Actually, the lane closure is tonight ... early Thursday.

Why our traffic geniuses decided to have two of the most heavily traveled Interstate Highways in the U.S. intersect on an elevated platform in the middle of Downtown Knoxville is beyond me, but that's neither here nor there.

The original batch of interstate highways very roughly paralleled existing US Routes. Going through Knoxville, we had US11 (Lee Highway), US25E (Dixie Highway), and US70(No nickname that I know of). Dixie-Lee Junction anyone? I-40 roughly paralleled US70. I-75 roughly paralleled US25, and I-81 paralleled US11 until it merges into I-40 between Newport and Dandridge.

I'm sure Jack Neely could add a lot of the local color as to how much influence our city fathers at the time had over the decision to have I-75 and I-40 merge in the heart of downtown. But we were ordained from the start to have both of those major interstates pass through or very close around the city.

Actually, as originally devised, the interstate highway system was supposed to skirt most urban areas. The political log-rolling required to ensure congressional passage of the funding changed that as most cities leaped at the chance to channel federal funds into supposedly fixing their internal traffic problems. I believe Bruce Wheeler's book touches on some of that on the local level - one of the few things Cas and the Silk Stocking crowd ever agreed on.

The part of I-40 that blows by Regas actually predates the interstate highway system.

Somone I know has to drive in from Jefferson City to Papermill Road area every morning. She will be going 640 from now on. She commented that a lot of locals were still using I-40 and thinks 640 will show increased traffic when I-40 is closed.

You don't meant this, do you?

BTW, what are we supposed to do if we spot Dolly rerouting traffic in a wild get-up?

Here is one version of the thing I was talking about:

(link...)

This is a better version of the first one I saw. I thought there was an even better map or series of maps with better description of alternate routes that was in in the paper or somewhere....

Mayor Haslam provides the quote of the year:

"As Mike Tyson tells people, everybody has a strategy until they get hit, and we're about to get hit," he said.

Hilarious but true!

Got a Kid coming home from ETSU tomorrow. I told him the best way was to come through Georgia.

We're screwed.

Why our traffic geniuses decided to have two of the most heavily traveled Interstate Highways in the U.S. intersect on an elevated platform in the middle of Downtown Knoxville is beyond me, but that's neither here nor there.

The original Malfunction Junction was in fact at ground level, well at least the northern leg of I-75. It incorporated a very tight, single-lane cloverleaf interchange with as I recall a 25 mph speed limit. As I recall it was next to impossible for a tractor-trailer to take the curves at that speed.

The part of I-40 that blows by Regas actually predates the interstate highway system.

Actually, the original expressway ended at west side of North Gay Street. I doubt any of the original expressway still exists. But, yes, the city fathers apparently saw an opportunity for the federal government to fund a portion of the planned expressway around downtown.

Keep in mind that prior to the Interstate system, federal highways passed directly through the center of all American cities. I doubt that many cities including Knoxville wanted to see that traffic bypass downtown businesses. Lexington, KY being one of the exceptions.

IMO, I75 should have originally gone approximately where the Orange Route is now supposed to go. Ironic or what?

When the interstates were built most everything west of I-640 was country. The original interstate incorporated interchanges for the future construction of I-640; it wasn’t an afterthought so we should give them credit for planning a bypass.

Some might be surprised to hear that I agree with Bill Lyons...TDOT's implementation of this project has been very good in my opinion.

However, given that no one wanted the darn thing coming through downtown nor can anyone provide a logical reason for its path, TDOT's successful implementation is the proverbial lipstick on a pig.

I flew over The Junction in the mid seventies and captured this.

Negotiating it from this angle was rather pleasant. I believe that pedestrian bridge now resides in Karns

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Is anyone live blogging from the roads tonight?

Brian A.
I'd rather be cycling.

I seem to remember the black area in the lower right as being a coal dumping ramp on a spur from the Southern Railway. I need to find my original slide and re-shoot it so it will have a resolution high enough to "zoom in" on some of these features.

That building just below the lower right "leaf" of the cloverleaf appears to be a motel when I increase the size of the uploaded image.

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What if they close it down and nobody notices?

True happiness is knowing you are a hypocrite. -- Ivor Cutler

Yes, it does
Submitted by mjw on Thu, 2008/05/01 - 12:37am.

Actually, the two lane raised portion of the highway from Gay Steet to around the old Magnolia exit is part of the old "Magnolia" expressway.

The portion you mention was built when I-40 was constructed through downtown. As I mention above, the old expressway ended at North Gay Street. I drove it on a regular basis between Western and Magnolia. With the possible exception of a few sections of concrete, what the construction of I-40 didn't eliminate, the revamp of Malfunction Junction did.

(link...)

The predicted Road Warrior Apocolypse has apparrently failed to materialize. All the traffic cams I looked at this AM showed smooth sailing. Guess the PR effort by the TDOT and the City of Knoxville, with the help of Dolly, worked.

Everyone is thinking about the I-40 shutdown; however, a section of East Fifth Avenue is also closed. Can one dogleg on Hall of Fame Drive between the two sections of Magnolia? If not, I assume the best detour would be Summit Hill to Hall of Fame Drive.

Any other suggestions?

I believe the 3 blocky roofs just below the cloverleaf are the old farmer's market. Right at the bottom of the off ramp, very convenient for a UT student. It was a drive thru market, you'd lean down your window and haggle for watermelons or corn and the farmers would load them in your car.

Aaah... good times.

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Less is the new More - Karrie Jacobs

Mom and I were on our way to that market around midday on Friday, November 22, 1963, with the radio on. We had just crossed the Grace Moore Cloverleaf and started to make the right turn from Western to Dale (It was not a one-way street back then) when we heard the news from Dallas.

We immediately turned around and headed home to turn on the TV.

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