Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, U.S. Route 64 (US 64) stretches from the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

(

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

state line) in

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...

to the

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

state line near Ducktown. The highway, along with

US 72 U.S. Route 72 (US 72) is an east–west United States highway that travels for from southwestern Tennessee, throughout North Mississippi, North Alabama, and southeastern Tennessee. The highway's western terminus is in Memphis, Tennessee an ...

, is a major route for travel between

and Chattanooga.

History

The route between Cleveland and the eastern end of the Ocoee Scenic Byway follows the route of the Old Copper Road, a wagon trail dating back to the 1830s used for transporting copper from the mines in the Copper Basin to Cleveland and Chattanooga. The route originally continued westward from downtown Cleveland, crossing the Tennessee River at a ferry in Hamilton County, through Soddy-Daisy and across the Cumberland Plateau, and joined where the concurrency splits from US 41 (now part of Interstate 24) near Pelham. This designation was removed in 1940 after the

Chickamauga Dam The Chickamauga Dam is a hydroelectric dam on the Tennessee River in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. The dam is owned and operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which built the dam in the late 1930s as part of a New Deal era initiativ ...

went into operation, flooding much of the original route, and the route was moved to its present concurrency with US 11 and 41. Much of this original route no longer exists even as county maintained road. The

Tennessee Department of Transportation The Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) is a multimodal agency with statewide responsibilities in roadways, aviation, public transit, waterways, and railroads. The mission of TDOT is to provide a safe and reliable transportation syste ...

(TDOT) has plans to restore this route with a new four lane highway and

toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road ...

across the Tennessee River, providing Clevelanders with a more convenient access to Nashville.

The Ocoee Scenic Byway was the first National Forest Scenic Byway in the nation, designated on July 22, 1988 by the

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency in ...

(USFS). TDOT plans to remove the designation of US 64 from the Ocoee Scenic Byway, and build a new four lane route, due to the high volumes of commercial traffic passing through the area. Multiple methods have been proposed, including a route on the south side over the river and existing route, a route over nearby Little Frog Mountain, and a

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

. In 1986, TDOT began preparations to widen the entire segment of US 64 between Memphis and Pelham to four lanes, a distance of about , or about 70% of the length of the route in Tennessee. The final project, in Hardin County, was completed in the fall of 2017. In November 2009, a massive rock slide closed the Ocoee Scenic Byway for several months. This was reportedly the largest rockslide in the area's history.

Route description

US 64 enters Tennessee on the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge in Memphis. The route shares the bridge with

Interstate 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 h ...

(I-55) and

US 61 U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designat ...

US 70 U.S. Route 70 or U.S. Highway 70 (US 70) is an east–west United States highway that runs for from eastern North Carolina to east-central Arizona. It is a major east–west highway of the Southeastern, Southern and Southwestern United States. E ...

, and

US 79 U.S. Route 79 (US 79) is a United States highway in the Southern United States. The route is officially considered and labeled as a north-south highway, but its path is actually more of a diagonal northeast-southwest highway. The highway's nort ...

. The route traverses several streets in Memphis before becoming a rural divided highway in eastern Shelby County. The highway runs directly to the east through the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

s of Tennessee's most southern counties including Oakland, Somerville, Whiteville, Bolivar, Selmer, Adamsville, Savannah, Waynesboro, and Lawrenceburg, the largest on the route between Memphis and

I-65 Interstate 65 (I-65) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates ending in 5, it is a major crosscountry, north–south route, connecting between the Great Lakes and the Gulf ...

. The route then interchanges with I-65, and runs through Fayetteville, Winchester, and comes to an interchange with I-24 near Pelham. The route unofficially runs concurrent with I-24 across

Monteagle Mountain Monteagle Mountain is the local name given to a stretch of Interstate 24 near Monteagle, Tennessee that travels over the Cumberland Plateau. Being part of the plateau, it is not technically a mountain, but appears that way to motorists crossing ...

, the stretch across the Cumberland Plateau, often cited as one of the most hazardous stretches of highway in the United States and splits at exit 152 near Kimball where it then enters Jasper, becoming concurrent with

US 41 U.S. Route 41, also U.S. Highway 41 (US 41), is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs from Miami, Florida, to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Until 1949, the part in southern Florida, from Naples to Miami, ...

, of which it crosses Nickajack Lake, part of the Tennessee River to Chattanooga. The route then becomes concurrent with

US 11 {{Infobox road , country=USA , type=US , route=11 , map={{maplink, frame=yes, plain=yes, frame-align=center, frame-width=290, frame-height=330, type=line, from=U.S. Route 11.map , map_custom=yes , map_notes=US 11 in red, US 11E in blue, US 11W in ...

and runs to

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, where it splits and runs along

US 74 U.S. Route 74 (US 74) is an east–west United States highway that runs for from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Primarily in North Carolina, it serves as an important highway from the mountains to the ...

into Polk County to the

state line. The section beginning in Cleveland and continuing into North Carolina is part of Corridor K of the Appalachian Development Highway System. The easternmost portion of the highway along the

Ocoee River The Toccoa River and Ocoee River are the names in use for a single river that flows northwestward through the southern Appalachian Mountains of the southeastern United States. It is a tributary of the Hiwassee River, which it joins in Polk Coun ...

is the

Ocoee Scenic Byway The Ocoee Scenic Byway is a National Forest Scenic Byway and Tennessee Scenic Byway that traverses through the Cherokee National Forest, in East Tennessee. It is part of both U.S. Route 64 and U.S. Route 74, and features the Ocoee Whitewater C ...

, a winding, two-lane road through the Ocoee River gorge. The steep terrain around the highway is subject to

rockslide A rockslide is a type of landslide caused by rock failure in which part of the bedding plane of failure passes through compacted rock and material collapses ''en masse'' and not in individual blocks. Note that a rockslide is similar to an avalanc ...

s. This is one of the only sections of US 64 in Tennessee that is still two lanes.

Bypass route

bypass route A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety. A bypass spe ...

exists for the route in Cleveland. The east–west route is part of a beltway around the business district known as APD-40, and stretches from

I-75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from St ...

to a cloverleaf interchange with US 64 and SR 60. SR 60 makes up the remainder of the route. Part of the route is

controlled access A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

, and an interchange with US 11/64 is located approximately a mile from the western terminus.

Junction list

State Route 40

State Route 40 (SR 40) runs as a secret, or hidden designation for US 64/

from downtown

, in Bradley County to the

state line near Ducktown, in

Polk County Polk County is the name of twelve counties in the United States, all except two named after president of the United States James Knox Polk: * Polk County, Arkansas * Polk County, Florida * Polk County, Georgia * Polk County, Iowa * Polk Count ...

. SR 40 was also a former designation for part of

APD-40 APD-40 or APD 40 refers to a road composed of the U.S. Route 64 Bypass (US 64 Byp.) and a section of State Route 60 (SR 60) which forms a partial beltway around the business district of Cleveland, Tennessee. The route takes its name ...

, which is the origin of part of the common name of that route. State Route 40 becomes secondary east of its intersection with SR 60 in Cleveland.

State Route 433

State Route 433 (SR 433) is the unsigned designation for US 64’s southern and eastern bypass of the cities of Winchester and Decherd in

Franklin County, Tennessee Franklin County is a county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is located on the eastern boundary of Middle Tennessee in the southern part of the state. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,052. Its county seat is Winchester. Franklin ...

. The entire route is a four-lane divided highway (which is known locally as Veterans Memorial Drive), with interchanges at SR 16 (1st Avenue/Rowe Gap Road), US 41A (S College Street/Cowan Highway), and SR 50 (Nissan Powertrain Drive).

References

External links