Interstate 65 in Tennessee

This article is about the section of Interstate 65 in Tennessee. For the entire route, see Interstate 65.

Interstate 65 marker

Interstate 65

Albert Arnold Gore Sr. Memorial Highway

Route information

Maintained by TDOT

Length:

121.71 mi^[1] (195.87 km)

Existed:

1958 – present

Major junctions

South end:

I‑65 at Alabama state line

US 64 near Frankewing

US 412 in Columbia

SR 840 near Franklin

I-440 in Nashville

US 70 / US 431 in Nashville

I-40 in Nashville

I-24 in Nashville

US 31W / US 41 in Nashville

North end:

I-65 at Kentucky state line

Location

Counties:

Giles, Marshall, Maury, Williamson, Davidson, Sumner, Robertson

Highway system

Interstate Highway System

Tennessee State Routes

←

SR 64

SR 65

→

Interstate 65 (I-65) runs from Ardmore north in Tennessee to just south of Franklin, Kentucky, forming part of the national Interstate 65, which goes from Mobile, Alabama, to Gary, Indiana. In Tennessee the highway's official name is the Albert Arnold Gore Sr. Memorial Highway.

Route description

I-65 enters Tennessee from the south near the town of Ardmore, and passes through mostly rural territory for 65 miles (105 km). At exit 1 (Tennessee State Route 7), US-31 separates from the Interstate, having merged at Athens, Alabama, and immediately services Elkton. After skimming the edges of Columbia and Spring Hill, the road's first city in Tennessee is Franklin. Then the route travels through Brentwood, Tennessee, Downtown Nashville, Madison, Goodlettsville, White House, and it exits near Portland into Kentucky to the north.

I-65 Southbound in Nashville.

Northbound I-65 travels concurrently with I-24/I-40 at separate points in Nashville, forming a small loop around the center of the city.

History

A small part of I-65 was the first interstate Highway opened to traffic in Tennessee. A 1.8-mile (2.9 km) section near the Alabama–Tennessee state line opened on November 15, 1958. The McDowell and McDowell Construction company had started work on the interchange in May 1957.^[2] Until 2000, the 2-mile (3.2 km) northern leg of the loop in Nashville was designated as Interstate 265. On April 7, 2000, the I-265 designation vanished, and I-65 itself was re-routed from the southern and eastern half of the loop (where it traveled concurrently with I-24/I-40) to the western and northern half of the loop (where it travels concurrently with I-40 only on the western side, and has the northern stretch to itself). Nashville–Davidson County's city/county government had argued to have the designations changed in order to help alleviate traffic congestion caused by motorists' following I-65 through the main body of the city.^[3]^[4] Because of this, the new I-65 route is approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) longer than the previous route. Mile markers north of Nashville were not changed with the reroute, so they do not accurately represent the length of I-65 in Tennessee.

Exit list

County	Location	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Giles			I‑65 south – Birmingham	Continuation into Alabama
		1	US 31 / SR 7 – Ardmore, Pulaski, Lawrenceburg, Huntsville	Northern end of US 31 overlap
		6	SR 273 – Elkton
		14	US 64 / SR 15 (Fayetteville Highway) – Pulaski, Fayetteville
Marshall		22	US 31A (Sam Davis Highway, Lewisburg Highway) – Pulaski, Lewisburg
		27	SR 129 (Lynnville Road)
		32	SR 373 (Mooresville Highway) – Lewisburg
Maury	Columbia	37	SR 50 – Columbia
Maury	Columbia	46	US 412 / SR 99 (Sylvester Chunn Highway) – Columbia
Williamson		53	SR 396 (Saturn Parkway) – Spring Hill
		59	SR 840 – Memphis, Dickson, Knoxville, Murfreesboro
	Franklin	61	SR 248 (Peytonsville Road) – Spring Hill
		65	SR 96 – Franklin
		67	McEwen Drive
		68	Cool Springs Boulevard
	Brentwood	69	SR 441 (Moores Lane)
	Brentwood	71	SR 253 (Concord Road) – Brentwood
Davidson	Nashville	74	SR 254 (Old Hickory Boulevard) – Brentwood
		78	SR 255 (Harding Place)
		79	Armory Drive
		80	I-440 – Memphis, Knoxville	I-440 exit 5
		81	Wedgewood Avenue
		82	I-40 east – Knoxville	Southern end of I-40 overlap, east exit 210, west exit 210B; concurrency uses I-40 exit numbers
		209	Demonbreun Street
		209A	US 70 / US 70S / US 431 (Broadway)
		209B	US 70 (Charlotte Pike/Church Street)
		84	I-40 west – Memphis	Northern end of I-40 overlap, west exit 208, east exit 208B
		85	US 41A / SR 12 (Rosa L. Parks Boulevard) – Downtown Nashville	Formerly MetroCenter Boulevard and 8th Avenue, officially changed to current name on August 6, 2007
		86	I-24 east – Chattanooga, Knoxville	Southern end of I-24 overlap, west exit 46B
		87	US 431 (Trinity Lane)
		88	I-24 west – Clarksville	Northern end of I-24 overlap, east exit 44B
		90A	US 31W / US 41 (Dickerson Pike)
		90B	SR 155 (Briley Parkway)
		92	SR 45 (Old Hickory Boulevard)
		95	SR 386 (Vietnam Veterans Boulevard) – Hendersonville, Gallatin
		96	Rivergate Parkway – Goodlettsville
		97	SR 174 (Long Hollow Pike) – Goodlettsville, Gallatin
Sumner		98	US 31W / US 41 – Millersville
Robertson		104	SR 257 (Bethel Road) – Ridgetop
		108	SR 76 – White House, Springfield
		112	SR 25 – Cross Plains, Springfield, Gallatin
		117	SR 52 – Portland, Orlinda
			I-65 north – Louisville	Continuation into Kentucky
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi Concurrency terminus