US 31 and 321 in Tennessee
US 31 in Tennessee
US 31 | |||
Get started | Ardmore | ||
End | Mitchellville | ||
Length | 130 + 51 mi | ||
Length | 209 + 82 km | ||
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According to foodezine, US 31 is a US Highway in the US state of Tennessee. The road forms a north-south route through the center of the state. North of Nashville, the route splits into US 31E and US 31W. US 31 is 291 kilometers long combined.
Travel directions
US 31 in Alabama comes from Athens and runs parallel to Interstate 65 in Tennessee to the state capital Nashville, largely west of I-65. The route is part divided highway, particularly between Clinton and Spring Hill and in the southern suburbs of Nashville. US 31 runs through downtown Nashville, where the road splits into US 31E and US 31W.
US 31E
US 31E runs northeast from downtown Nashville, through the suburbs of Hendersonville and Gallatin, and is the last leg to the Kentucky border with US 231 double-numbered. US 31E continues toward Louisville.
US 31W
In downtown Nashville, US 31W continues north, parallel to Interstate 65, usually no more than two to three miles away. US 31 in Kentucky continues towards Bowling Green.
History
US 31 was one of the original US Highways of 1926 and has always passed through Tennessee. The split of US 31E and US 31W has existed from the beginning, but the AASHO passed a resolution in 1934 to delete the split and renumber US 31E between Nashville and Louisville as US 37. However, this adjustment has not been accepted by the states of Tennessee and Kentucky and has therefore not been introduced. In 1952, shadow US 37 was again scrapped in favor of the split.
The US 31W is de-facto the main route of US 31, mainly because it follows Interstate 65. US 31 has little passing importance in the state of Tennessee because Interstate 65 runs parallel to it. Opened between 1958 and 1972, I-65 is one of the major north-south routes due to the many industrial centers it connects.
The upgrades to US 31 were therefore mainly urban and suburban in nature in the Nashville area. Between Columbia and Spring Hill, US 31 has been widened to 2×2 lanes, possibly at the same time as General Motors’ Spring Hill Manufacturing facility opened in 1990.
US 321 in Tennessee
US 321 | |||
Get started | Elk Mills | ||
End | Lenoir City | ||
Length | 187 mi | ||
Length | 301 km | ||
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According to bittranslators, US 321 is a US Highway in the US state of Tennessee. The road forms an east-west route through the east of the state from the North Carolina border through Johnson City to Lenoir City and is 301 kilometers long.
Travel directions
US 321 at Elizabethton.
US 321 follows a rather different route in Tennessee compared to the route in other states. US 321 is formally a number that runs from south to north, but in Tennessee the route runs from east to west, sometimes even heading southwest. The route leads through the Appalachian Mountains and is mainly single-lane. The route avoids most of the region’s larger towns, such as Knoxville, but does include Johnson City. The route ends at Lenoir City on US 11.
History
US 321 was added to the network in 1930. The northern terminus was Bristol at the time, so the road formed a normal north-south route. In 1933, the terminus was changed to Boone, North Carolina, removing US 321 from Tennessee. In 1961 the terminus was changed again to Johnson City, Tennessee. Since 1981, US 321 begins in Lenoir City, Tennessee and then passed through Elizabethton, establishing the unusual east-west route.
Fragmented upgrades have been made to US 321, with short sections of 2×2 divided highway, but no longer sections between larger towns on the route.
Fort Loudoun Dam was built on the Tennessee River near Lenoir City between 1940 and 1943. In 1963, the Carmichael Greer Bridge opened over the dam, a two-lane bridge. This was replaced in 2017 by a new bridge with 2×2 lanes, whereby the western bridge over the Tennessee River was completely built and the eastern bridge over the reservoir was doubled to two spans. The new bridge opened to traffic on 11 July 2017.
The 2×2 section around Friendsville and beyond Maryville was built before 1984. The 2×2 section between the Tennessee River and Friendsville was completed around 2004. In the late 1980s, the road between Maryville and Walland was widened to 2×2 lanes.
Around 2007 a new 2×2 track was constructed around Parrotsville, east of Newport. The 2×2 section around Greeneville and along Chuckey was built before 1984. Between 1984 and 1988, a new 2×2 line between Johnson City and Elizabethton was constructed in two phases. In the early 1990s, the 2×2 section between Elizabethton and Hampton was constructed to coincide with US 19E.