The 1983 Tennessee state highway renumbering occurred when the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) took control of approximately 3300miles of city and county maintained roads, designating them as state routes. As part of this process, most state routes with suffixed or special designations were renumbered with general numerical designations, and the state route system was divided into primary and secondary highways.
The Tennessee Department of Highways, predecessor to the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT), was founded in 1915, and gradually assumed control of major routes throughout the state. The first 78 state routes were designated on October 1, 1923,[1] and additional routes were added over the course of the succeeding decades. By the time of the 1983 takeover, the state route system consisted of approximately 175 numbered routes, in addition to many special suffixed routes. Suffixes and special designations used included "-A" for alternate, "-Byp" for bypass, "-Bus" for business routes, "-Conn" and "-Spur" for connector and spur routes, and "-Temp" for temporary routes. The Tennessee state route shield consisted of a white inverted triangle with the number in large black print and the letters "Tenn" below in smaller capital letters.[2]
As traffic increased on roadways throughout the state, many counties increasingly struggled to appropriate the funding to maintain their major roads, many of which connected to Interstate Highways.[3] In addition, a 1983 study conducted by TDOT found that a number of important roads were partially maintained by both the state and local governments.[4]
In May 1983, Tennessee Governor Lamar Alexander signed legislation which allowed for the state to assume control of 3300miles of city and county maintained roads, and made an additional 11500miles of rural roads eligible for state aid.[5] TDOT took control of these roads on July 1, 1983, and incorporated them into the state route system.[6] [7] In addition, as part of this process, the state renumbered most of their suffixed and special routes with by replacing them with extensions or rerouting of existing routes or entirely new designations altogether.[4] State routes were also divided into primary and secondary highways, with new primary shields unveiled to the public in November 1983;[8] secondary routes retained the inverted triangle shields, with the "Tenn" removed. Primary designations were given to highway sections that are part of the Federal-aid primary highway system, and secondary routes, commonly called county routes, are part of the Federal-aid secondary highway system. The sign changes were implemented in 1984 at a cost of $1.3 million (equivalent to $ in).[8]
| SR 1 Byp. | Located in Dickson. The old route of SR 1 became part of SR 235. | ||
| SR 1 Byp. | Located in McMinnville. The old route of SR 1 became SR 380. | ||
| SR 1 Spur | Eastern spur. | ||
| SR 1 Spur | Western spur; the old route of SR 4 became SR 278. | ||
| SR 2A | Replaced by part of SR 317. | ||
| SR 2 Bus. | |||
| SR 2 Byp. | SR 2 was rerouted from US 11 onto the US 11 Bypass in Cleveland, replacing SR 2 Byp.; An extension of SR 74 replaced SR 2's original alignment. | ||
| SR 2 Loop | |||
| SR 2 Spur | |||
| SR 3 Byp. | Located in Dyersburg; the old route of SR 2 became part of SR 211. | ||
| SR 3 Byp. | SR 3 | Located in Union City; the old route of SR 3 became part of SR 184. | |
| SR 3 Spur | |||
| SR 4 Spur | None | Decommissioned | |
| SR 5A | |||
| SR 5 Bus. | |||
| SR 5 Byp. | Component route to US 45 Byp. in Jackson; replaced by part of SR 186. | ||
| SR 5 Byp. | |||
| SR 8 Spur | |||
| SR 10A | |||
| SR 11 Byp. | Replaced by an extension of SR 106. | ||
| SR 14A | Replaced by part of SR 175. | ||
| SR 15 Byp. | The old route of SR 15 became part of SR 273. | ||
| SR 18A | |||
| SR 20A | |||
| SR 22 Byp. | Replaced by a rerouting of SR 22 in Huntingdon; the old route became SR 22 Business. | ||
| SR 24A | Replaced by a extension of SR 26 in Lebanon. | ||
| SR 27 Spur | Replaced by an extension of SR 29. | ||
| SR 28 (part) | SR 283 | SR 28 was rerouted over part of SR 27 and existing county roads, and the old route of SR 28 and the separated part of SR 27 became SR 283. | |
| SR 29A | |||
| SR 29A Spur | |||
| SR 29 Byp. | Replaced by a rerouting of SR 29; the old route became SR 378. | ||
| SR 32 Byp. | Replaced by a rerouting of SR 32; the old route became SR 343. | ||
| SR 34 Byp. | Replaced by a rerouting of SR 34 in Johnson City; a section of the old route became an extension of SR 91, while the remainder of the old route was decommissioned. | ||
| SR 34 Byp. | SR 34 | Replaced by a rerouting of SR 34 in Greeneville | |
| SR 34 Spur | None | Appears to have been decommissioned. | |
| SR 40 Byp. | Original companion designation for APD-40 (US 64 Byp.) in Cleveland; replaced by a new designation (which replaced the old route of SR 60) and a rerouting of SR 60. | ||
| SR 43 Byp. | Road is shown as an unlabeled state highway on pre-1983 maps. | ||
| SR 43 Spur | |||
| SR 50A | |||
| SR 55 Bus. | |||
| SR 56A | |||
| SR 58A | |||
| SR 67A | |||
| SR 69 Byp. | Replaced by a rerouting of SR 69; the section of the old route that was not already part of SR 76 became SR 356. | ||
| SR 73 Scenic | SR 73 Scenic is still posted. | ||
| SR 76 Byp. | Replaced by an extension of SR 76; the old route became SR 369. | ||
| SR 77 Spur? | |||
| SR 81A | |||
| SR 83 | Replaced by a rerouting of SR 4; SR 83 was reassigned as an upgrade of existing county roads. | ||
| SR 85A | |||
| SR 87A | |||
| SR 93A | |||
| SR 93 Bus. | Replaced by an extension of SR 126. | ||
| SR 101 (part) | SR 101 rerouted over existing county roads; old route replaced by part of new SR 285 and new SR 301. | ||
| SR 112A | SR 76 | Replaced by a rerouting of SR 76 | |
| SR 140 (part) | SR 140 rerouted over existing county roads; old route replaced by SR 218. | ||
| SR 148A | Replaced by an extension of SR 148; the old route became SR 318. | ||
| SR 156A | |||
| SR 42 Bus.? | Unclear if old the old route of SR 42 in Livingston was redesignated or turned back when SR 42 was rerouted over the bypass; this road became part of SR 294. | ||
| new? | Upgraded county roads except for possibly the Robinson Bridge section. | ||
| new? | May be upgraded county roads, but may have had a pre-1983 designation. |