State Route 67 (SR 67) is a state-maintained highway in northeastern Tennessee, including a four-lane divided highway segments in both Washington County and Carter County, and part of a significant two-lane segment passing over the Butler Bridge some above the TVA Watauga Reservoir (also referred locally to as Watauga Lake) near

Butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments, with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantries, pantr ...

Johnson County, Tennessee Johnson County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,948. Its county seat is Mountain City. History Johnson County was created in 1836 from parts of Carter County. This follow ...

Route description

Washington County

SR 67 begins as Cherokee Road as a 2-lane secondary highway in Washington County in Lamar at an intersection with SR 81. The highway goes to pass through the community before leaving Lamar and continuing east through rural areas before entering Johnson City. SR 67 then passes through a couple of neighborhoods before coming to an intersection with US 321 and SR 381 (University Parkway), where SR 67 becomes concurrent with US 321 and becomes a primary highway. They then travel east as a 4-lane divided highway through the south side of the city to an interchange with I-26/

US 23 U.S. Route 23 or U.S. Highway 23 (US 23) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway between Jacksonville, Florida, and Mackinaw City, Michigan. It is an original 1926 route which originally reached only as far south a ...

/ US 19W (Exit 24), where the highway becomes a freeway and has an interchange with Milligan Highway/Legion Street before crossing into Carter County and immediately entering Elizabethton.

Carter County

US 321/SR 67 gains some modest elevation before finally rolling over a significant slope and finally arriving at cautioned marked sloped curve just before the freeway segment ends at an at-grade intersection with SR 359 (Milligan Highway).

Elizabethton

At the SR 359/Milligan Highway exit, US 321/SR 67 continues on into Elizabethton as Elk Avenue on a 4-lane undived highway through commercial areas, where they become concurrent with SR 91 (Elizabethton Highway) and have an intersection with SR 362 (Gap Creek Road). US 321/SR 67/SR 91 then parallels the

Watauga River The Watauga River () is a large stream of western North Carolina and East Tennessee. It is long with its headwaters in Linville Gap to the South Fork Holston River at Boone Lake. Course The Watauga River rises from a spring located south to ...

before passing by a reconstructed interpretation of Fort Watauga at Sycamore Shoals State Park. The highway then passes through more commercial areas before entering downtown, where it becomes Broad Street and has an intersection with SR 400 before crossing the

Doe River The Doe River is a tributary of the Watauga River in northeast Tennessee in the United States. The river forms in Carter County near the North Carolina line, just south of Roan Mountain State Park, and flows to Elizabethton. Hydrography Th ...

along the historic Broad Street Bridge and coming to an intersection with US 19E/ SR 37 (Highway 19E), where SR 91 splits off and goes north along US 19E/SR 37 while US 321/SR 67 turns south along US 19E/SR 37. Further on south, the four-laned highway crosses over the Doe River for a second time and then runs closely parallel with it. US 19E/US 321/SR 37/SR 67 starts gaining some gradual elevation and eventually crosses a series of bridges over the Doe River at the

Valley Forge Valley Forge was the winter encampment of the Continental Army, under the command of George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War. The Valley Forge encampment lasted six months, from December 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778. It was the t ...

community just outside of the Elizabethton city limits (a left turn off SR 67 and onto Beck Moutanin Road after the first bridge is an alternative route to both the TVA Watauga Dam and the TVA

Wilbur Dam Wilbur Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Watauga River in Carter County, in the U.S. state of Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeaster ...

). SR 67 completes a final fourth and curving high double bridge crossing before arriving at

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia * Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria ** Hampton railway station, Melbour ...

Hampton

At Hampton, SR 67 and US 321 split off from the US 19E/SR 37 concurrency and continue eastward. Here, the road begins as a two-lane segment, briefly passing by commercial areas in Hampton (including a

U.S. post office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or simply the Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal serv ...

, a

Dollar General Dollar General Corporation is an American chain of discount stores headquartered in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. As of January 8, 2024, Dollar General operated 19,643 stores in the contiguous United States and Mexico. The company began in 1939 in ...

store and a non-attended public vehicle parking area for

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...

hikers arriving or entering the "AT" at Hampton), and then exiting Hampton over a high ridge.

Watauga Lake

Upon leaving Hampton, US 321/SR 67 again continually increases in elevation and roughly runs for several miles parallel to the shoreline of the massive Watauga Lake, through the

Cherokee National Forest The Cherokee National Forest is a United States National Forest located in the U.S. states of Tennessee and North Carolina that was created on June 14, 1920. The forest is maintained and managed by the United States Forest Service. It encompas ...

. Watauga Dam can be seen in the distance across the reservoir at the Rat Branch Boat Launch. At Fish Springs, SR 67 splits off from US 321, which heads east along SR 159, and veers northeastward, crossing Watauga Lake at the high Butler Bridge before entering Johnson County and

Johnson County

SR 67 passes through Butler before continuing northeastward up the Doe Creek Valley, where it passes through the communities of Doeville,

Pandora In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first human woman created by Hephaestus on the instructions of Zeus. As Hesiod related it, each god cooperated by giving her unique gifts. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground '' ky ...

, Doe Valley, and Dewey. During this stretch it passes by the Northeast Correctional Complex. At Doeville, it junctions with SR 167, which continues southeastward up the

Roan Creek Roan Creek is a tributary of the Watauga River that rises near the border between the U.S. states of Tennessee and North Carolina. Its source is located along the slopes of Snake Mountain near Trade in Johnson County, Tennessee. From its source ...

Valley to emerge in the Shouns Crossroads area of southern Mountain City. SR 67 then comes to an intersection with

US 421 U.S. Route 421 (also U.S. Highway 421, US 421) is a diagonal northwest–southeast United States Numbered Highway in the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana. The highway runs for from Fort Fisher, North Car ...

/ SR 34/ SR 418, where SR 67 turns south and becomes concurrent with US 421/SR 34. They then bypass downtown to the west side, where they have an intersection with SR 418 before going through a commercial area as 4-lane undivided highway, where they a second intersection with SR 167 at Shouns Crossroads, before leaving Mountain City and continuing south, narrowing to 2-lanes. US 421/SR 34/SR 67 then pass through some rugged mountainous terrain before entering

Trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

, where SR 67 splits off from US 421/SR 34, becoming a secondary highway and heading eastward up the Jenkins Creek Valley toward

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

. At the state line, the roadway becomes North Carolina Highway 88 (NC 88).

History

In 1988, a stretch of State Route 67 was completed between Johnson City and Elizabethton as part of Quad-Cities Beltway projects.http://www.jcmpo.org/time1.html Johnson City MPO: Timeline of Key Transportation Events - Johnson City, Tennessee. The highway follows Cherokee Road through most of Johnson City before merging with US 321 (University Parkway) near

East Tennessee State University East Tennessee State University (ETSU) is a public research university in Johnson City, Tennessee. It was historically part of the State University and Community College System of Tennessee under the Tennessee Board of Regents, but since 2016, ...

, and continuing eastward. In Elizbethton, SR 67 passes by a reconstructed interpretation of Fort Watauga at Sycamore Shoals State Park (the historical site of both the 1775 Transylvania Purchase and also the later staging area of the

Overmountain Men The Overmountain Men were American frontiersmen from west of the Blue Ridge Mountains which are the leading edge of the Appalachian Mountains, who took part in the American Revolutionary War. While they were present at multiple engagements in t ...

, who crossed the mountains and defeated British Loyalists in

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

during the 1780

Battle of Kings Mountain The Battle of Kings Mountain was a military engagement between Patriot and Loyalist militias in South Carolina during the southern campaign of the American Revolutionary War, resulting in a decisive victory for the Patriots. The battle took pl ...