U.S. Route 31W
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| U.S. Route 31W |
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| South end: |       U.S. Routes 31/31E/41/431/Tennessee Routes 6/11 in Nashville, TN |
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| North end: |  U.S. Routes 31/31E/60 in Louisville, KY |
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U.S. Highway 31W is the westernmost of two parallel routes for U.S. Highway 31 from Nashville, Tennessee to Louisville, Kentucky. (At one time, it split with U.S. Highway 31E at Sellersburg, Indiana, north of Louisville.)
The highway passes through Goodlettsville and White House, Tennessee; and Franklin, Bowling Green, Cave City, Horse Cave, Munfordville, Elizabethtown and Radcliff, Kentucky. It passes within a half mile on an entrance to Mammoth Cave National Park near Park City, Kentucky. It also passes through Fort Knox near Radcliff, within sight of the U.S. Bullion Depository.
Most of U.S. 31W's route was part of the old Dixie Highway from the National Auto Trail program, the predecessor to the United States Numbered Highways system. Many of the cities through which 31W traverses still give it a local street name of "Dixie Highway" or "Dixie Avenue." Some portions date back further, to the Louisville and Nashville Turnpike, which began construction in the 1830s.
Interstate 65 closely parallels 31W from Nashville to Elizabethtown, and intersects with I-65 several times. U.S. 31W intersects with the William H. Natcher Parkway at Bowling Green, the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway at Elizabethtown, and Interstate 264 (Watterson Expressway) in Louisville. It crosses U.S. Highway 68 and U.S. Highway 231 at Bowling Green, and U.S. Highway 62 at Elizabethtown. It overlaps with U.S. Highway 60 from Muldraugh, Kentucky to Louisville.
