explore options to construct this section until 1981, when it
11988-422: Was proclaimed complete in 1992, but two of the original Interstates— I-95 and I-70 —were not continuous: both of these discontinuities were due to local opposition, which blocked efforts to build the necessary connections to fully complete the system. I-95 was made a continuous freeway in 2018, and thus I-70 remains the only original Interstate with a discontinuity. I-95 was discontinuous in New Jersey because of
12099-543: Was serving as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II . In 1954, Eisenhower appointed General Lucius D. Clay to head a committee charged with proposing an interstate highway system plan. Summing up motivations for the construction of such a system, Clay stated, It was evident we needed better highways. We needed them for safety, to accommodate more automobiles. We needed them for defense purposes, if that should ever be necessary. And we needed them for
12210-451: Was subject to strong opposition from some locals. In 1982 a group of local residents opposed to the extension formed the Citizens against the Pellissippi Parkway Extension (CAPPE). They charged that the route would pollute the groundwater and streams in the area and that disruptions to streams would create conditions that could result in widespread flooding. They also expressed concern that
12321-550: Was temporary. At this time, an uninterrupted access-controlled connection between the extension and original parkway did not yet exist, requiring traffic north of I-40/75 to enter what was the original parkway connection to I-40/75 via a temporary at-grade intersection. The final phase, which began in June 1995 and was completed in late 1998, after multiple delays, completed the interchange with I-40/75 and constructed new carriageways from this interchange to north of Dutchtown Road, replacing
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