| I-75 | |||
| Get started | Chattanooga | ||
| End | jellico | ||
| Length | 162 mi | ||
| Length | 260 km | ||
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Interstate 75 or I -75 is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Tennessee. The highway forms a north-south route through the east of the state, running from Chattanooga on the Georgia border through Knoxville to Jellico on the Kentucky border. Interstate 75 is 160 miles long.
- SEARCHFORPUBLICSCHOOLS: Provides a list of all public primary and high schools in Tennessee, including street address, contact phone, and zip code for each school.
Travel directions
I-75 in the suburbs of Chattanooga.
I-75 in Northern Tennessee.
Interstate 75 in Georgia comes from Atlanta and crosses the border into Tennessee at Chattanooga. Almost immediately after, the interchange follows with Interstate 24, which leads towards Nashville . I-75 runs through the eastern suburbs of Chattanooga and has 2×4 lanes here. After about 15 miles, the highway narrows to 2×2 lanes and then continues through rural eastern Tennessee.
This is followed by a 130 kilometer long route through more rural areas. I-75 runs northeast here in 2×2 lanes, parallel to the Tennessee River for some distance. There are a number of small towns along this stretch, Cleveland being the most important. The landscape consists of elongated ridges with meadows, partly some forest. At Loudon one crosses the Tennessee River and gradually enters the urban area of Knoxville.
Near Lenoir City, there is an interchange with Interstate 40 from Nashville. Then follows a 28-kilometer double-numbering of I-40 and I-75 as far as Knoxville. The highway here has 2×4 lanes and leads through an urbanized corridor west of the city itself. Interstate 140 joins at Farragut. On the west side of the city of Knoxville, I-40 and I-75 split, with I-40 passing through downtown and I-75 forming Knoxville’s bypass, which is also numbered Interstate 640. I-640 has 2×3 lanes.
On the north side of Knoxville, I-75 exits again and follows a 50-mile stretch through the Appalachian Mountains to the Kentucky border. This route leads through mountainous terrain with wooded ridges. I-75 rises here to nearly 700 meters above sea level. Unusual is the northernmost portion of I-75, which runs over the crest of a ridge, with ramps on either side of the highway. This is followed by another descent to 300 meters at Jellico, where the border with Kentucky follows. Interstate 75 in Kentucky then continues toward Lexington and Cincinnati.
- USPRIVATESCHOOLSFINDER.COM: Provides a list of all private primary and elementary schools in Tennessee, including street address, contact phone, and zip code for each school.
History
Before the construction of I-75, US 11 was the through route between Chattanooga and Knoxville and US 25 north of Knoxville. Construction on I-75 began after the launch of the Interstate Highway program in 1956. Construction began briskly, with the first section double-numbered with I-40 opening west of Knoxville in 1960. Quite large areas opened up in northern Tennessee and around Chattanooga during the 1960s, but construction on the section between Cleveland and the Knoxville area took a little longer and opened from 1973-1975.
Opening history
Exit are sometimes also mileposts.
| From | Unpleasant | Length | Opening |
| Exit 84 | Exit 385 (I-40) | 27 km | 00-12-1960 |
| Exit 160 | Exit 161 | 2 km | 00-05-1961 |
| Exit 2 | exit 12 | 16 km | 00-06-1963 |
| Exit 131 | Exit 134 | 5 km | 00-01-1964 |
| Exit 81 | Exit 84 (I-40) | 5 km | 00-03-1964 |
| exit 12 | Exit 26 | 23 km | 00-10-1966 |
| Exit 134 | Exit 160 | 42 km | 00-10-1968 |
| exit 112 | Exit 117 | 8 km | 00-06-1971 |
| Exit 26 | exit 35 | 14 km | 00-01-1973 |
| Exit 126 | Exit 127 | 2 km | 00-08-1973 |
| exit 35 | Exit 49 | 23 km | 00-12-1973 |
| Exit 49 | Exit 81 | 51 km | 00-12-1974 |
Widenings
Several sections of I-75 have been widened. The portion north and south of the interchange with I-24 was presumably widened to 2×3 lanes as early as the 1980s, and a small portion to 2×4 lanes. Around 2000 the half stack with State Route 153 was built. In the period 2000-2005, a further section from SR-153 to the Volkswagen factory was widened from 2×2 to 2×4 lanes. Around 2008, a further few kilometers were widened to 2×3 lanes beyond the junction with US 11. This completely broadened the part in the Chattanooga metropolitan area.
Presumably in the early 1980s, the portion that coincides with I-40 on the west side of the Knoxville area was widened to 2×3 lanes. In about 2005, the route west of Knoxville was widened from 2×3 to 2×4 lanes between Lovell Road and the Knoxville ring road interchange. The portion that coincides with Interstate 640 on the west side of Knoxville probably opened directly in 1982 with 2×3 lanes. Before that, I-75 went through downtown Knoxville. It is also possible that a few miles of I-75 north of I-640 was widened to 2×3 lanes, which was extended a few miles to Emory Road around 2000.
Between 2019 and 2021, the interchange with I-24 in Chattanooga was reconstructed.
Traffic intensities
93,000 vehicles drive daily on the Georgia border, rising to 108,000 vehicles for the I-24 interchange in Chattanooga and 122,000 vehicles north of I-24. This gradually drops to 52,000 vehicles at Cleveland and 40,000 to 55,000 vehicles further up to the Knoxville area, up to the interchange with I-40. The portion double-numbered with I-40 is the busiest of I-75 in Tennessee, rising to 84,000 vehicles immediately after the I-40 interchange, and 131,000 vehicles before the I-140 interchange. The busiest point is before the junction with I-40 in Knoxville with 194,000 vehicles per day.
The Knoxville bypass will have 77,000 vehicles running up to I-275 and 89,000 vehicles north of the city after the interchange with I-275/640. This then drops to 44,000 vehicles just outside Knoxville and 23,000 vehicles on the Kentucky border.
