River Road Designated Scenic Byway

TN's section of the Great River Road has been recognized as a National Scenic Byway. The designation acknowledges the significance of our area's archaeological, cultural, historic, natural, recreational, and scenic assets and the benefit of preserving them to foster tourism and economic development.

The Great River Road runs 2,069 miles along the Mississippi River through ten states from Michigan to Louisiana. 185 miles are in TN. The TN route follows U.S. 51 north out of Memphis, then TN 181, TN 79, and TN 78 to Kentucky. With the designation comes an $80,000 federal grant to mark and market the route through five West TN counties.

America's Byways was created in 1991 by Congress to recognize, preserve, and enhance selected U. S. roads. The Great River Road is one of 151 distinctive roads designated by the US Secretary of Transportation. The announcement was made by the Federal Highway Administration and TN Dept.of Transportation Oct. 16, 2009 in Washington, DC.

Click HERE for Great River Road overview.
Click HERE for Commercial Appeal article.
Click HERE for MS River Corridor - TN.