U.S. Route 25E

Northbound US 25 and westbound US 70 leave Newport concurrent with one another. At an intersection west of the city, US 25 splits into two highways: US 25E, which heads north from this point as a two-lane highway, and US 25W, which continues west along a concurrency with US 70.[1]

US 25E then winds along the shoreline of Douglas Lake/French Broad River near the community of Gum Spring, and exits Cocke County after crossing the Douglas Lake impoundment of the French Broad River at the J.M. Walters Bridge.[1]

US 25E then enters Jefferson County east of Baneberry. Between White Pine and the Morristown neighborhood of Witt, the highway has an interchange with Interstate 81 (exit 8), and enters Hamblen County. North of the I-81, the road widens out to four lanes, and receives the Appalachian Development designation Corridor S. US 25E intersects US 11E east of Morristown. It then crosses the Cherokee Lake impoundment of the Holston River into Grainger County on the Olen Marshall Bridge.[1]

U.S. Route 25E descending the southern slope of Clinch Mountain towards Bean Station.

Between the interchange of SR 375 (Lakeshore Drive), old US 25E (Broadway Drive), and the interchange of US 11W/SR 1, US 25E becomes a controlled-access highway bypassing the town of Bean Station.[1]

The two roads split 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Bean Station near Briar Fork Creek at the base of Clinch Mountain, with US 11W heading west along the Richland Valley towards Knoxville, and US 25E northbound through Poor Valley ascending the southern slope of Clinch Mountain.[9]

Northwest of Tazewell, the road bridges the Powell River, and then passes through Harrogate. In the town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, US 25E serves as the western terminus of US 58. US 25E used that highway en route to the Cumberland Gap prior to 1996; however, it now uses a new highway leading to the Cumberland Gap Tunnel, freeing up a portion of road that US 58 now uses. US 25E then passes through the tunnel, emerging on the other side in Kentucky.[1]

US 25E remains a multilane divided highway for its entire extent in Kentucky.[10] Upon departing the tunnel, the road heads west to the town of Middlesboro, Kentucky, where it intersects KY 74. US 25E turns north at Middlesboro toward Pineville, the county seat of Bell County. In Pineville, the route is the western terminus of US 119.

US 25E departs Pineville and heads northwest, indirectly serving Tinsley via KY 92, crossing into Knox County, and bypassing Flat Lick to the west. The route makes an S-shaped curve, dipping south then turning back northwest as it approaches Barbourville. After serving the east side of Barbourville, the highway passes near Heidrick and runs through Baileys Switch.

Between Baileys Switch and Gray, US 25E gradually turns more east–west. After running through Gray, the route serves as the northern terminus of KY 3041. The road then reunites with US 25W north of Corbin, and the unsuffixed US 25 continues to points north. However, the US 25E designation continues west to Interstate 75, where it ends at Exit 29.[11]

The Kentucky entrance of the Cumberland Gap Tunnel carrying US 25E, facing south to Tennessee

In the mid-to-late-20th century, US 25E between Middlesboro and Cumberland Gap had seen an uptick in fatal collisions, with the stretch of highway through the Cumberland Gap nicknamed "Massacre Mountain."[17] In 1973, officials with the National Park Service received initiatives to construct tunnels underneath the Cumberland Gap in order to resolve the accidents and restore the Cumberland Gap to its pioneer-era state of the 1770s, a motion set forth by the establishment of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park by the United States Congress in 1940. The plan, consisting of the construction of twin 4,600 foot long tunnels, five miles of new a four-lane controlled-access US 25E, two interchanges, seven bridges, and the restoration of the Cumberland Gap, was presented with a cost of $265 million dollars and was led by joint effort between the National Park Service and the Federal Highway Administration. Design work for the project started in 1979, and construction on the tunnels and the new four-lane 25E began in 1985.[17]

The Cumberland Gap Tunnel would open in 1996, completely bypassing Cumberland Gap and Virginia.[17] U.S. Route 58 was moved to a new alignment, meeting the new four-lane US 25E in Tennessee, decommissioning US 25E through Virginia. As old US 25E lied within the boundaries of the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park its pavement was torn up, and the path was restored into a hiking trail along the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap.[18]