Interstate 240 (Tennessee)

Infobox road
state=TN
type=I
route=240


maint=
length_mi=19.27
length_round=2
length_ref= [ [http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/table2.htm Route Log - Auxiliary Routes of the Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways - Table 2] ]
year_established=
direction_a=West
terminus_a=Jct|state=TN|I|40 in Memphis
junction=
direction_b=East
terminus_b=Jct|state=TN|I|40 in Memphis
previous_type=Secondary
previous_route=239
next_type=Secondary
next_route=240
browse=

Interstate 240 (abbreviated I-240) is an Interstate highway in the U.S. state of Tennessee. Running 19.27 miles or 31.0km, it loops southward from Interstate 40 in east Memphis, then turning west at TN 385 (Bill Morris Parkway). At I-55, the highway turns north and runs through midtown to end at I-40.

I-240 was first planned circa 1955, but it was to have been a 30.8 mile or 49.6km beltway to completely encircle midtown Memphis, with the exception of the segment between Interstates 40 and 55, which was proposed as Interstate 255. Later, that number was decommissioned in favor of I-240 running in a full loop, with I-40 running from downtown to east Memphis. However, in 1957 citizens collected 10,000 signatures protesting the route, which cut through Overton Park in midtown. The controversy lasted until the 1970s, when the Supreme Court ruled that the Overton Park route be canceled, shifting I-40 onto the northern leg of I-240. Part of the proposed I-40 route was already built -- from N. Highland St. east to the I-40/240 junction. The road is now called Sam Cooper Boulevard, and is owned by the city.Recently, the City of Memphis built an extension to the former I-40 section of Sam Cooper Blvd. This extension runs west from N. Tillman St. (the former entry/end point for Sam Cooper Boulevard) as a limited access "parkway" to East Parkway N. (a former exit for the proposed "Overton Park route").

The interstates overlapped around the northern bypass of Memphis for many years, but I-240 signs were later removed from the northern leg for reasons of redundancy. (The exit numbers for I-240 -- the exception being exits 1A-1C, which were changed to 1E-1G -- remain, causing redundancy on I-40 exits 1, 1A-G, 12, and 12A-C.)

I-240 has seen much reconstruction over the past decade, as area growth has demanded increased capacity. Both interchanges with I-40 are have been reconstructed (with further improvements coming to the East Memphis interchange in a few years) due to the amount of traffic taking I-40 through Memphis.

On January 18, 2008, the Federal Highway Administration authorized the states of Mississippi and Tennessee to extend I-69 from the I-40/TN 300 interchange in north Memphis to the I-55/I-69 interchange in Hernando; however, Tennessee has not yet signed the extension of the route, although Mississippi has already done so. [Capka, J. Richard (FHWA Administrator), [http://www.transportation.org/sites/route/docs/SIGNED%20TENNESSEE%20LETTER%20I-69%20I-55.pdf Letter to Paul D. Degges] (TDOT) dated January 18, 2008, retrieved May 28, 2008.]

Exit list

The exits on I-240 run clockwise from east to west, reflecting their initial numbering as part of a circumferential beltway.

References