Jerry Summers
The eternal traffic jams existing on I-24 from Nashville and Chattanooga to I-75 cause the frustration of motorists to continue to accelerate on America's versions of Hitler’s Autobahn. While construction began during the Eisenhower Administration, the highways continue to deteriorate and are clogged up with cars, trucks, and other assorted modes of transportation.
The creation and construction of the Interstate has never been properly maintained or updated by Congress. (Understatement?)
The current political battle in Washington between the Democrats and Republicans will hopefully finally resolve the issue before another deadly disaster takes place.
On June 27, 2010, local historian Harmon Jolley described in great detail an alternative route to Memphis from Chattanooga which was proclaimed as the “Beeline to Memphis” along U.S. 72.
His trip log which began at Broad and Seventeenth streets in downtown Chattanooga really picks up at the South Pittsburg exit in Marion County on I-24.
Between Chattanooga and Jasper, U.S. 72 is called the Will Cummings Highway in honor of the former Hamilton County Judge and promoter of highway traffic improvements. His political opponents claimed that it was more than a coincidence that the segment of the highway in Lookout Valley ran near his large farm and residence.
The Dixie Highway, as U.S. 41 was named, is a slower-paced scenic drive through the beautiful Tennessee River Gorge with occasional crumbling remnants of long-gone attractions before the construction interchange with I-24.
The old Marion County Memorial Bridge, which was once a former toll bridge, has been razed and replaced by another structure.
After a traveler gets on the South Pittsburg exit and U.S. 72 a series of small towns in Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi are on the four lane divided highways with each having a historical past of successes and failures over the years.
Jasper and South Pittsburg are Tennessee towns on the route that goes through Bridgeport (Civil War battle on August 26, 1862), Stevenson (important railroad junction), Hollywood (not California), (Idled Bellefont Nuclear Plant), Scottsboro (Unclaimed Baggage Center), Huntsville (U.S. Space and Rocket Center) and Decatur (War of 1812 hero Stephen Decatur) in Alabama.
Entering Mississippi, Iuka is the city mentioned in the movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou” and was the site of another Civil War Battle on September 19, 1862.
The intersection of the once Memphis and Charleston and Mobile and Ohio rail lines come through Corinth, Mississippi.
Over the Tennessee border U.S. 72 enters Collierville and a traveler gets on State Route 385 and connects U.S. 72 to I-240 which is the beltway around Memphis.
U.S. 72 continues through the Memphis suburb of Germantown and becomes Poplar Avenue, a major East-West route into the Bluff City, named for the high cliffs along the Mississippi River. It finally ends at Bellevue Boulevard (U.S. 51) and Union Avenue.
Although all or most of the route are four lane highways, the main danger to motorists is the possibility of another emerging vehicle from the many side streets.
Through the various communities are other historical sites that merit consideration.
A traveling motorist has to make the individual decision as to whether U.S. 72 or the freeway is the most convenient route from Chattanooga to Memphis.
The short-sighted decision in the 1960s of Congress to not fund and build an east-west interstate road between Chattanooga and Memphis is of no comfort to travelers stuck in a traffic jam in 2021, irrespective of your destination.
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Jerry Summers
(If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact Mr. Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com)