U.S. Route 27 in Tennessee

U.S. Route 27
Route information
Maintained by TDOT
Existed:	1926 – present
Major junctions
South end:	US 27 at the Georgia state line
	I-24 / US 11 / US 41 / US 64 / US 76 in Chattanooga US 127 in Red Bank US 70 in Rockwood I-40 in Harriman
North end:	US 27 at the Kentucky state line
Location
Counties:	Hamilton, Rhea, Roane, Morgan, Scott
Highway system
United States Numbered Highway System List Bannered Divided Replaced Tennessee State Routes Interstate US State ← SR 26 SR 28 →

U.S. Route 27 in Tennessee runs from the Georgia state line in Chattanooga to the Kentucky state line in Scott County.

Route description

US 27 at its intersection with SR 303, near Graysville

US 27 enters Tennessee from Walker County, Georgia, as a four-lane highway. The route comes to an interchange with Interstate 24 (I-24) and briefly runs concurrently before splitting off as a freeway.

Freeway segment

Beginning at I-24, and ending at State Route 111 (SR 111), the route is a controlled-access highway for approximately 30 miles (48 km). The highway runs for approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 km), with interchanges for Martin Luther King Boulevard and Fourth Street. The highway then crosses the Tennessee River on the P.R. Olgiati Bridge and comes to an intersection with Manufacturer's Road. The highway crosses Stringer's Ridge where U.S. Route 127 begins, and Dayton Pike (the original route of US 27) splits off and goes through Red Bank. From here, the route is part of Corridor J of the Appalachian Development Highway System. The route then runs on top of a ridge and bypasses Red Bank, and comes to an interchange with SR 153 southbound and Dayton Pike northbound (once again, the old route of US 27). The route continues north, bypassing Soddy-Daisy, with an interchange at Sequoyah Access Road, the main route to the Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant, and then SR 319 (Hixson Pike). The route then runs along the Tennessee river and SR 111 splits off to the northwest for Dunlap, where the freeway ends. The freeway continues on SR 111.

Hamilton County to Kentucky line

US 27 continues as a four-lane divided highway through the small communities of Sale Creek and Graysville before crossing into Rhea County, and reaching Graysville. The route then enters Dayton. At Dayton, it intersects SR 30, which connects Dayton with Pikeville to the west and Decatur to the east, and SR 60, which connects Dayton with Cleveland to the southeast. US 27 continues northward through Evensville before arriving at Spring City. At Spring City, it intersects SR 68, which connects the area to Crossville, atop the plateau to the west, and Sweetwater to the east.

From here, US 27 enters Roane County, running concurrently with US 70 going through the city of Rockwood. After US 70 splits to the east, US 27 runs concurrently with SR 61 through Harriman, where it is crossed by I-40. During this stretch, it forms part of the Harvey H. Hannah Memorial Highway, and is signed as such. Just beyond Harriman, near the DeArmond community, US 27 ascends the Cumberland Plateau, and continues northward across the plateau for its remaining 55 miles (89 km) or so in Tennessee.

In Morgan County, the highway passes through Wartburg and Sunbright. At the community of Elgin, it intersects SR 52, which connects the area with the historic village of Rugby and Fentress County to the west. Beyond Elgin, US 27 passes through Robbins, Huntsville, and Helenwood before reaching Oneida in Scott County. In Oneida, US 27 intersects SR 297, which continues westward into the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. Winfield is the last sizable town that US 27 passes through in Tennessee before it reaches the community of Isham on the Kentucky border.

History

The route in Hamilton County was removed from its original location to build the controlled-access highway. The original route ran across the Market Street Bridge, and becomes what is now called Dayton Pike, which then runs through Red Bank, east of the current route, and Soddy-Daisy, west of the current route. The majority of this route still remains, and is sometimes referred to as "Old US 27" or "Old 27."

The first part of the controlled-access segment, the only original planned segment was built in the late 1950s by moving dirt from nearby Cameron Hill.^[1] This segment extends from I-24 to Dayton Pike. This route was once signed as I-124.^[2] The designation still exists, but it is no longer signed.^[2] The controlled-access highway between Dayton Pike and SR 111 was built between the mid-1970s and early 1980s. SR 111 was extended across Walden Ridge at around the same time.

The entire route has been widened to a four-lane highway all the way to the split with SR 61.

Beginning in February 1999, the Olgiati bridge was widened from four to six lanes.^[3] This was accomplished by attaching steel beams to the top of the posts over the river.^[4] Also in this project, a ramp was added from the bridge on the north side to Manufacturer's Road, replacing a cloverleaf loop ramp which diverged past the ramp. The project, after many delays, was completed in February 2003.^[4]

Beginning in the middle of 2012, the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) began rebuilding US 27 from the Olgiati Bridge to the interchange with US 127. The project involved the replacement of old bridges, widening from two lanes each way to three or four lanes each way, and construction of several retaining walls.^[5] Preparations for this project had begun in December 2011.^[6] The project was completed in early 2015, months ahead of schedule.^[7]

In December 2015, TDOT began a $126 million reconstruction project to rebuild US 27 from I-24 to the recently reconstructed part.^[8] The project will widen the route from the existing two or three lanes each direction to three or four lanes each direction (including two more across the Olgiati), straighten out curvy sections, rework the Fourth Street and Martin Luther King interchanges, and add retaining walls. The project is expected to be complete by the middle of 2019.^[9] The substructure of the Olgiati Bridge was built wider than the superstructure in anticipation of future widening in the first widening project.^[10]

Junction list

County	Location	mi	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Georgia state line		0.0	0.0	US 27 continues south into Georgia SR 27 ends
Hamilton	Chattanooga	2.3– 2.7	3.7– 4.3		I-24 – East Ridge	Southern end of I-24 concurrency; I-24 exit 180
		See I-24
		3.7– 4.6	6.0– 7.4	–	I-24 east / I-124 begins to I-75 / US 11 / US 41 / US 64 / US 76 / SR 17 / SR 58 / Williams Street / Long Street – Nashville, Memphis	Northern end of I-24 concurrency; southern end of I-124 concurrency; I-24 exit 178
		4.8– 5.0	7.7– 8.0	1	Main Street	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		5.2– 5.7	8.4– 9.2	1A-B	Martin Luther King Boulevard
		5.7– 6.1	9.2– 9.8	1C	4th Street - I-124 ends	Northern end of I-124 concurrency
		P.R. Olgiati Bridge across the Tennessee River
		6.4– 6.8	10.3– 10.9	–	Manufacturers Road
	Red Bank	7.4– 7.7	11.9– 12.4	–	SR 8 (Cherokee Boulevard)	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
		8.0– 8.5	12.9– 13.7	–	US 127 (Signal Mountain Road) / SR 8 / SR 27 – Signal Mountain	Northern end of SR 27 concurrency
		10.9– 11.8	17.5– 19.0	–	Morrison Springs Road – Erlanger North Hospital
	Chattanooga	13.5– 14.2	21.7– 22.9	–	Mountain Creek Road
	Soddy-Daisy	16.9– 17.4	27.2– 28.0	–	SR 153 (Dayton Boulevard) – Chattanooga
		19.2– 19.5	30.9– 31.4	–	Thrasher Pike
		21.2– 21.7	34.1– 34.9	–	Harrison Lane
		22.9– 23.2	36.9– 37.3	–	Sequoyah Road
		25.0– 25.6	40.2– 41.2	–	SR 319 (Tsati Terrace)
		26.8– 27.2	43.1– 43.8		SR 111 – Dunlap	North end of freeway
Rhea	Graysville	37.5	60.4		SR 303
	Dayton	41.7	67.1		SR 60 / SR 378 – Cleveland
		43.0	69.2		SR 30 – Pikeville, Decatur
		43.6– 43.7	70.2– 70.3		SR 378	Interchange; no direct southbound entrance from SR 378 north
	​	56.6	91.1		SR 68 – Sweetwater	Southern end of SR 68 concurrency
	Spring City	59.1	95.1		SR 68 – Grandview	Northern end of SR 68 concurrency
		59.4	95.6		SR 302
Roane	​	73.3	118.0		US 70 – Westel, Ozone, Crab Orchard, Crossville	Southern end of US 70 concurrency
	Rockwood	76.1	122.5		US 70 – Kingston	Northern end of US 70 concurrency
	Cardiff	79.5	127.9		SR 382
	Harriman	81.5– 81.8	131.2– 131.6		I-40 – Nashville, Knoxville	I-40 exit 347
		83.1	133.7		SR 29
		84.8	136.5		SR 328 – Oakdale
	​	88.3– 88.6	142.1– 142.6		SR 61 – Oliver Springs	Interchange
Morgan	​	93.3	150.2		SR 328 – Oakdale, Harriman
	Wartburg	101.0	162.5		SR 62 – Oliver Springs	Southern end of SR 62 concurrency
	​	104.3	167.9		SR 62 – Lancing	Northern end of SR 62 concurrency
	Sunbright	112.9	181.7		SR 329 – Deer Lodge
Scott	Elgin	121.8	196.0		SR 52 – Rugby
	Huntsville	129.7	208.7		SR 297 – Pioneer	Southern end of SR 297 concurrency
	Oneida	136.3	219.4		SR 297	Northern end of SR 297 concurrency
		136.4	219.5		SR 456
Kentucky state line		145.2	233.7	US 27 continues north into Kentucky
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

References

1. A Brief History of Cameron Hill
2. "Interstate 124 Tennessee". Interstate-Guide.com. Retrieved September 28, 2007.
3. Carroll, Beverly (December 5, 2011). "Preparations for $11 million widening of Olgiati Bridge on track". The Chattanoogan. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
4. "Downtown Chattanooga Road Construction Project Tops $126 Million; Work Set To Start Soon". The Chattanoogan. November 15, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
5. Smith, Ellis (March 15, 2012). "Tennessee unveils US 27 highway plan". Chattanooga Times Free Press. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
6. McCarthy, Kelly (January 5, 2015). "Highway 27 construction project's countdown to completion". Chattanooga: WRCB-TV. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
7. Anderson, Kendi (January 5, 2015). "Three-year project to rebuild US 27 led to some rough patches". Chattanooga Times Free Press.
8. Cobb, David (November 15, 2015). "US 27 rebuild from Olgiati to I-24 about to begin". Chattanooga Times Free Press. Retrieved January 5, 2016.
9. McCarthy, Kelly (November 17, 2015). "Construction on US 27 starts next month, no detour for drivers". Chattanooga: WRCB-TV. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
10. Carroll, Beverly (December 5, 2011). "Preparations for $11 million widening of Olgiati Bridge on track". The Chattanoogan. Retrieved January 4, 2016.