Today was a day of "roads and graves", as I not only set out to "clinch" more Tennessee counties and get more Interstate miles under my belt, but I also went to 3 different Nashville-area cemeteries to visit the graves of several famous country singers, including (but not limited to) Jerry Reed (Woodlawn Memorial Park), Keith Whitley (Spring Hill Cemetery), and Johnny Cash (Hendersonville Memory Gardens). BTW, all 3 cemeteries were happy to help me find the gravesites, and Woodlawn and Spring Hill even provided maps and a list of where the actual gravesites were. A good place to start in your search for a famous person's gravesite is the "Find A Grave" website.

And now, on to Nashville's ROADS!!!....

After first stopping at Woodlawn to visit Jerry Reed's grave, I went east on Thompson Lane (TN SPR 155) to where it becomes Briley Parkway. Just east of Briley's interchange with I-24 (Exit 3), there is some active construction where TDOT is rebuilding 2 westbound bridges and has traffic routed to 2 lanes between I-24 and US 41/70S (Exit 4).

From Exit 4, I turned around and headed westbound on Briley back to US 31A/41A and picked up I-440 eastbound.

From I-440 eastbound, I took I-24 westbound through it's "duplex" with I-65, proceeding up I-65 to Exit 104 in order to "clinch" Sumner and Robertson Counties.

After visiting the Whitley and Cash graves, I took US 31E/TN SPR 6 (Gallatin Pike) back to TN SPR 386 (Vietnam Veterans Boulevard).

Vietnam Veterans Boulevard, a limited-access highway running from I-65 to Gallatin, turned out to be a great alternative to Gallatin Pike, though I wonder if the road becomes congested at "rush hour" with commuters going to and from Nashvile, Hendersonville, and Gallatin. If you've had such an experience as a regular VVB user, then please feel free to share your thoughts.

If VVB were to have been built in Georgia, I would've expected US 31E to be rerouted onto it at least from its Exit 3 to its eastern end and the "old" US 31E to simply be designated TN SPR (or perhaps SSR) 6, similar to when US 19 was rerouted onto GA 400 in 1981.

Once I got back onto I-65, I followed its routing through downtown Nashville along its "duplexes" with I-24 and I-40, until I reached Exit 71 in Brentwood after "clinching" Williamson County.

Speaking of I-65, I noticed a slight inconsistency in southbound "control city" signage. While the signs on I-65 coming from Downtown Nashville say "Huntsville", I noticed one mileage sign giving the distance to Birmingham as well as Birmingham being mentioned on directional signs at a couple of interchanges in the Brentwood vicinity. In Alabama, Nashville used to be the northbound "control city" from Birmingham, and IIRC, Tennessee signed Birmingham as a southbound "control city" from Nashville.
In a way, it was no surprise when ALDOT changed the northbound "control city" to Huntsville (though Huntsville is 20 miles east of I-65 on I-565), but I wonder why Tennessee made the change. If you have any thoughts or insight on this matter, then please feel free to share it.

One more thing I've noticed since I arrived... I-24 and I-65 have "part-time" HOV lanes (Monday through Friday from 7-9 PM and 4-6 PM) for vehicles with 2 or more occupants (including driver), as opposed to Atlanta's "full-time" HOVs. While I'm not exactly an expert on Nashville's traffic, I do wonder why TDOT made these HOVs "part-time". Please feel free to share your thoughts and insights on this as well.

In a "nutshell", here are today's "roadgeek accomplishments"...

- Drove I-65 from Exit 71 through Exit 104.
- Added more I-24 mileage, resulting in having driven each mile of I-24 between Exit 43 and I-75.
- "Clinched" Sumner, Robertson, and Williamson Counties.
- Shot more video footage for future "ROADGEEK-CAM!!!" episodes.

Tomorrow (Saturday) will be "Day 3", the final day of full-blown "Music City Roadgeeking".

And finally, on a sad note, I had learned that fellow roadgeek Adam "Froggie" Frohelig's father had just passed away. Please join me in keeping "Froggie" and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

That's it for now. Thanks for reading and please stay tuned for more.