The Most Dangerous Highway Stretches in Tennessee Run Through Nashville

Living in Owensboro, many of us have traveled to Louisville and Nashville more times than we can remember. I don't know how many times I've visited both cities, so, just like you, perhaps, I've been able to compare traffic over the years.

Driving in Louisville

From about the mid-1970s until a couple of years ago, roadwork was always happening in Louisville. It drove me crazy. I hated driving through it, and driving around it on the Watterson Expressway (I-264) wasn't much better. (I-265 isn't bad, but it's really long.) Recently, however, the interstates have improved significantly in downtown Louisville, allowing Derby City to surpass Nashville in my estimation.

Driving in Nashville

As for you, Music City, I've soured on your driving conditions, which, in my estimation, have deteriorated in conjunction with your population explosion. We were there in December for a fun weekend road trip; I couldn't wait to leave. I really could once handle Nashville traffic with ease and would defend it, given the opportunity. But not anymore.

The Most Dangerous Highways in Tennessee

As it so happens, the two most dangerous stretches of Tennessee interstate, according to The Lawyers of Brown & Roberto PLLC, run right through the city. The portion of I-24 running from a point near the Nashville International Airport to the center of the city saw 35 fatal crashes over the firm's five-year research period.

In the same time frame, there were 16 fatalities on ten miles of Interstate 65 between Tristar Skyline Medical Center and Vanderbilt University. There were an additional 15 deaths on I-65 near the Nashville metropolitan area.

Of the top ten posted on the Brown & Roberto website, eight of the traffic fatalities on Tennessee interstates happened on I-24 and I-40. Half of the top ten are in the Nashville metro; three are in the Memphis metro; and the other two are in Knoxville and Chattanooga.

Now, things could be looking up, based on this report...

...but, as she said, officials still have concerns.

If you're a frequent driver on Tennessee interstates, does this data seem to track for you?