page_title: U.S. Route 321
section_title: Tennessee
hierarchical_section_title: U.S. Route 321 / Route description / Tennessee
caption_attribution_description: English: US 321 (John Sevier Highway) facing south at Baltimore Road, Parrottville, Tennessee
context_page_description: U.S. Route 321 is a spur of U.S. Route 21. It runs for 516.9 miles from Hardeeville, South Carolina to Lenoir City, Tennessee; with both serving as southern termini. It reaches its northernmost point at Elizabethton, Tennessee. Because of its unusual "north–south–north" routing, U.S. Route 321 intersects both Interstate 40 and U.S. Route 70 three separate times. The highway serves different roles in each state: An alternate route to interstates in South Carolina, a major highway in North Carolina, and a scenic route in Tennessee.
context_section_description: As it crosses into Tennessee, US 321 enters the Cherokee National Forest, and continues westward through the rugged valley between Pond Mountain on the south and Watauga Lake on the north.  The highway passes numerous campgrounds, boat launches, and other lake-related recreational areas as it winds its way along the shores of the lake.  South of Butler, the highway joins SR 67, which enters from the Mountain City area to the northeast.  The Appalachian Trail crosses US 321 at its intersection with Shook Gap Road, just before the highway exits the national forest.  At Hampton, US 321 intersects US 19E, and the two highways run concurrently northward into Elizabethton.
  US 321 "changes direction" in Elizabethton: the road is designated as southbound in both directions driving away from its intersection with US 19E. It is conterminous with US 11E through portions of Washington and Greene counties.  In Greeneville, the highway continues south into Cocke County. At the Cocke-Greene County line US 321 becomes a four-laned divided highway and bypasses Parrottsville. The four-lane section ends just before US 321's junction with SR 160 and crossing I-40 at Newport.
  The stretch of US 321 from Newport south to Cosby and southwest through Pittman Center to Gatlinburg parallels the northern boundary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and is quite scenic. From a point between Newport and Cosby to the intersection with the Little River Road, it is concurrent with SR 73. In Pigeon Forge, concurrent with US 441/Great Smoky Mountains Parkway, US 321 is a divided, multi-lane traffic-laden thoroughfare where it serves as the city's main route, lined with hotels, outlet malls and amusement facilities. Veering southwest of Pigeon Forge, the highway takes on a more rural character as it traverses Wears Valley, and narrows down to two lanes until its junction with SR 73 Scenic (the Little River Road) at the Townsend entrance to the park. It is concurrent with SR 73 from this junction to its terminus. With the exception of a 3-mile (4.8 km) section between Townsend and Maryville, the remaining portions of the highway through Blount County are a minimum of four lanes and usually a divided highway. Once the highway reaches Fort Loudon Dam in Loudon County, it crosses the Tennessee River via a bridge, completed in 2017, southeast of the dam then intersects with US 11 in Lenoir City. US 321 has a wrong-way concurrency with SR 95 from a point several miles south of Lenoir City (near Greenback) to its terminus at I-40.  In the northern part of Lenoir City, US 321 intersects I-75 and US 70 before reaching I-40.  Beyond I-40, the road continues northward to Oak Ridge as the two-lane SR 95.
  US 321 is a four-lane semi-divided thoroughfare from I-40 and I-75 to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, except for the 3-mile (4.8 km) stretch near Walland.
caption: Former portion of US 321 in Parrottsville, Tennessee, facing south before it was rerouted.
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