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 The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is the department of transportation for the State of Tennessee, with multimodal responsibilities in roadways, aviation, public transit, waterways, and railroads. It was established in 1915 as the ...

(TDOT) the US state of

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

. Currently the state has of Interstate Highways. Tennessee's Interstate Highways are designated as the " Senator Albert Gore Sr. Memorial Interstate System" after a U.S. Senator from Tennessee who sponsored the

Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956 The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, also known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, was enacted on June 29, 1956, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the bill into law. With an original authorization of $25 billion (e ...

that created the Interstate Highway System. __TOC__

Description

Tennessee contains a total of of Interstate Highways, all of which are maintained by the

(TDOT). Tennessee's interstate system is designated as the " Senator Albert Gore Sr. Memorial Interstate System." Albert Gore Sr. was a three-term

United States Senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

from Tennessee who co-sponsored the

, also known as the Interstate Highway Act. The longest Interstate Highway in Tennessee is

Interstate 40 Interstate 40 (I-40) is a major east–west transcontinental Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States, southeastern and Southwestern United States, southwestern portions of the United States. At a leng ...

, at a length of . 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 is

I-55 Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The ...

, at a length of in Memphis. The longest auxiliary Interstate Highway in Tennessee is I-840, an outer southern bypass around Nashville, at a length of . The shortest Interstate Highway in Tennessee is the I-124 in Chattanooga, which is unsigned; the shortest signed Interstate Highway is I-275 in Knoxville, at long.

History

Tennessee was allocated approximately of Interstate Highways by the

. 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 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 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 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 :''Overton Park may also refer to the U.S. Supreme Court case, Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe'' Overton Park is a large, public park in Midtown Memphis, Tennessee. The park grounds contain the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Memphi ...

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 The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

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 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 The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test quality control, protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway design and construction through ...

in 1988, and officially incorporated in August 2003. I-140 is a designation that was applied to a section of the

Pellissippi Parkway The Pellissippi Parkway is a major highway in Knox and Blount counties in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Tennessee that extends from State Route 62 at Solway to SR 33 in Alcoa. It provides access to the cities of Oak Ri ...

in Knox and Blount counties that was constructed in the 1990s. I-840 was first proposed by the

state legislature A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of ...

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 Interstate 269 (I-269) is a partal beltway around the city of Memphis, Tennessee, and its adjacent suburban areas in southwestern Tennessee and northern Mississippi, completed in October 2018. I-269 was planned and built to serve as an oute ...

in 2018. An extension of

I-69 Interstate 69 (I-69) is an Interstate Highway in the United States currently consisting of eight unconnected segments. The longest segment runs from Evansville, Indiana, northeast to the Canada–United States border, Canadian border in Po ...

into Tennessee was proposed in the 1990s. In 2005, I-3 was also proposed into Tennessee as a Third Infantry Division Highway.

Primary Interstates

File:I-24 West Exit 66 - TN266 (32888023233).jpg, I-24 in

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...

, a suburb of Nashville File:Interstate 26 Bald Mountains Tennessee.jpg, I-26 in the

Bald Mountains The Bald Mountains are a mountain range rising along the border between Tennessee and North Carolina in the southeastern United States. They are part of the Blue Ridge Mountain Province of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. The Bald Mountain ...

File:HernandoDeSoto Bridge Pyramid.jpg, The

Hernando de Soto Bridge The Hernando de Soto Bridge is a tied-arch bridge carrying Interstate 40 across the Mississippi River between West Memphis, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee. The design is a continuous cantilevered cable-stayed steel through arch, with beds ...

, which carries I-40 across the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

between Memphis and

West Memphis, Arkansas West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 24,520 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ranking it as the state's 20th largest city. It is part of the Memphis metropolitan area, an ...

File:I-40 near Nashville Int'l Airport.jpg, I-40 near the

Nashville International Airport Nashville International Airport is a public/military airport in the southeastern section of Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Established in 1937, its original name was Berry Field, from which its ICAO and IATA identi ...

File:I-55 North - Exit 2 - TN175 Shelby Drive (44718536525).jpg, I-55 near exit 2 File:Int65nRoadTN-Exit74-TN254ew (30507418903).jpg, I-65 in Brentwood, a suburb of Nashville File:Int75sRoadTN-TN153nOneMile (32561687630).jpg, I-75 in Chattanooga File:Sullivan County, TN, USA - panoramio.jpg, I-81 near

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

Auxiliary Interstates

File:Pellissippi Parkway (I-140) Westland Drive.jpg, The

(I-140) in

West Knoxville West Knoxville is a section of Knoxville, Tennessee, US. It is west of the city's Downtown Knoxville, downtown area. It stretches from Sequoyah Hills, Tennessee, Sequoyah Hills on the east to the city's border with Farragut, Tennessee, Farragut on ...

File:Caruthersville Bridge1.jpg, The Caruthersville Bridge carries I-155 across the Mississippi River File:Interstate 240 - Tennessee - near US 78.jpg, I-240 near

US 78 U.S. Route 78 (US 78) is an east–west United States Numbered Highway that runs for from Swifton, Arkansas, to Charleston, South Carolina. From Byhalia, Mississippi to Graysville, Alabama, US 78 runs concurrently with Inters ...

File:TN835 East - Future I-269 Corridor - December 2016 (29766698607).jpg, I-269 in 2016, displaying a "Future I-269 Corridor" sign File:I-275 Knoxville.jpg, I-275 approaching Sharps Gap File:I-440 westbound near I-65.jpg, I-440 westbound near the junction with I-65 File:I-640 eastbound.jpg, I-640 north of

Downtown Knoxville Downtown Knoxville is the downtown area of Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. It contains the city's central business district and primary city and county municipal offices. It is also home to several retail establishments, residential buil ...

File:I-840 SR 96 looking east.jpg, I-840 near the Williamson– Rutherford county line

References

External links

*{{commons category-inline, Interstate Highways in Tennessee