U.S. Route 31E
Major junctions
South end:	US-31 / US-31W / US-41 / US-431 in Nashville, TN
North end:	US 31 / US 31W / US 60 in Louisville, KY
Highway system
United States Numbered Highways List • Bannered • Divided • Replaced

U.S. Route 31E is the easternmost of two parallel routes for U.S. Highway 31 from Nashville, Tennessee, to Louisville, Kentucky. (At one time, it split with U.S. Highway 31W at Sellersburg, Indiana, north of Louisville.)

Route description [link]

Tennessee [link]

After its Nashville beginning, the highway passes through Hendersonville and Gallatin, Tennessee.

Kentucky [link]

In Kentucky, it enters Scottsville, Glasgow, Hodgenville, Bardstown, New Haven and Mount Washington, Kentucky. It passes the entrance to Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historic Site near Hodgenville, through Barren River Lake State Resort Park between Scottsville and Glasgow, and near My Old Kentucky Home in Bardstown.

The highway intersects with the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway at Glasgow, with the Martha Layne Collins Blue Grass Parkway near Bardstown, Interstate 265 (Gene Snyder Freeway) in the outer suburbs of Louisville, and Interstate 264 (Watterson Expressway) in Louisville proper. It crosses U.S. Highway 68 at Glasgow and U.S. Highway 62 at Bardstown.

From Bardstown to Louisville, the highway overlaps with U.S. Highway 150. From Scottsville to a point about five miles (8 km) south of Westmoreland, Tennessee, the highway overlaps with U.S. Highway 231.

The highway follows the approximate route of the earlier Jackson Highway.

History [link]

The American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) adopted a resolution against split routes in 1934. In order to eliminate the split in US-31 between Nashville, Tennessee, and Louisville, Kentucky, AASHO commissioned U.S. Route 37, replacing US 31E from the Louisville area south to Glasgow, Kentucky, where it then followed Kentucky Route 63 and several routes in Tennessee to Chattanooga. The rest of US 31E from Glasgow to Nashville was assigned U.S. Route 143. This proposed route was extended southwest to Centerville in 1938 and Jackson in 1944 via State Route 100 and State Route 20. US 31W would have become the main route of US 31.

Kentucky and Tennessee refused to accept the renumbering and never changed signage for the routes. In 1952, AASHO re-recognized the split, officially restoring the US 31E and US 31W designations.

Major Intersections [link]

• Interstate 264 in Louisville
• Interstate 265 in Louisville
• Martha Layne Collins Blue Grass Parkway in Bardstown
• Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway in Glasgow
• US 31W in Nashville

References [link]

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v t e United States Numbered Highways 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 87 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 101 163 400 412 425 All Bannered Divided Bypasses Routes in italics are no longer a part of the system. Highlighted routes are considered main routes of the system.