APD-40
APD-40 or APD 40 is a road composed of the U.S. Route 64 Bypass and a section of State Route 60 which forms a partial beltway around the business district of Cleveland, Tennessee. The route takes its name from its part of Corridor K of the Appalachian Development Highway System and is sometimes called Appalachian Highway or simply the Cleveland Bypass. The route is also designated as Veterans Memorial Highway. The US 64 Byp. section of the road is multiplexed with unsigned State Route 311 and US 74. The road is a four-lane divided highway its entire length, and parts are controlled-access. The bypass is an east–west route, and the state route runs north–south.
APD-40 runs counterclockwise from Interstate 75 in southwest Cleveland around the business district to US 11 near the geographic center of the city. The route arose out of an effort to relieve congestion around downtown Cleveland, and the first section was constructed along with I-75 as a spur into the city, opening in 1966. The remainder of the route was constructed in three sections between 1970 and 1975. Since then, the growth of the city of Cleveland has resulted in traffic volumes that have placed considerable congestion and safety hazards on parts of the route.
Route description
APD-40 is maintained by the Tennessee Department of Transportation, along with all other Interstate, US, and state highways in Tennessee. The entire route is part of the National Highway System, a national network of roads identified as important to the national economy, defense, and mobility; the US 64 Bypass section is one of the few non-Interstate components in Tennessee of the Strategic Highway Network, a sublevel of the NHS that is important to the country's defense policy. In 2024, annual average daily traffic volumes ranged from 23,194 vehicles per day at the Cherokee Gateway interchange to 36,355 vehicles per day between SR 74 and US 64.APD-40 begins at the Exit 20 interchange on I-75 as US 64 Byp., which is also the western terminus of Corridor K. Beginning as controlled-access, it rounds a minor curve to the southeast and enters a long straightaway on the edge of the city limits of Cleveland. It comes to an interchange first with the Cherokee Gateway and then US 11/US 64 approximately later. The route then crosses Candies Creek Ridge on a relatively steep grade, and about from the Interstate, the freeway ends, and the road enters South Cleveland, passing an industrial park with several major factories and manufacturers before crossing a Norfolk Southern Railway. It then crosses Lead Mine Ridge; junctions at an interchange with Blue Springs Road, a connector to Red Clay State Historic Park in southern Bradley County; and crosses another Norfolk Southern railroad. The road travels for about through a business and residential area before crossing SR 60 and intersecting with McGrady Drive, which is a connector to SR 60. The road then curves sharply to the northeast and becomes a limited-access highway, reaching an interchange with SR 74 about later. Bypassing Cleveland to the east on the edge of the East Cleveland community, the route enters a straightaway, and about later, APD-40 once again becomes a freeway, interchanging with US 64 in a cloverleaf interchange and becoming SR 60. Here the ADHS corridor splits from the route and continues east on US 64 into North Carolina. The road curves slightly to the northwest and has an interchange with Benton Pike. It then has an interchange with Overhead Bridge Road; crosses this road, a Norfolk Southern line, and 20th Street on a single set of bridges; and has an interchange with the latter. The highway then curves again to the northwest where the freeway ends about later and the road becomes 25th Street, entering into a commercial area near the geographic center of Cleveland. The road intersects with US 11 about later and I-75 a few miles beyond this point, continuing north eventually to Dayton.
History
Background and construction
The route that is now APD-40 was originally proposed and built to relieve congestion and divert commercial through traffic away from downtown Cleveland that increased as a result of industrial and residential growth. The initial plans for I-75 in Cleveland included two interchanges: one with a connector to US 11/64 southwest of the city and another with SR 60 near what was then the northwestern city limits. Both of these routes were intended to be four-lane spurs, with the former an entirely new road and the latter a widening and relocation of SR 60. Two projects preceded APD-40: the construction of the four-lane alignment of SR 60 from north of I-75 to the US 11 Bypass between 1963 and 1965, and the widening of 25th Street between the US 11 Bypass and US 11 from 1968 to 1969. On December 19, 1963, state highway commissioner David Pack rejected a petition by residents of the McDonald community and the Hamilton County community of Ooltewah to relocate the I-75 interchange with what is now APD-40 to the southwest. These residents had argued the shift would be more beneficial to their communities and believed that the proposed location was impractical since it was in an area that was sparsely populated at the time.The first section of APD-40, located between I-75 and US 11/64, was constructed at the same time as the corresponding section of I-75 between Ooltewah and SR 60 in Cleveland. The first contract was let on December 13, 1963, and the stretch was officially opened on October 18, 1966, along with I-75. When the ADHS was created by the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965, the section between I-75 and US 64, as well as US 64 into North Carolina, became part of Corridor K. Construction of the extension to US 64, as well as the widening of US 64 to four lanes between Cleveland and Ocoee, was subsequently funded by this legislation. The design for this extension was approved by the Federal Highway Administration in November 1969. The contract for the segment between US 11/64 and Blythe Avenue, about east of Blue Springs Road, was awarded on January 30, 1970, and construction was completed in November 1971. The contract to construct the segment between Blythe Avenue and US 64, including the cloverleaf interchange with the latter, was awarded on November 19, 1971, and the segment was completed in August 1973.
While not initially planned, the need to provide a continuous loop around Cleveland to relieve congestion and improve mobility was quickly realized. A public hearing was held on November 5, 1969, on the possibility of extending the bypass between US 64 and US 11. Unlike the other sections, however, this project required an environmental impact statement since it had not been approved prior to the enactment of the National Environmental Policy Act. The EIS was approved on December 20, 1971, and the design was subsequently approved by the FHWA in July 1972. In preparation for this project, the Tennessee Valley Authority began relocating a subtransmission line in April 1973, and construction began the following November. On April 3, 1974, construction equipment was damaged by winds from a nearby tornado that was part of a record-breaking tornado outbreak in the United States and Canada. Grading and bridge construction was completed by the end of that year, and the entire project was completed in October 1975, one month behind schedule. This was one of the first highway projects in Tennessee to utilize jersey barrier-style bridge railings, which had recently been deemed safer than conventional designs after crash tests.
Traffic hazards and later history
Early in its history, APD-40 developed a notoriety for its high rate of traffic accidents. In 1973, an at-grade intersection with Varnell Road, located at the bottom of the steep downgrade on the western slope of Candies Creek Ridge, was reconstructed with an overpass after many accidents occurred immediately after being opened to traffic. Prior to construction, the then-incumbent superintendent of the Bradley County Road Department had reportedly requested TDOT to make this change to the design, but they had refused. That same year, TDOT considered replacing the at-grade intersection with Blackburn Road with an underpass, but a number of residents requested that access between the roads remain. The intersection continued to see frequent accidents and, in 1985, was improved in a project that constructed new turn lanes and added a traffic signal. As Cleveland grew and traffic increased over the succeeding decades, several of the interchanges, some of which have advisory speeds, started to become problematic. The Benton Pike interchange especially became a point of contention when Whirlpool Corporation moved their plant onto this road from downtown Cleveland in 2012, resulting in a large increase in truck traffic and crashes. As a result, TDOT installed additional warning signs at all of the interchanges with hazardous ramps in 2015. However, most of the route has changed little since its initial construction, and TDOT has at times been accused of neglecting these safety hazards.After many years of proposals and lobbying from local officials, TDOT began a project in August 2013 to rework the interchange with I-75. The original route narrowed at the interchange and crossed the Interstate on a two-lane bridge, which had come to experience backups at nearly all times during the day. The project was completed and dedicated on December 15, 2015. The old bridge was replaced with a six-lane bridge, and the ramps were rebuilt and widened, with turn lanes added.
In 2005, plans for a new interchange between I-75 and US 11/64 began to materialize in order to allow commercial development in this area, and in 2009, TDOT undertook a feasibility study for this project. This project was further spearheaded in the early 2010s, when the city and county planned a controversial publicly owned industrial park directly south of this section of APD-40. Construction on the interchange began in early 2015, and it was completed and dedicated on May 12, 2017. The industrial park was opposed and criticized by many locals as a boondoggle and waste of taxpayer money, as well as corporate welfare. Subsequently, TDOT's decision to construct this interchange was criticized as pork barrel and a prioritization over more urgent needs in the area, such as improvements to other hazards on APD-40.