End of US highway 321 |
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1930-1932
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1932-1949
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1949-1960
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1960-1981
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1981-present
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Summa
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Mileage: in 1989 AASHTO listed a figure of 552 miles for US 321... however, that included the mileage of US 321's associated business/bypass/alternate routes. According to the state subtotals on AASHTO's 1989 spreadsheet, mainline US 321's actual end-to-end total at the time was 526 miles. That is reasonably close to our own 2020 measurement, which yielded 513.5 miles (reroutings and realignments likely explain the difference).
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Claim to fame: US 321 is the only US route that makes a 180-degree change in signed direction from a single point. From its junction with US 19E in Elizabethton, both directions are signposted as "South".
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US 321 was originally commissioned in 1930 to begin at its parent route (US 21) in Chester. However, as can be seen on the map below, at first US 321 followed a different path between Chester and Lowrys, passing through the community of Airlee:
c. 1939, Rand McNally
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US 321 was probably always signposted to the town center (the intersection of Main and Center streets). Originally the route went northeast, following York Street/Old York Road, but in 1949 it was changed to head northwest via Center Street. This photo was taken just a couple years after that, and it shows what was most likely the first northbound US 321 shield (albeit for a very short time):
SCDoT, March 1951
That was looking northwest, where Pinckney Road (now Business SC 9) diverges from Center (now Business 321).
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From Chester, US 321 went north into Tennessee (more info on the Bristol page).
In 1932 the north end was truncated to Boone. In 1949 the south end of US 321 was extended to Hardeeville. In 1960 the north end of US 321 was extended westward, over to Elizabethton TN, and then southwest to a new terminus in Johnson City. It followed today's TN hwy. 91 into town, ending at its junction with US 23 (which at the time was carried by Roan Street). This photo was looking west on Market Street (TN 91) approaching Roan:
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Cozart/Nitzman, Aug. 2003
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US 23 is now concurrent with I-26 (which runs just behind the camera), so Roan is no longer a numbered highway, but these signs direct traffic to use Roan to access University Parkway and interchange 24. Historically, US 321 ended at the signal ahead.
In about 1981, things began to get strange: the US 321 designation was extended south and west from Johnson City, along the foot of the Smoky Mountains (see this page for the historical background on how that came to be). This created a considerable complication: as one headed north from Hardeeville, the road was obviously signed "North". But the road could not continue to be signed "North" heading out of Johnson City, now that it went southwest from there for another 130 miles. The solution that Tennessee chose was to sign US 321 "South" heading both directions out of Elizabethton (which is the northernmost reach of US 321). Because of this, US 321 now has two south ends -- and no north end. Heading west from Boone on northbound US 321, the road picks up westbound TN hwy. 67 near Butler TN, and at Hampton it is joined by northbound US 19E traffic.
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Continuing west toward Elizabethton, the roads are signed like this:
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Elkins
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Fine. But look what happens after US 19E splits off in Elizabethton... we are still heading west on TN 67, but now US 321 is going south:
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Elkins
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This photo was taken from the opposite direction, heading into Elizabethton from Johnson City on northbound US 321/eastbound TN 67:
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Elkins
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But then, after we pick up southbound US 19E, suddenly we are heading south on 321:
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Elkins
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And check out this one, heading south on US 19E into Elizabethton, at the junction with US 321:
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Elkins
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Notice that directional markers were not even posted on that sign. Probably just as well -- it would be very confusing to come to that intersection and see that both directions on US 321 are "South". So there is no north end of US 321, but that junction is the nearest equivalent (all of those photos, plus more info, can be found on this Elizabethton page).
Now, let us move on to the actual terminus of US 321 in Tennessee -- its "other" south end. These shots were from the eastbound I-40 off ramp (exit 364, west of Knoxville), at what TN considers the south beginning of US 321:
Sanderson, Oct. 2000
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Karners, Apr. 2014
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Turner, Nov. 2023
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This junction is within the city limits of Lenoir City, although the downtown area is about seven miles ahead. If a driver takes that right turn, they soon encounter the first northbound confirming assembly:
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Karners, Apr. 2014
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Turner, Nov. 2023
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Despite that "North" tab, the road is actually heading south there, although US 321 eventually does curve to begin heading northeast along the Smokies. This photo shows the TN end of US 321:
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Hamilton, fall 2000 (unchanged as of 2014)
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Even though that is the "south" end of US 321 (or one of its two south ends), the road is actually heading north at that point. How could all of this awkwardness have been avoided?
There was no problem with the 1961 extension of the US 321 designation into Johnson City. But in 1981, south of there, all the way down to Newport, US 321 was overlapped with existing US roads for about 70 miles. The southernmost part of that stretch (from Greeneville to Newport) was initially concurrent with US 411. But later the US 411 designation was removed and truncated back to I-40, even though 411 was a much more appropriate number for that segment. So, it wasn't until south of Newport, at I-40 interchange 440, where there was a true necessity for a new US route designation. And that is so far from Johnson City that it did not make sense to extend US 321 all the way down to that point. If TNDoT wanted to unify their scenic route with a single designation, they could have easily accomplished that by assigning it a state route number -- there was no need to awkwardly involve US 321.
But now that US 321 has been there for over 30 years, an easier solution would be to simply sign the entire Tennessee segment as east-west. There are precedents for that: several other US routes include a 90-degree change in signed direction, especially in states where the US route designation terminates. But as it stands currently, US 321 is the only example of a US route that makes a 180-degree change in signed direction from a single junction.
But now that US 321 has been there for over 30 years, an easier solution would be to simply sign the entire Tennessee segment as east-west. There are precedents for that: several other US routes include a 90-degree change in signed direction, especially in states where the US route designation terminates. But as it stands currently, US 321 is the only example of a US route that makes a 180-degree change in signed direction from a single junction.
Research and/or photo credits: Justin Cozart; H.B. Elkins; Alan Hamilton; Karin and Martin Karner; Steven Nelson; Alex Nitzman; Mike Roberson; Dale Sanderson; Michael Summa; Charles Turner
Page originally created 2000;
last updated Dec. 4, 2023.
last updated Dec. 4, 2023.
