| content | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
This article contains information about a planned or expected future road. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change as the road's construction or completion approaches and more information becomes available. |
 |
 |
|||||||||
| U.S. Route 51 |
|||||||||
| Tennessee State Route 3 | |||||||||
 |
|||||||||
| Length: | 135.90 mi1 (218.71 km) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South end: | US 51 at Mississippi State Line |
||||||||
| Major junctions: |
 I-55 at Memphis, Tennessee
|
||||||||
| North end: |  Purchase Parkway/US 51 at Kentucky State Line |
||||||||
| Counties: | Shelby, Tipton, Lauderdale, Dyer, Obion | ||||||||
| Major cities: | Memphis, Millington, Covington, Ripley, Dyersburg, Troy, Union City, South Fulton | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
U.S. Route 51, mostly overlapped by the unsigned State Route 3 (SR 3), is a north-south state highway in the U.S. state of Tennessee, that is 135.9 miles (218.71 km) long2. It begins in Shelby County and ends in Obion County. The SR 3 designation is seen largely on mileposts.
The two places where US 51 and SR 3 differ are in Memphis, where US 51 has been moved to Danny Thomas Boulevard (State Route 1 / State Route 4), while SR 3 remains on the one-way pair of 2nd and 3rd Streets, and in South Fulton, where US 51 crosses the state line on State Route 215 to the Purchase Parkway, while SR 3 remains on the old road, now U.S. Route 451.
Contents |
Route description
US 51 enters Tennessee at Memphis and runs north through the cities of Millington, Covington, Henning, Ripley, Halls, Dyersburg, Troy, Union City, and South Fulton.
This highway crosses four interstate highways on its journey through the state and actually crosses Interstate 240 twice within the City of Memphis but interchanges with it only at Union Avenue. US 51 is the westernmost south-north United States Highway in the State of Tennessee. US 51 is an interstate standard facility1 from Dyersburg to South of Troy and then resuming interstate standard status north of Union City to South Fulton. US 51 is a four-lane or larger facility throughout the state with some sections north of Dyersburg carrying a 70MPH speed limit.
Near Henning is also the site of the Hatchie River Bridge collapse on April 1, 1989 that killed 8 motorists when 3 spans of the structure collapsed. The 54-year old bridge was 45 miles north of Memphis and carried the northbound lanes of US 51. Its collapse was the result of pier scour and movement of the river channel.3 4
US 51 carries the Tennessee Scenic Parkway designation from its junction with SR 385 in Millington to SR 104 in Dyersburg and also carries the Great River Road designation from US 64/US 70/US 79 in Memphis to SR 88 in Halls1.
Counties traversed (south to north)
US 51 traverses the counties shown in the table below2.
| Counties traversed by US 51 | ||
|---|---|---|
| County | miles | kilometers |
| Shelby | 33.1 | 53.2 |
| Tipton | 22.2 | 35.6 |
| Lauderdale | 25.0 | 40.2 |
| Dyer | 24.7 | 39.7 |
| Obion | 30.9 | 49.7 |
History
Historic two-lane alignments of this highway from Henning north are represented by State Route 209, a portion of State Route 88, State Route 210, State Route 211, a portion of State Route 183 and State Route 184. From Memphis to Henning, most of the original two lane road was upgraded to four lane expressway in the 1960's.
Future
Most of US 51 north of Dyersburg is expected to be upgraded as part of future Interstate 69. Plans currently call for Interstate 69 to run along the existing US 51 freeway from Dyersburg to Troy and from Union City to South Fulton. This section is part of SIU 7 for Interstate 69 and will require few changes beyond resigning the existing highway, however, a bypass route around Troy and Union City will need to be built before this section of future Interstate 69 is completed56. See Interstate 69 in Tennessee for further information.
Major intersections
| County | Location | Mile7 | Intersects | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 (unsigned) begins at Mississippi State Line. SR 3 overlaps for 11.32 miles. |
||||
| Shelby | Memphis | 1.80 |  SR-175 (East Shelby Drive) |
|
| 4.70 | I-55 - St. Louis, Jackson |
|||
| 9.31 |   US-78 (Lamar Avenue) / SR-4 (unsigned) |
|||
| 9.90 |     US-64 (Union Avenue) / US-70 / US-72 east / US-79 north |
Begin US 64, US 70, US 79 overlap. SR 3 changes to primary designation and continues northbound overlap with US 51. | ||
| 10.15 |  I-240 |
|||
| 11.32 |  US-64 west (Danny Thomas Blvd.) / US-70 / US-79 south / SR-1 |
End US 64, US 70, US 79 overlap. SR 1 overlap begins. | ||
| 12.12 |  I-40 - Little Rock, Nashville |
|||
| 12.46 |  SR-1 east (North Parkway) / SR-4 north (unsigned) |
Unsigned SR 1 overlap ends. Unsigned SR 4 overlap begins at North Parkway. | ||
| 12.49 |  SR-14 (Jackson Avenue) |
|||
 (unsigned) continues northbound. Unsigned SR 3 changes to primary designation and resumes overlap for 121.77 miles. |
||||
| 13.05 | SR-3 south (Chelsea Avenue) (unsigned) |
SR 4 overlap ends. SR 3 changes to primary designation and resumes overlap with US 51. | ||
| 15.51 |  SR-300 east (unsigned) to I-40 |
Eastbound Entrance. Highway is signed as "To I-40". | ||
| 18.37 |  SR-388 north (Watkins Street) |
To Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park | ||
| Millington | 26.71 |  SR-385 east (Paul Barret Parkway) |
||
| 27.73 |  SR-205 – Millington |
|||
| Tipton | 35.24 |  SR-178 north – Munford |
||
| 37.71 |  SR-206 (Atoka-Idaville Road) |
|||
| Covington | 47.24 |  SR-59 east – Somerville |
Unsigned SR 59 overlap begins. | |
| 49.28 |  SR-59 west |
Unsigned SR 59 overlap ends. | ||
| 50.39 |  SR-384 south (Industrial Road) |
|||
| Lauderdale | 56.50 |  SR-209 north – Henning |
||
| Henning | 58.06 |  SR-87 |
To Fort Pillow State Park | |
| Ripley | 61.99 |  SR-19 east – Brownsville |
Begin hidden SR 19 overlap. | |
| 63.68 |  SR-19 west – Ashport |
End hidden SR 19 overlap. | ||
| 64.59 |  SR-208 south – Ripley |
|||
| 72.03 |  SR-180 south – Gates, Nutbush |
|||
| 75.20 |  SR-88 – Halls |
|||
| Dyer | Dyersburg | 82.22 |  To SR-210 (Unionville Road) |
|
| 84.26 |   US-51 north (South Main Avenue) / SR-211 north (unsigned) |
|||
| 86.57 |  SR-104 (Forrest Street) |
|||
| 88.53 |  SR-78 (Lake Road) – Tiptonville |
To Reelfoot Lake State Park | ||
| 90.25 | US-51 south (St. John Avenue) / SR-211 (unsigned) |
Begin hidden SR 211 overlap. | ||
| Limited access freeway begins. (unsigned) exits and continues northbound. continues northbound on old highway. |
||||
| 91.85 |   US-412 east / SR-20 (unsigned) / SR-211 north – Jackson, Newbern |
End hidden SR 211 overlap. Begin US 412 overlap. | ||
| 92.24 |  I-155 west / US-412 west - St. Louis |
End US 412 overlap. | ||
| 97.05 |  SR-77 east – Newbern, Yorkville |
|||
| 104.32 |  SR-105 east – Trimble |
|||
| Obion | 108.29 |  SR-183 – Obion |
||
| Limited Access Freeway ends. (unsigned) continue northbound. |
||||
| 113.56 | SR-183 west |
|||
| Troy | 114.82 |  SR-21 west – Tiptonville |
Begin Unsigned SR 21 Overlap. | |
| 115.25 | SR-21 east |
End Unsigned SR 21 Overlap. | ||
| Union City | 122.01 |  SR-184 south |
Begin Unsigned SR 184 Overlap. | |
| 122.11 |  SR-431 south |
End Unsigned SR 184 Overlap. | ||
| 122.94 |   SR-22 north / SR-5 – Tiptonville, Samburg |
Begin SR 22 Overlap. To Reelfoot Lake State Park |
||
| 125.51 | SR-21 |
|||
Limited Access Freeway begins. (unsigned) continue northbound.  northbound overlaps for 7.74 miles. |
||||
| 127.08 | US-45W south / SR-22 south – Martin, Jackson |
End SR 22 Overlap. | ||
| 134.41 |  SR-214 south (Ken-Tenn Road) |
|||
 (unsigned) exits and continues northbound.  (unsigned) continue northbound on old highway. ends. |
||||
| 134.82 |  US-45 north / SR-3 (unsigned) / US-45E south / SR-215 (unsigned) – South Fulton, Martin |
End SR 3 Overlap. US 45 and unsigned SR 3 continue north. US 45E and unsigned SR 215 begin southbound overlap. US 51 and unsigned SR 215 begin northbound overlap. To Julian M. Carroll Purchase Parkway |
||
| (unsigned) ends at Kentucky State Line. overlap begins. |
||||
References
- ^ a b c d Tennessee Department of Transportation County Maps and City Maps
- ^ a b Tennessee Department of Transportation (24 January 2003). "State Highway and Interstate List 2003"
- ^ Haestad Methods, Inc., 13.9 Lateral Scour-The Hatchie River Bridge Failure
- ^ National Transporation Safety Board; July 24, 1990 Letter to Gov. Ned McWherter
- ^ Tennessee Department of Transportation Interstate 69 SIU 7 Project Home Page
- ^ I69Info.com Memphis-Evansville Section Details
- ^ retrieved from DeLorme Street Atlas USA
