Cumberland Gap Tunnel Opening Ceremony
H.B. Elkins
The Cumberland Gap Tunnel on US 25E between Middlesboro, KY and
Harrogate, TN, opened to traffic Friday after a ceremony involving
officials from Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Read all about it at
the following URL:
http://www.kentuckyconnect.com/heraldleader/news/1019/met1main.html
For those of you who keep track of such things, US 25E no longer runs
through Virginia. The tunnel routes the road directly into Tennessee
from Kentucky (or vice versa, depending on which way you're going).
Also, US 58 is now no longer only in Virginia. A portion of the old
route of 25E in Tennessee is now signed as 58 to allow a connection to
the new 25E. So now, 58 runs through two states, Virginia and
Tennessee. (Contrary to some reports I've read, US 58 does not go into
Kentucky, but it comes pretty close).
The portion of 25E that ran up the mountain from Middlesboro, into
Virginia, then down the hill into Tennessee, will be ripped up and
turned into a wagon trail to simulate its appearance when settlers
crossed the gap into Kentucky. Something similar will be done to that
small portion of US 58 in Virginia which is no longer being used for
vehicular traffic.
I do not know how this will affect access to the town of Cumberland
Gap, TN, which at one time was accessible from a Virginia secondary
route that ran from the old junction of 25E and 58 in Virginia into
town. US 25E once ran right through Cumberland Gap, Tn., meaning that
the tunnel route is the third incarnation of 25E through the area.
About eight years ago, there was an old cutout US 25E shield with the
state name (Tennessee) there in Cumberland Gap along the old route.
Don't know if it's still there or not.
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H.B. Elkins -- Winchester, KY
"You must have the courage to believe the truth!" -- Rush H. Limbaugh III
Kentucky Wildcats Basketball & #3 Dale Earnhardt -- A Championship Combination
hbel...@mis.net <or> HB...@aol.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tim Brown
h-b-e...@mis.net (H.B. Elkins) writes:
>About eight years ago, there was an old cutout US 25E shield with the
>state name (Tennessee) there in Cumberland Gap along the old route.
>Don't know if it's still there or not.
Good ol' 25-E. Tennessee is the undisputed king of split U.S. routes.
They have 25-E & 25-W, 31-E & 31-W, 70-N & 70-S, and a few others. A
couple of them spill over into Kentucky. I think Ohio used to have a 6-N.
--
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STOP PUBLIC SCHOOL UNIFORMS -- IT'S YOUR FIGHT!
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Mr. John E. Simpson
Tim Brown says:
> Tennessee is the undisputed king of split U.S. routes.
> They have 25-E & 25-W, 31-E & 31-W, 70-N & 70-S, and a few others. A
> couple of them spill over into Kentucky. I think Ohio used to have a 6-N.
>
near Mill Village to West Springfield. Ohio has gotten rid of all of
its divided US highways. It does still have two alternate US routes
(Alt 20 west of Toledo and Alt 6 from Rocky River to Cleveland).
--
John Simpson -- Cincinnati, OH
John.S...@prodigy.com OR John.S...@sdrc.com
Exile on Market Street
KFX...@prodigy.com (Mr. John E. Simpson) wrote:
>Tim Brown says:
>> Tennessee is the undisputed king of split U.S. routes.
>> They have 25-E & 25-W, 31-E & 31-W, 70-N & 70-S, and a few others. A
>> couple of them spill over into Kentucky. I think Ohio used to have a 6-N.
>>
>US 6N still exists in Pennsylvania, running from the US 6-19 junction
>near Mill Village to West Springfield.
There's also US 9W in New York and the northeast tip of New Jersey.
____________________________________________________________________________
Sandy Smith, Exile on Market Street, Philadelphia smi...@pobox.upenn.edu
Univ of Pennsylvania, News and Public Affairs 215.898.1423/fax 215.898.1203
I speak for myself here, not Penn http://pobox.upenn.edu/~smiths/
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