Towing and Roadside Help in Tennessee

Flat west, hilly middle, mountain east

Tennessee Gets Steeper the Farther East You Drive

I-40 is the state's longest interstate, 455.28 miles from the Mississippi River at Memphis to the North Carolina line. Along the way it links Memphis, Nashville and Knoxville and crosses every kind of ground Tennessee has: flat plains and swampland in the west, rolling hills and limestone bluffs in the middle, then the climb onto the Cumberland Plateau, the valley around Knoxville and the Great Smoky Mountains. Near the state line it winds through the Pigeon River gorge, where rockslides have closed the road before. Flooding from Hurricane Helene washed out part of the eastbound side there on September 27, 2024, and shut it to all traffic.

The north-south routes cross it: I-55 at Memphis, I-65 through Nashville, and I-75 through Knoxville on its way from Chattanooga to Kentucky. I-24 cuts diagonally from Clarksville through Nashville to Chattanooga, and I-81 starts east of Knoxville and heads up to Bristol.

Three climbs earn extra respect:

• Monteagle on I-24. Between Nashville and Chattanooga, I-24 crosses the Cumberland Plateau on some of the steepest grades of any interstate. The road drops 1,161 feet, with runaway truck ramps set on the left side because of the terrain.
• I-75 toward Jellico. For roughly the last 30 miles before Kentucky, I-75 climbs through the Cumberland Mountains, with steep grades up heading north and down heading south.
• The Cumberland Plateau on I-40. The climb tops out near 2,000 feet before the road descends into the Tennessee Valley near Rockwood and Harriman.

If your car overheats or loses power on a grade, don't stop in a lane. Get to the shoulder or the next exit, put your hazards on, and call. A partner can tow it to a shop nearby. If the trouble is a dead battery at a rest area instead, a jump start may be all you need.