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U.S. Route 31W (US 31W) is the westernmost of two parallel routes for U.S. Route 31 from Nashville, Tennessee to Louisville, Kentucky.
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2014) |
 U.S. Route 31W | ||||||||||
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 US 31W highlighted in red | ||||||||||
| Route information | ||||||||||
| Length | 179.2 mi[1][2][3] (288.4 km) | |||||||||
| Major junctions | ||||||||||
| South end |     US 31 / US 31E / US 41 / US 431 in Nashville, TN | |||||||||
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| North end |  US 31 / US 31E / US 60 in Louisville, KY | |||||||||
| Location | ||||||||||
| Country | United States | |||||||||
| States | Tennessee, Kentucky | |||||||||
| Counties | TN: Davidson, Sumner, Robertson KY: Simpson, Warren, Edmonson, Barren, Hart, LaRue, Hardin, Meade, Jefferson | |||||||||
| Highway system | ||||||||||
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Tennessee State Route 41 (SR 41) is its unsigned companion route in Tennessee.
During the December 2021 tornado outbreak, an EF3 tornado devastated stretches of US 31W in Bowling Green, Kentucky.[4][5]
Tennessee
US 31W begins in Nashville, at an interchange with Ellington Parkway and US 31 and US 31E. The route continues west as Spring Street, concurrent with US 41/US 431/SR 11. The four highways continue north onto Dickerson Pike, closely paralleling Interstate 24 (I-24) through Nashville. US 431 turns onto Trinity Lane, while US 31W, US 41 and SR 11 continue north, away from I-24. The roadway has an interchange with I-65 and SR 155 (Briley Parkway) before an intersection with SR 45 in Bellshire Terrace. The highway passes through Goodlettsville, where US 31W splits from US 41/SR 11, and crosses I-65; it also passes through the cities of Millersville, White House, and the western edge of Portland. Before it enters Kentucky, it junctions the recently rerouted SR 109.[6] From Millersville to the Kentucky state line, US 31W/SR 41 also marks the boundary between Robertson and Sumner Counties.
Kentucky
The highway enters the state of Kentucky and crosses I-65 for a third time, where it passes through Franklin and intersects KY 100. From here, the highway is known as Bowling Green Road, which becomes Nashville Road once it enters Warren County, and passes through fields, as well as giving access to the towns of Woodburn and Rich Pond. Entering the city of Bowling Green, the route intersects Interstate 165 (I-165, formerly the William H. Natcher Parkway) as well as US 231 as the route bypasses downtown Bowling Green. On the eastern side of town, Louisville Road carries US 31W, US 68, and KY 80 east and then northeast, where US 68 and KY 80 split off to the east just east of Bristow. US 31W passes within 0.5 miles (0.80 km) of an entrance to Mammoth Cave National Park near Park City, after crossing I-65 again, this time without direct access to the freeway. The highway travels through Cave City as Duke Highway while crossing two major state routes, KY 90 in the southern outskirts, and then KY 70 in downtown.[6]
Once it enters Hart County going north, US 31W is locally known as Dixie Highway for the remainder of its course. In the city of Horse Cave, US 31W intersects KY 218; and then continues on to Munfordville before crossing I-65 for a fifth time at the interstate's exit 65 interchange, and paralleling it closely to the west and later, the east. Between Upton and Sonora, it crosses over I-65 for a sixth time. In Elizabethtown, US 31W intersects with the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway before crossing I-65 for a seventh and final time. The route continues through the heart of Elizabethtown, intersecting US 62, before it goes on to enter Radcliff. It also passes through Fort Knox near Radcliff, within sight of the United States Bullion Depository. US 31W overlaps with US 60 from Muldraugh to Louisville, paralleling the Ohio River briefly before an interchange with I-264 (Watterson Expressway) in Louisville's southwestern suburbs. US 31W continues as a one-way pair consisting of 22nd and Dr. W. J. Hodges streets, and later Main and Market streets in downtown Louisville. At 2nd Street, US 31W ends at US 31E, and the two routes continue north as US 31 before crossing the Ohio River into Jeffersonville, in Clark County, Indiana on the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge.[6]
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Most of US 31W's current route was part of the old Dixie Highway from the National Auto Trail program, the predecessor to the United States Numbered Highways system. Many of the cities through which US 31W traverses still give it a local street name of "Dixie Highway" or "Dixie Avenue." Some portions date back further, to the Louisville and Nashville Turnpike, which began construction in the 1830s.[7] Until 1926, the route in Tennessee from US 41E to the Kentucky state line was signed as State Route 79 (SR 79); it was resigned as SR 41 until the US 31W designation was established in 1931, but the SR 41 remaining as an unsigned, hidden route.[8] The route from the state line northward to US 68 in Bowling Green was signed as Kentucky Route 73 from 1929 until 1931, when the US 31W designation was established.
US 31W in Indiana
US 31W once terminated in Sellersburg, Indiana. It went into New Albany, Indiana, crossing the Kentucky & Indiana Terminal Bridge into Louisville, concurrent with U.S. Route 150. When the K&I Terminal Bridge was closed to traffic in 1979, US 31W and US 150 were rerouted onto the Sherman Minton Bridge, being concurrent with Interstate 64 until Exit 121. In 1980, AASHTO truncated both termini of US 31E and US 31W to Louisville. In Indiana, US 31W was replaced by SR 311.
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The 31W Treasure Hunt is an outdoor second-hand sale held annually for three days beginning the second Thursday in September. It takes place along the alignment of U.S. Route 31W in its entirety from Nashville to Louisville.[9]
 | This section is missing mileposts for junctions. |
| State | County | Location | mi | km | Destinations | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tennessee | Davidson | Nashville | 0.00 | 0.00 |     US 31 south / US 41 south / US 431 south (James Robertson Parkway/SR 6/SR 11) / US 31E north (Ellington Parkway/SR 6) to South 5th Street/Main Street / I-24 | Interchange; US 31 splits into US 31W and US 31E; south end of US 41/US 431/SR 11 overlap | |
| 0.5 | 0.80 |  To I-24 / I-65 / Spring Street | |||||
| 2.6 | 4.2 | US 431 north (West Trinity Lane/SR 65) to I-24 / I-65 | North end of US 431 overlap; southern terminus of unsigned SR 65 | ||||
| 4.8– 5.0 | 7.7– 8.0 | I-65 – Nashville, Louisville | Southbound off-ramp from SR 155 off-ramp; I-65 exit 90A | ||||
| 5.1– 5.2 | 8.2– 8.4 |  SR 155 (Briley Parkway) – Nashville, Knoxville | No eastbound on-ramp (must use northbound I-65 on-ramp); SR 155 exit 16B | ||||
| 7.1 | 11.4 |  SR 45 (Old Hickory Boulevard) – Whites Creek, Old Hickory, Madison | |||||
| Goodlettsville | 11.2 | 18.0 | Rivergate Parkway east to I-65 – Madison | Western terminus of Rivergate Parkway; provides access to Rivergate Mall | |||
| 11.7 | 18.8 |   SR 174 east (Long Hollow Pike) | Western terminus of SR 174 | ||||
| Sumner | 13.1 | 21.1 | US 41 north (Dickerson Pike/SR 11) – Springfield, Greenbrier, Ridgetop SR 41 begins | Interchange; north end of US 41/SR 11 overlap; southern terminus of unsigned SR 41; south end of SR 41 overlap; former US 43 north | |||
| 13.4– 13.6 | 21.6– 21.9 | I-65 – Louisville, Nashville | I-65 exit 98 | ||||
| Millersville | 18.3 | 29.5 |   SR 257 west (Bethel Road) to I-65 – Ridgetop | Eastern terminus of SR 257 | |||
| Sumner–Robertson county line | White House | 22.6 | 36.4 |  SR 258 (Raymond Hirsch Parkway) to I-65 – Hendersonville | |||
| 23.3 | 37.5 |  SR 76 west to I-65 – Springfield | South end of SR 76 overlap | ||||
| 23.5 | 37.8 | SR 76 east (Portland Road) – New Deal, Portland | North end of SR 76 overlap | ||||
| Cross Plains | 27.5 | 44.3 |  SR 25 (Main Street) to I-65 – Cross Plains, Springfield, Gallatin | ||||
| Portland–Orlinda line | 32.6 | 52.5 |  SR 52 to I-65 – Orlinda, Portland | ||||
| Portland | 35.5 | 57.1 |  SR 109 (N Broadway) to I-65 – Portland, Gallatin | ||||
| 36.0 | 57.9 |  SR 259 east – Mitchellville | Western terminus of SR 259 | ||||
| Tennessee–Kentucky line | 36.08– 0.000 | 58.07– 0.000 | SR 41 ends | ||||
| Kentucky | Simpson | | I-65 – Louisville, Nashville | I-65 exit 2 | |||
| |    KY 1008 / KY 100 Truck to I-65 | ||||||
| | KY 100 east to I-65 | South end of KY 100 overlap | |||||
| Franklin |  KY 383 south (Madison Street) | ||||||
 KY 73 east / KY 100 west (Cedar Street) | North end of KY 100 overlap; south end of KY 73 overlap | ||||||
 KY 1171 (North Street) | |||||||
| KY 73 west (Morgantown Road) | North end of KY 73 overlap | ||||||
 KY 2592 (Patton Road) | |||||||
| KY 1008 south to I-65 – truck route to KY 100 | |||||||
| |  KY 1434 | ||||||
| |  KY 621 (Stevenson Road) | ||||||
| Warren | Woodburn |  KY 240 | |||||
| |  KY 242 – Rockfield, Rich Pond | ||||||
| Bowling Green |  I-165 to I-65 – Owensboro, Scottsville | Former Natcher Parkway; I-165 exit 6 | |||||
 US 231 (Campbell Lane) | |||||||
    US 231 Bus. north (University Drive) to US 68 / KY 80 | South end of US 231 Bus. overlap; roundabout | ||||||
| US 231 Bus. south (Broadway Avenue) to I-65 | North end of US 231 Bus. overlap | ||||||
 KY 234 (Fairview Avenue) to I-65 | |||||||
 KY 3225 north (Old Louisville Road) | |||||||
 US 68 west / KY 80 west (Kentucky Street) to I-65 south | South end of US 68 / KY 80 overlap | ||||||
| KY 3225 south (Old Louisville Road) | Eastern terminus of KY 3225 | ||||||
  KY 1402 east (Porter Pike) to Plum Springs Loop / KY 957 | Western terminus of KY 1402 | ||||||
| To I-65 (via KY 446 east) – Louisville, Nashville, Corvette Museum | Interchange; western terminus of KY 446 | ||||||
| KY 957 north | Southern terminus of KY 957 | ||||||
| |   KY 526 west to KY 1320 | Eastern terminus of KY 526 | |||||
| | US 68 east / KY 80 east | North end of US 68/KY 80 concurrency | |||||
| |  KY 3145 south to I-65 | Northern terminus of KY 3145; intersection opened July 2017.[10] | |||||
| |  KY 743 north | Southern terminus of KY 743 | |||||
| Tuckertown |  KY 2326 north (Otter Gap Road) | Southern terminus of KY 2326 | |||||
| |  KY 101 north – Brownsville | South end of KY 101 concurrency | |||||
| | KY 101 south – Smiths Grove | North end of KY 101 concurrency | |||||
| Edmonson | |  KY 422 north | Southern terminus of KY 422 | ||||
| |  KY 259 | ||||||
| Barren | Park City |  KY 255 south | South end of KY 255 concurrency | ||||
| Mammoth Cave Parkway / KY 255 north to I-65 – Mammoth Cave, Brownsville | Southern terminus of Mammoth Cave Parkway; northern end of KY 255 concurrency | ||||||
| |  KY 2189 south (Park City-Glasgow Road) | Northern terminus of KY 2189 | |||||
| |  KY 2143 south (Old Happy Valley Road) | Former KY 90; northern terminus of KY 2143 | |||||
| Cave City |   KY 90 (Happy Valley Road) to I-65 / KY 70 – Mammoth Cave, Glasgow | ||||||
| KY 70 (Broadway Street) – Business District, Hiseville | |||||||
 KY 335 north (Old Dixie Highway) | Southern terminus of KY 335 | ||||||
| Hart | Horse Cave |  KY 218 (Main Street) to I-65 / US 31E | |||||
| |  KY 1846 south (Short Cut Road) | Northern terminus of KY 1846 | |||||
| Rowletts | KY 335 south (L&N Turnpike Road) | Northern terminus of KY 335 | |||||
| Woodsonville |  KY 571 south (Lonoke Road) | Northern terminus of KY 571 | |||||
 KY 88 east – Hardyville | South end of KY 88 concurrency | ||||||
| Munfordville |  KY 357 north (Union Street) – Hodgenville | Southern terminus of KY 357 | |||||
| KY 88 west (Center Street) – Clarkson, Nolin Lake | North end of KY 88 concurrency | ||||||
| I-65 – Nashville, Louisville | I-65 exit 65 | ||||||
 KY 1140 west | Southern/eastern terminus of KY 1140 | ||||||
| |  KY 2756 east | Western terminus of KY 2756 | |||||
| Bonnieville |  KY 728 east to I-65 | South end of KY 728 concurrency | |||||
| KY 728 west | North end of KY 728 concurrency | ||||||
| LaRue | Upton |  KY 224 east to I-65 – Hodgenville | South end of KY 224 concurrency | ||||
| LaRue–Hardin county line | KY 224 west (Grayson Street) – Clarkson, Nolin River, Nolin Lake | North end of KY 224 concurrency | |||||
| |  KY 2767 north (Murrieltown Road) | Southern terminus of KY 2767 | |||||
| Sonora |  KY 84 to I-65 – Sonora, Hodgenville | ||||||
| |  KY 1517 south | Northern terminus of KY 1517 | |||||
| Hardin | |  KY 1407 north | Southern terminus of KY 1407 | ||||
| Glendale Junction |  KY 222 to I-65 | ||||||
| Elizabethtown |      Western Kentucky Parkway west / US 31W Truck north / KY 61 south to I-65 / Bluegrass Parkway – Lexington, Louisville, Nashville, Paducah, Hodgenville | Southern end of KY 61 concurrency | |||||
 KY 210 east | Western terminus of KY 210 | ||||||
  KY 1136 west (New Glendale Road) to US 31W Byp. | Northern/eastern terminus of KY 1136 | ||||||
| Main Street | traffic circle around Hardin County Courthouse | ||||||
 US 62 / KY 61 north (Mulberry Street) | Northern end of KY 61 concurrency | ||||||
 KY 251 north (North Miles Street) | Southern terminus of KY 251 | ||||||
 KY 1357 west (St. John Road) | Eastern terminus of KY 1357 | ||||||
 KY 361 north (Cardinal Drive) | Southern terminus of KY 361 | ||||||
| US 31W Byp. south to I-65 / Western Kentucky Parkway – thru trucks | Northern terminus of US 31W Bypass | ||||||
 KY 3005 (Ring Road) | |||||||
 KY 447 north | Southern terminus of KY 447 | ||||||
 KY 2802 south (W.A. Jenkins Road) | Northern terminus of KY 2802 | ||||||
| Radcliff |  KY 220 west – Rineyville | Eastern terminus of KY 220 | |||||
 KY 434 east – Lebanon Junction | Western terminus of KY 434 | ||||||
 KY 313 to I-65 – Vine Grove, Lebanon Junction | |||||||
 KY 1500 west (Millcreek Road) | |||||||
 KY 144 west (East Vine Street) – Vine Grove | Eastern terminus of KY 144 | ||||||
 KY 1815 south (West Lincoln Trail Boulevard) | Northern terminus of KY 1815 | ||||||
| North Wilson Road | interchange | ||||||
| Fort Knox |  To KY 1646 / Bullion Boulevard – Fort Knox | Interchange | |||||
| Chaffee Avenue | interchange; entrance ramps only | ||||||
| Meade | US 60 west – Hardinsburg, Owensboro | South end of US 60 concurrency | |||||
| see US 60 | |||||||
| Jefferson | Louisville | 179.2 | 288.4 | US 31 north (Second Street / Clark Bridge) / US 31E south / US 60 east (West Market Street) | US 31W and US 31E merge to form US 31; north end of US 60 concurrency | ||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
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  State Route 41 | |
|---|---|
| Location | Goodlettsville–Mitchellville |
| Length | 22.96 mi (36.95 km) |
| Existed | October 1, 1923[11]–present |
State Route 41 (SR 41) runs as a secret, or hidden designation, throughout US 31W's routing from the US 41 (SR 11) junction in Goodlettsville to the SR 259 junction at the Kentucky state line near Mitchellville.
Bowling Green bypass
| Location | Bowling Green |
|---|---|
| Existed | 1950s–1980s |
From the 1950s to the 1980s, a bypass route of US 31W ran around Bowling Green, Kentucky. It was replaced by rerouting US 31W onto the bypass.[12][13]
Elizabethtown bypass
 U.S. Route 31W Bypass | |
|---|---|
| Location | Elizabethtown |
| Length | 3.758 mi (6.048 km) |
U.S. Route 31W By-Pass is a four-lane expressway in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. It starts at an at-grade intersection with Kentucky Route 1136, bypasses the west side of town and it ends at another at-grade intersection with US 31W on the northern side of Elizabethtown. The southern end can be reached via either KY 1136 on the south side, or following the Western Kentucky Parkway from the at-grade intersection with US 31W/KY 61to the interchange after the WK Parkway/I-65 junction.
Major intersections include:
- Kentucky Route 1136 (Glendale Road)
- Western Kentucky Parkway (exit 135)
- U.S. Route 62 (Leitchfield Road)
- Kentucky Route 361 (Patriot Parkway)
- U.S. Route 31W (Dixie Highway)
Elizabethtown Truck Route
 U.S. Route 31W Truck | |
|---|---|
| Location | Elizabethtown, Kentucky |
| Length | 4.592 mi (7.390 km) |
U.S. Route 31W Truck is a truck route in Elizabethtown. Its component highways include the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway west from the US 31W/KY 61 junction to exit 135, and the final 3.512 miles (5.652 km) of the US 31W Bypass from the WK Parkway exit 135 interchange to US 31W on the north side of town.
West Point Business Route
 U.S. Route 31W Business | |
|---|---|
| Location | West Point, Kentucky |
| Length | 1.988 mi (3.199 km) |
U.S. Route 31W Business is a business route located in West Point, Kentucky, in northern Hardin County. It is 1.988 miles (3.199 km) long and does not intersect any other highways outside of the main alignment of US 31W (which runs concurrently with US 60 in that area).[14]
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