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Trip to Nashville, Tenn.
Day 1
March 21, 2008
Kentucky-Tennessee

These photos are from a trip I took to Nashville, Tenn., for a friend's wedding. They are from Kentucky and Tennessee and were taken on March 21, 2008. To view the full-sized photos, click on one of the thumbnails on this page. You will then be presented with navigation controls to view the images on individual Web pages as a slide show.


Approaching US 421 on KY 30 westbound at Tyner in Jackson County.

Intersection where KY 30 joins US 421. The KY 30 sign dates back to the 1970s and note the stencil marks in the "0," which was common in District 11 during that era.

Heading south and west on the dual route, with another older KY 30 sign with the stencil marks in the "0."

This is where KY 30 splits from US 421. The old US 30 goof sign that was once located here was only up briefly before being replaced.

oops! The arrow is pointing the wrong way!

Construction along KY 30 in Laurel County.

Another shot through the construction zone where KY 30 is being improved.

KY 80 at I-75 in London.

Turning south onto I-75.

One-mile exit signage for KY 192 and the Hal Rogers Parkway.

Overhead for the KY 192 exit.

Overheads at the KY 192 exit.

I-75 south of London is three lanes in each direction.

Two-mile exit sign for Exit 29.

I-75 approaching Exit 29.

A lot of 25's going on here.

At Exit 29.

Approaching US 25W, another case where the exit number and route number are the same.

The numbers are peeling on the US 25W shield.

At Exit 25.

Clearview exit gore sign.

This is the bridge crossing US 25W at Exit 25. I-75 has its original concrete surface here.

Typical view of I-75 between Corbin and Williamsburg.

Two miles from yet another US 25W exit.

One mile from US 25W.

At the US 25W exit.

It's kinda odd to see Oak Ridge, Tenn. show up on this Kentucky mileage sign, especially since I-75 doesn't go to Oak Ridge.

KY 92 is the last exit in Kentucky.

At KY 92.

A new bridge is being built at the KY 92 exit. The new interchange will be a SPUI.

Jellico is the first exit in Tennessee.

Pine Mountain in the background as I-75 nears the Tennessee state line.

This sign in Kentucky announces the first exit in Tennessee.

Entering the Volunteer State.


Starting up Jellico Mountain on I-75 south. This mountain is really an extension of Pine Mountain which marks much of the Kentucky/Virginia border. The sign instructs trucks not to pass in the left lane but on the day of this crossing, a gasoline tanker truck slowed traffic in the passing lane to 45 mph in a 70 mph zone passing slower trucks.


Al Gore Jr. invented the Internet, his dad must have invented the interstates.

A new exit has opened on Jellico Mountain.


Along much of I-75 at the top of the mountain, the lanes run separately and out of sight of one another.

Tennessee has installed these signs at each divide between river basins.

Stinking Creek Road has had an exit from I-75 for years.

Sharp curve near the TN 63 exit.

This exit is heavily commercialized and offers the only services along the 30-mile stretch of I-75 that runs across the mountain.

I-75 and TN 63 share the route from the top of the mountain down to the Caryville area.

Getting ready to head down the mountain.

At Caryville, TN 63 departs I-75 and US 25W joins.

The famous red signs for the US 25E Cumberland Gap Tunnel can be found along I-75.

At Exit 134.

I-75 and US 25W run together for a few miles.

This is the exit where US 25W departs I-75. That should be a 25W shield instead of a 441 shield. This error has existed for at least 10 years.

This sign is correct. The US 441 exit is Exit 128, not the Exit 129 one mile prior.


Might this be the reason Kentucky had Oak Ridge listed on a mileage sign several miles back?



I-75 mileage marker near the Knox/Anderson county line.

This sign has been here for years.



TDOT is getting ready for the closure of I-40 in downtown Knoxville by erecting signs and covering them up until the road is closed in May.




At the junction of I-75, I-275 and I-640, southbound I-75 narrows to one lane for the ramp to I-640 west. Here you can see the effect this squeeze has on traffic as it tries to move over to the right lane.

A Detour East I-40 sign has been put in place in preparation for the I-40 closure.

I-75 departs the old route for the I-640 bypass. The old route of I-75 into downtown Knoxville was converted to I-275 years ago.

Traffic for I-75 south stacks up as it is squeezed into one lane.

The ramp from I-275 to I-640 east uses a very tight loop ramp.


Now we are on I-275 south, the old route of I-75.

Where is "Junction?" Unusual treatment on this overhead.

Approaching the end of I-275.

No changes have yet been made to this sign noting the closure of I-40 east.

The dome from Knoxville's World's Fair in the early 1980s can be seen from I-275.


This group of overhead signs greets travelers when they merge from I-275 onto I-40 west.



This is the northern terminus of US 129.




This is where I-75 joins I-40.

















This is the first exit on I-75 south of the I-40 split.


This is a typical view of I-75 south of I-40 heading toward Chattanooga.



Another instance of the exit number and route number matching.


I-75 carries a 65 mph speed limit in several of the rural counties outside Knoxville. Must be an air quality thing; traffic or highway conditions certainly don't merit the decrease from Tennessee's normal 70 mph limit.




The speed limit finally goes to 70 mph when I-75 passes from Loudon into Monroe county.





The exit number is as big as the destination on this sign.




Looks like the mowing tractors backed into this sign.

This one's taken some damage too.



This where I-75 was departed on this trip.


McMinn County uses the county route number pentagonal shields.


TN 30 is a four-lane route of recent vintage between I-75 and TN 58.

This section appears to have only recently been completed.

Meigs County was my first new county of the trip.



TN 30 crosses TN 58.

West of Decatur, the quality of TN 30 rapidly decreases.

A view of the Tennessee River crossing on TN 30. Note the Bradford pear tree in bloom. Many trees in this part of Tennessee were in bloom.

Another new county.


Evacuation route marker along TN 30.

These trees were replete with white blooms.

An old friend -- US 27.

In Dayton, TN 30 crosses US 27, which has bypass banners on this assembly.


TN 30 makes a few 90-degree turns in Dayton.

TN 30 is marked as the Trail of Tears Auto Tour Route here.

The 60-mile drive to McMinnville includes several mountain crossings.

A newer TN 30 marker with the state name in the sans-serif font instead of Clarendon, and the rough state outline.

Climbing Walden's Ridge west of Dayton, TN 30 has a climbing lane.

Another view of the climbing lane.

On top of the mountain is a long, undulating ridge.

Yet another new county.

TN 30 heads down the mountain through a series of sharp turns.

The bottom part of the descent has been rebuilt to be wider and straighter.

A view of the next mountain range.

Approaching another old friend, US 127, at Pikeville.

TN 30 joins US 127 for a brief period.



TN 127 is an undivided four lane route with a center passing lane as it bypasses downtown Pikeville.

TN 30 prepares to depart US 127.

The towns served by TN 30 and US 127 have redundant signage on this post and on the one previously shown.

The Trail of Tears follows TN 30 here.


A hairpin turn heading out of Pineville.

Another sharp turn on the mountain ascent.


At the top of the mountain is another rolling ridgetop.

Why TN 205 is signed here is a mystery.


Heading into a sharp curve.

Another intersection with TN 285.

TN 30 and TN 111 have a grade-separated intersection.



This is where TN 30 crosses TN 111.

West of Spencer, TN 30 heads down a mountain and enters a valley between rolling hills.

An improved portion of TN 30 near the Warren County line.

Here TN 30 reverts to a narrower, undulating route through farm country.

Tennessee has no qualms about duplicating state and US and Interstate highway numbers. TN 30 intersects both US 127 in Bledsoe County and here, TN 127 only one county away, in Warren County.

Approaching the end of TN 30 at US 70S, whith the unusual shield shape indigenous to Tennessee three-digit US routes.

The US 70S signs are gone.

This shows the actual intersection at the end of TN 30.

Heading west on US 70S, with another example of the unusual shield design.

Old US 70S running through McMinnville is signed as Business TN 380, not Business US 70S.


Speed trap! On US 70S in McMinnville.

Coming up on the junction of US 70S and TN 56.

An I-24 trailblazer shows up.

US 70S crosses TN 56, with a TN 55 trailblazer thrown in for good measure.

Headint north out of McMinnville on TN 56.

I thought I had been in DeKalb County in the past, but upon closer review I-40 comes close but doesn't actually enter the county. So I drove into DeKalb and then turned around. Among roadgeeks, this is known as "Froggie-ing" a county because Adam Froehlig, a/k/a Froggie to his roadgeek friends, uses the technique to collect counties.

Back into Warren County on TN 56.

TN 287 is a shortcut over to US 70S west of McMinnville.

Heading south on TN 298 with a bunch of blooming Bradford pear trees in the background.

Arriving back at US 70S.

Heading west on US 70S through rolling farm country and homes, and the occasional graveyard.

Entering Cannon County.

TN 281 is a shortcut over to TN 53.

Faded TN 281 sign.

At TN 53.

Uncommon (for Tennessee, anyway) treatment of this junction sign.

This is a typical scene along TN 53 heading south toward Manchester.

Approaching I-24 at Manchester. An unusual font.

More use of the extremely bold font.

A more conventional I-24 shield. The wide-font variety can be seen in the background.

Turning onto I-24 east toward Chattanooga.

The first exit past TN 52 is for TN 55.

The exit sign is mounted ont he bridge.

Next up is US 41.




Looking southeast on I-24 with the mountains looming in the background.


Grundy is another county I thought I had previously visited, but upon closer inspection I found that I hadn't.




US 64 clips a corner of Coffee County before entering Franklin County.

This stretch of four-lane US 64 has a speed limit of 65 mph.





A detour for I-24 is signed along US 64 west and US 41A south.






Approaching the courthouse square in Winchester. I should've driven around the square, the sign tree at left of the US 64 sign looks like it may have been very interesting.

As my friend C.C. Slater would say, "sine salad!"



TN 50 makes several 90-degree turns in Winchester.


Tennessee has begun installing directional banners with the larger first letter, as seen here.

TN 50 between Winchester and Lynchburg.

Lynchburg and Moore County have consolidated their city and county, like Nashville and Davidson County in Tennessee or Lexington/Fayette County and Louisville/Jefferson County in Kentucky. Still, it was funny to see a sign for "metropolitan" anything in such a rual area, much less for a small town like Lynchburg.

TN 50 runs through a valley surrounded by rolling hills outside Lynchburg.

TN 50 turns on what was the old route of TN 55, which has bypassed downtown Lynchburg.

TN 55 ends at TN 50 south of downtown Lynchburg.

At the end of TN 55, TN 50 changes status from primary to secondary.

Heading away from the junction of 50 and 55.

TN 129 runs from Lynchburg to US 231.


TN 129 clips the corner of Lincoln County, another new one in Tennessee for me.

And then its back into "Metro" Lynchburg in a rural setting.

TN 129.




Another new county.

Stone fences line US 231 south of Shelbyville.

TN 64 intersects US 231 south of downtown Shelbyville.



This is typical of TN 64 heading west of Shelbyville toward Lewisburg.

Unusually large-sized font.

Marshall County -- yet another new one for me.

Tennessee signs its alternate routes as "xxA" instead of "Alternate xx" as shown by this US 31A sign.

TN 64 ends at US 31A.



Even though it's signed as a suffixed route instead of a bannered route, the alternate of US 31 has a business route in Lewisburg. So this would be another example of a dual-bannered US route.

The US 31A business route sign is missing here.


US 431 has a business route through Lewisburg too. This is the southern end of it.

The US 431 sign here is in another distinctive shield shape, frequently found in east Tennessee.

I-65 shows up here.


This is the southern end of Business US 31A. Again, the distinctive shield shape frequently found in the eastern part of the state shows up. This time it's present on the leftmost sign.



This is Tennessee Walking Horse Country, as designated by this sign on US 31A.

US 31A intersects I-65. This is Exit 22 on I-65, meaning it's 22 miles from the Alabama border.

The exit straddles the Marshall/Giles county line.

After passing into Giles County, you find the ramp to southbound I-65.

Back in Marshall County is the ramp to I-65 north.


I-65 in southern Tennessee looks a lot like I-65 in south-central Kentucky.




This looks a lot like I-65 between Bowling Green and Elizabethtown in Kentucky.



Maury County -- the last new county of the day for me.




This exit marks the eastern end of the new and numerically-out-of-place US 412.



This route was built when the Saturn auto factory was built in Spring Hill in the early 1990s.

I-65 briefly widens out in the vicinity of the Saturn Parkway.


TN 840 is the unfinished southern loop around Nashville. There's room on this sign to add Memphis at a later date when it's completed west to I-40.

What will be added to the bottom half of this sign? Dickson, probably, since TN 840 will eventually be connected to I-40 near Dickson.

Currently, TN 840 extends only to US 31. It is incomplete between US 31 and TN 100.




Overheads on the C/D ramp, with "Local Traffic" as the destination for westbound 840.

Wide font present on this I-65 sign north of TN 840.


These tenth-mile markers are present for a short distance along I-65 south of Franklin.

This traffic backup was caused by motorists rubbernecking while a driver was pulled over by a cop. The backup existed for several miles, even back wo where I-65 southbound widens out to three or more lanes.




Note the backup still in effect the southbound lanes.




Traffic is still backed up.













Note that there are no dashed lines to indicate lanes on the arrows on the I-65 and I-440 overhead split.





On the ramp from I-65 to I-440.

I-440 has a name. It's called the "Four-Forty Parkway" and is signed with brown guide signs at every entrance ramp.






Approaching the end of I-440 at I-40.


Now on I-40 west heading toward Briley Parkway.



At the exit from I-40 west to the long flyover ramp for northbound Briley Parkway trafic.

The flyover ramp can be seen above and to the right.









At the turnoff to my motel, with one of the unusual shield shapes for the US 70S marker. This is only a couple of miles from the western terminus of US 70s.

Heading east on I-40, here is a view of the flyovers at the Briley Parkway interchange.

Two of the Briley flyovers come together

I-440 eastbound splits away from I-40.

Overhead for the upcoming I-65 interchange. Up until a few years ago, the ramp to Exit 208B led to I-265. Note the exit number for the continuation of I-40.

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