Pellissippi Parkway

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

The Pellissippi Parkway is a major highway in Knox and Blount counties near Knoxville, Tennessee. It runs about 19.75 miles from State Route 62 at Solway to SR 33 in Alcoa. It provides fast access from Knoxville to Oak Ridge and Maryville and serves important scientific sites such as Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the Y-12 National Security Complex. The central part of the parkway is Interstate 140 (I-140); the remainder is State Route 162 (SR 162). The entire route is part of the National Highway System, a network important to the economy, defense, and mobility of the country. The name Pellissippi comes from an old name for the Clinch River.

Where it runs
- Northern SR 162 section: 5.84 miles from SR 62 at Solway to I-40/I-75 in Knoxville.
- I-140 section: 11.17 miles from I-40/I-75 to US 129 in Alcoa.
- Southern SR 162 section: 2.74 miles from US 129 to SR 33 in Alcoa.

Key features
- The northern part is a four-lane limited-access highway; the rest is a controlled-access highway.
- I-140 is signed as east–west, while both SR 162 sections are signed as north–south.
- Major interchanges include connections with I-40/I-75, Kingston Pike (US 11/US 70), US 129 (Alcoa Highway), SR 333 (Topside Road), and SR 33 near Eagleton Village.

History in brief
- The first section, between I-40/I-75 and Hardin Valley Road, was built in 1970–1973 and opened by 1972–1973; it was dedicated in 1974.
- The extension to US 129 in Alcoa opened in stages from 1992 to 1996.
- The last major link to I-40/I-75 opened in 1996, completing the current parkway alignment.
- A proposed extension beyond SR 33 to US 321 has been discussed since the 1970s but has faced strong local opposition and delays. As of now, construction has not started.
- The Tennessee River bridge portion was dedicated in 1997 as the Alexander “Sandy” Bonnyman Memorial Bridge.
- Improvements to interchanges, such as the Hardin Valley Road ramp project, were completed in 2022.

Traffic and notes
- In 2024, daily traffic ranged from about 81,000 vehicles south of I-40/I-75 to about 13,000 vehicles at the eastern end near Eagleton Village.
- The parkway crosses the Clinch River and Fort Loudon Lake and runs along a diagonal southeast–northwest path, with the I-140 portion signed east–west and the SR 162 portions signed north–south.