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Pellissippi Parkway
The Pellissippi Parkway is a major highway in Knox and Blount counties in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Tennessee that extends 19.75 miles (31.78 km) from State Route 62 at Solway to SR 33 in Alcoa. It provides access to the cities of Oak Ridge and Maryville from Interstates 40 and 75 in the western part of Knoxville and also serves a major corridor that includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, and a number of science and technology firms. The central portion of the Pellissippi Parkway is included in the Interstate Highway System and is designated Interstate 140 (I-140), while the remainder is designated as State Route 162 (SR 162). The entire highway is part of the National Highway System, a national network of roads identified as important to the national economy, defense, and mobility. It takes its name from an older name for the Clinch River of Native American origin.
The Pellissippi Parkway was initially constructed between I-40/I-75 and Solway from 1970 to 1973 in order to improve access between Knoxville and Oak Ridge. A proposal to extend the highway to US 129 arose while the initial section was under construction, and this occurred in multiple segments between 1987 and 1996. The parkway was extended to its current eastern terminus in two sections, which opened in 1996 and 2005, and is currently planned to be extended approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) to US 321. This plan has been the subject of intense community opposition from locals, however, and has been repeatedly delayed as a result.
The Pellissippi Parkway comprises I-140 and two sections of SR 162 that seamlessly extend from either end of the Interstate Highway segment. The northern segment of SR 162 runs 5.84 miles (9.40 km) from SR 62 at Solway south to I-40 and I-75 in Knoxville. I-140 has a length of 11.17 miles (17.98 km) from the junction with I-40 and I-75 to US 129 in Alcoa. The southern segment of SR 162 begins at US 129 and runs 2.74 miles (4.41 km) to SR 33 within Alcoa. The entire highway is a part of the National Highway System. The northernmost 4.6 miles (7.4 km) of the parkway is a four-lane limited-access highway, and the remainder is a controlled-access highway. Running in a diagonal southeast–northwest alignment, the I-140 stretch is signed as an east–west route, and both SR 162 sections are signed as north–south. In 2024, annual average daily traffic volumes ranged from 81,057 vehicles south of I-40/I-75 to 13,096 vehicles at the eastern terminus.
The Pellissippi Parkway begins at a directional interchange with SR 62 (Oak Ridge Highway) at the east end of the unincorporated community of Solway in western Knox County. This is on the east side of the Clinch River a short distance from Oak Ridge. Here, there is no direct access from westbound SR 62 to the parkway. The parkway then heads southeast as a limited-access four-lane divided highway. It crosses Beaver Creek and has a five-ramp partial cloverleaf interchange with Hardin Valley Road, which provides access to Pellissippi State Community College. The Pellissippi Parkway then has another partial cloverleaf interchange with SR 131 (Lovell Road). A short distance later, the controlled-access section begins at a partial cloverleaf interchange with Dutchtown Road. Here, the Pellissippi Parkway enters the western end of the city of Knoxville and is paralleled on both sides by frontage roads south for about one mile (1.6 km) to a large interchange with I-40 and I-75. This interchange is a near-complete cloverleaf interchange, with three loop ramps and a flyover ramp from the southbound lanes of the parkway to eastbound I-40/northbound I-75, which head concurrently toward downtown Knoxville.
The Pellissippi Parkway continues south through a near-complete cloverleaf interchange with Kingston Pike about 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) beyond, which carries U.S. Routes 11 and 70. Here, the city limits of Knoxville begin snaking along the freeway's right-of-way to the Tennessee River. The parkway crosses a Norfolk Southern Railway line and the Sinking Creek arm of Fort Loudon Lake ahead of its diamond interchange with Westland Drive. A short distance later, the freeway curves east within a diamond interchange with SR 332 (Northshore Drive); the interchange includes a ramp from the eastbound parkway to Town Center Boulevard, providing access to a shopping center. A few miles later the Pellissippi Parkway veers south onto a peninsula within Toole's Bend, a bend of the Tennessee River, then curves southeast and crosses the Fort Loudoun Lake impoundment of the river, which forms the Knox–Blount County line, on the Lt. Alexander "Sandy" Bonnyman Memorial Bridge. On the east side of the river, the highway enters the northern outskirts of the city of Alcoa, within which it remains to its eastern end. The freeway has a diamond interchange with SR 333 (Topside Road) and crosses a CSX rail line. The Pellissippi Parkway then curves southeast through a cloverleaf interchange with US 129 (Alcoa Highway) north of McGhee Tyson Airport. The freeway then has a southbound-only exit and northbound-only entrance with Cusick Road and crosses a final Norfolk Southern rail line before reaching its terminus at a half diamond interchange with SR 33 (Old Knoxville Highway) near the Eagleton Village community. This interchange is graded to allow future extension of the parkway.
When Oak Ridge was established by the federal government in 1942 for the uranium enrichment operations of the Manhattan Project, SR 62 became the main route between Oak Ridge and Knoxville. After the completion of the adjoining section of I-40/I-75 in 1961, Oak Ridge officials began pushing for a connector route to the Interstate to improve access between Oak Ridge and Knoxville, citing inadequacies in the two-lane stretch of SR 62. On December 2, 1965, a delegation of Oak Ridge residents met with the Knox County Highway Technical Advisory Committee and presented their proposal for a new four-lane controlled-access highway to the Interstate, including a new bridge over the Clinch River. During the planning phase, a decision was made to have the route terminate with SR 62 at Solway. The new bridge over the Clinch River would then replace the two-lane bridge on SR 62 in a separate project. The route's alignment was approved on January 25, 1967, by the Knoxville-Knox County Highway Coordinating Committee, which allowed for it to be budgeted by the state. Other alignments would have had the route terminate at I-40/75 near the interchanges with SR 131 and Cedar Bluff Road, respectively. Initially referred to as the "Oak Ridge Connector", the highway was named the "Pellissippi Parkway" by an act of the Knox County Commission on December 7, 1971, which was subsequently recognized by the Tennessee General Assembly on March 15, 1976. Local officials and residents in 1968 and 1969 unsuccessfully tried to pressure the Tennessee Department of Highways, the predecessor agency to the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), to construct the route as a fully controlled-access highway, but they chose a limited-access design that incorporated both interchanges and at-grade intersections.
Work on the first section, located between I-40/I-75 and Hardin Valley Road, began in June 1970 and was completed in late 1972. This section was accessed via a partial Y-interchange along I-40/I-75 adjacent to the interchange with Mabry Hood Road; the Pellissippi Parkway was only accessible from the westbound lanes of the Interstate, and only the eastbound Interstate lanes were accessible from the Pellissippi Parkway. The section between Hardin Valley Road and SR 62 in Solway was completed in late 1973, after months of delays caused by rain. The highway was dedicated by Governor Winfield Dunn on May 31, 1974.
Although intended to initially improve access to Oak Ridge, the Pellissippi Parkway was envisioned from the start to be eventually extended from I-40/I-75 to US 129 in Alcoa in order to provide more efficient access to McGhee Tyson Airport. State plans for extending the Pellissippi Parkway first appeared in a 1973 statewide transportation program, and in April 1975, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a resolution authorizing TDOT to study the possibility of extending the route to US 129. Environmental reviews and location studies began in late 1980, and the first public hearings were held in January 1981. Then-Governor Lamar Alexander included the extension as part of a plan to develop a science and technology corridor in the region in the early 1980s.
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Pellissippi Parkway
The Pellissippi Parkway is a major highway in Knox and Blount counties in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Tennessee that extends 19.75 miles (31.78 km) from State Route 62 at Solway to SR 33 in Alcoa. It provides access to the cities of Oak Ridge and Maryville from Interstates 40 and 75 in the western part of Knoxville and also serves a major corridor that includes Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Y-12 National Security Complex, and a number of science and technology firms. The central portion of the Pellissippi Parkway is included in the Interstate Highway System and is designated Interstate 140 (I-140), while the remainder is designated as State Route 162 (SR 162). The entire highway is part of the National Highway System, a national network of roads identified as important to the national economy, defense, and mobility. It takes its name from an older name for the Clinch River of Native American origin.
The Pellissippi Parkway was initially constructed between I-40/I-75 and Solway from 1970 to 1973 in order to improve access between Knoxville and Oak Ridge. A proposal to extend the highway to US 129 arose while the initial section was under construction, and this occurred in multiple segments between 1987 and 1996. The parkway was extended to its current eastern terminus in two sections, which opened in 1996 and 2005, and is currently planned to be extended approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) to US 321. This plan has been the subject of intense community opposition from locals, however, and has been repeatedly delayed as a result.
The Pellissippi Parkway comprises I-140 and two sections of SR 162 that seamlessly extend from either end of the Interstate Highway segment. The northern segment of SR 162 runs 5.84 miles (9.40 km) from SR 62 at Solway south to I-40 and I-75 in Knoxville. I-140 has a length of 11.17 miles (17.98 km) from the junction with I-40 and I-75 to US 129 in Alcoa. The southern segment of SR 162 begins at US 129 and runs 2.74 miles (4.41 km) to SR 33 within Alcoa. The entire highway is a part of the National Highway System. The northernmost 4.6 miles (7.4 km) of the parkway is a four-lane limited-access highway, and the remainder is a controlled-access highway. Running in a diagonal southeast–northwest alignment, the I-140 stretch is signed as an east–west route, and both SR 162 sections are signed as north–south. In 2024, annual average daily traffic volumes ranged from 81,057 vehicles south of I-40/I-75 to 13,096 vehicles at the eastern terminus.
The Pellissippi Parkway begins at a directional interchange with SR 62 (Oak Ridge Highway) at the east end of the unincorporated community of Solway in western Knox County. This is on the east side of the Clinch River a short distance from Oak Ridge. Here, there is no direct access from westbound SR 62 to the parkway. The parkway then heads southeast as a limited-access four-lane divided highway. It crosses Beaver Creek and has a five-ramp partial cloverleaf interchange with Hardin Valley Road, which provides access to Pellissippi State Community College. The Pellissippi Parkway then has another partial cloverleaf interchange with SR 131 (Lovell Road). A short distance later, the controlled-access section begins at a partial cloverleaf interchange with Dutchtown Road. Here, the Pellissippi Parkway enters the western end of the city of Knoxville and is paralleled on both sides by frontage roads south for about one mile (1.6 km) to a large interchange with I-40 and I-75. This interchange is a near-complete cloverleaf interchange, with three loop ramps and a flyover ramp from the southbound lanes of the parkway to eastbound I-40/northbound I-75, which head concurrently toward downtown Knoxville.
The Pellissippi Parkway continues south through a near-complete cloverleaf interchange with Kingston Pike about 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) beyond, which carries U.S. Routes 11 and 70. Here, the city limits of Knoxville begin snaking along the freeway's right-of-way to the Tennessee River. The parkway crosses a Norfolk Southern Railway line and the Sinking Creek arm of Fort Loudon Lake ahead of its diamond interchange with Westland Drive. A short distance later, the freeway curves east within a diamond interchange with SR 332 (Northshore Drive); the interchange includes a ramp from the eastbound parkway to Town Center Boulevard, providing access to a shopping center. A few miles later the Pellissippi Parkway veers south onto a peninsula within Toole's Bend, a bend of the Tennessee River, then curves southeast and crosses the Fort Loudoun Lake impoundment of the river, which forms the Knox–Blount County line, on the Lt. Alexander "Sandy" Bonnyman Memorial Bridge. On the east side of the river, the highway enters the northern outskirts of the city of Alcoa, within which it remains to its eastern end. The freeway has a diamond interchange with SR 333 (Topside Road) and crosses a CSX rail line. The Pellissippi Parkway then curves southeast through a cloverleaf interchange with US 129 (Alcoa Highway) north of McGhee Tyson Airport. The freeway then has a southbound-only exit and northbound-only entrance with Cusick Road and crosses a final Norfolk Southern rail line before reaching its terminus at a half diamond interchange with SR 33 (Old Knoxville Highway) near the Eagleton Village community. This interchange is graded to allow future extension of the parkway.
When Oak Ridge was established by the federal government in 1942 for the uranium enrichment operations of the Manhattan Project, SR 62 became the main route between Oak Ridge and Knoxville. After the completion of the adjoining section of I-40/I-75 in 1961, Oak Ridge officials began pushing for a connector route to the Interstate to improve access between Oak Ridge and Knoxville, citing inadequacies in the two-lane stretch of SR 62. On December 2, 1965, a delegation of Oak Ridge residents met with the Knox County Highway Technical Advisory Committee and presented their proposal for a new four-lane controlled-access highway to the Interstate, including a new bridge over the Clinch River. During the planning phase, a decision was made to have the route terminate with SR 62 at Solway. The new bridge over the Clinch River would then replace the two-lane bridge on SR 62 in a separate project. The route's alignment was approved on January 25, 1967, by the Knoxville-Knox County Highway Coordinating Committee, which allowed for it to be budgeted by the state. Other alignments would have had the route terminate at I-40/75 near the interchanges with SR 131 and Cedar Bluff Road, respectively. Initially referred to as the "Oak Ridge Connector", the highway was named the "Pellissippi Parkway" by an act of the Knox County Commission on December 7, 1971, which was subsequently recognized by the Tennessee General Assembly on March 15, 1976. Local officials and residents in 1968 and 1969 unsuccessfully tried to pressure the Tennessee Department of Highways, the predecessor agency to the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), to construct the route as a fully controlled-access highway, but they chose a limited-access design that incorporated both interchanges and at-grade intersections.
Work on the first section, located between I-40/I-75 and Hardin Valley Road, began in June 1970 and was completed in late 1972. This section was accessed via a partial Y-interchange along I-40/I-75 adjacent to the interchange with Mabry Hood Road; the Pellissippi Parkway was only accessible from the westbound lanes of the Interstate, and only the eastbound Interstate lanes were accessible from the Pellissippi Parkway. The section between Hardin Valley Road and SR 62 in Solway was completed in late 1973, after months of delays caused by rain. The highway was dedicated by Governor Winfield Dunn on May 31, 1974.
Although intended to initially improve access to Oak Ridge, the Pellissippi Parkway was envisioned from the start to be eventually extended from I-40/I-75 to US 129 in Alcoa in order to provide more efficient access to McGhee Tyson Airport. State plans for extending the Pellissippi Parkway first appeared in a 1973 statewide transportation program, and in April 1975, the Tennessee General Assembly passed a resolution authorizing TDOT to study the possibility of extending the route to US 129. Environmental reviews and location studies began in late 1980, and the first public hearings were held in January 1981. Then-Governor Lamar Alexander included the extension as part of a plan to develop a science and technology corridor in the region in the early 1980s.