Tennessee State Route 266
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Route information | ||||
| Maintained by TDOT | ||||
| Length: | 39.81 mi[1] (64.07 km) | |||
| Major junctions | ||||
| South end: |
 I-24 Exit 66 at Smyrna | |||
   US 41 / US 70S / SR 1 at Smyrna I-840 at Smyrna  US 231 / SR 10 at Walter Hill | ||||
| North end: |
  US 70 / SR 26 at Lebanon | |||
| Location | ||||
| Counties: | Rutherford, Wilson | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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State Route 266 (SR 266) is a state highway that exists within Rutherford County, Tennessee, USA. The western terminus is in a currently undeveloped section of Smyrna, Tennessee west of an interchange with Interstate 24. The eastern terminus is at Lebanon.
Route description
For most of its length through Smyrna, Route 266 is a four-lane highway called Sam Ridley Parkway, named for the mayor of the city from 1947 to 1987. (Sam Ridley was forced to resign in 1987 due to a conflict-of-interest suit; as a testament to his popularity, his identical twin brother Knox was promptly instated as mayor.)[2] Once an undeveloped highway forming part of a beltway around Smyrna and serving the Smyrna Airport, Sam Ridley Parkway now features numerous strip malls, apartments, a high school, and a hospital. Sam Ridley Parkway officially has a terminus at an intersection with Jefferson Pike, where the road becomes Nissan Drive/Tennessee State Route 102. State Route 266 continues eastward along Jefferson Pike. The Tennessee General Assembly, along with State Representative Mike Sparks and Senator Bill Ketron honored former Rutherford County Historian Ernie Johns by naming a section of Jefferson Pike, "Ernie Johns Honorary Highway." The Jefferson Pike section of highway from Sam Ridley Parkway to I-840 is in the process of being widened to a four lane highway.
Jefferson Pike is almost entirely undeveloped and rural, passing by a large Allied Waste landfill near Walterhill. It has an interchange with I-840, exit 61. The highway passes through Lascassas, an unincorporated community northeast of Murfreesboro, Tennessee and the geographical center of Tennessee.
History
The highway had severe roadworks in 2009 lasting for 8 months