Help me get around the I 75 Tennessee closure

[Mantooth]

I'll be taking the family to Sevierville in a couple weeks. We live in southern Indiana so I'll be driving through Lexington connecting to I 75 and heading to Knoxville. Obviously the rock slide closure is going to affect our travel plans.

From what I've read, traffic is detoured at Jelico onto Hwy 25 (two lane road) to Caryville. Any locals know a better route? I was thinking about using Hwy 27 to avoid the traffic and congestion on 25. Thoughts/recommendations.

Thanks.

 

[Shipo]

Motorist Detours (standard vehicles)


•Motorists traveling I-75 South can take Exit 160 (Jellico). Follow US 25W / SR 297 West to SR 63 South, and then re-enter I-75 South.
•Motorists traveling I-75 North can take Exit 134 (Caryville/Lafollette). Follow US 25W north to Lafollette, continuing to Jellico, and then re-enter I-75 North.

Wide-Load and Alternate Motorist Detours


•Wide-load traffic traveling I-75 South can take Exit 29 (Corbin) in Kentucky. Follow US 25E into Tennessee, and enter I-81 at Exit 8 (Morristown/White Pine).
•Wide-load traffic traveling I-75 North can take I-40 East to I-81 North Exit 8 (Morristown/White Pine). Follow US 25E, and enter I-75 at Exit 29 (Corbin) in Kentucky.

 

[VWRand]

How about I65 through Louisville to Nashville, and I40 to Knoxville? Avoid I75 completely ?

 

[linkbelt]

Call Tn. Dept. of Trans. for recorded alternate route updates. The number is: 1-877-244-0065

I don't think you have very many good, fast alternate routes avail. other than the detour routes as set up.

 

[BigD1]

If it were me, I would take the wide load route. I use to run that route when I was trucking, and the only bad part was the mountain there that we use to go over, but there are tunnels that go through the mountain now. It's called Cumberland Gap tunnel. It use to be one heck of a pull before they built the tunnels.

When you get to I-81 go south to I-40 west, and you won't be far from destination once you get on I-40.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: VWRand
How about I65 through Louisville to Nashville, and I40 to Knoxville? Avoid I75 completely ?




Not a bad idea. It's still quite scenic, and some nice things to do in Louisville if you have a day to spare.

 

[A_Harman]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Originally Posted By: VWRand
How about I65 through Louisville to Nashville, and I40 to Knoxville? Avoid I75 completely ?




Not a bad idea. It's still quite scenic, and some nice things to do in Louisville if you have a day to spare.


When I lived in southern Indiana, I took both routes to get to points south, and there's not a lot of difference in time. If you're into museums, there is the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY right off of I-65.

 

[Mantooth]

I'll probably look into the wide load route.

65 is a coin toss right now with traffic. Construction is being done south of the Brooks Rd exit in Bullitt Cty and can be a nightmare.