Is it really 1hr drive from Greenville... (Knoxville, Johnson City: to live in, restaurants)

[ceylona]

...to get to JC? Google maps says the drive is 30 miles and takes an hour. Dirt road? Lots of stop lights? What's the story here?

[jabogitlu]

I assume you mean Greeneville, TN and not Greenville NC or SC?

The straight answer is, depends. Greene County is huge (one of the largest in the state). If you're starting from St. James, Mosheim, Baileyton, Lick Creek then yes, it's going to take an hour or so. Tonight I drove back up to JC from east Greene (Chuckey). Left at 1:28 am and got to the Medical Center at 1:50. Granted, that's without traffic, but the 11-E isn't very crowded in the daytime, in the areas between Gville and JC.

The most important thing is that Greeneville and JC are not linked very well together in the Interstate system. To get from one to the other, you literally have to drive 15-20 minutes outside of Greeneville proper down past Mosheim to get on I-81, then take it up to the split off at I-26, then drive back down into JC. It's much faster if you're on the east/northeast/south sides of Greene county to head for the 11-E and go that route. So yes, there are some stop lights once you hit Jonesborough (and the sl goes down to 45 mph!)

[mbmouse]

I agree with jabogitlu, it really depends on where in Greeneville you are starting from/go to from JC. Greene County is one of the, if not the largest county in TN. The city, Greeneville is to the south east of the county, not in the middle of it. I used to live in west Greene Co. in a little bitty town/area called Midway ( It was the midway stop between Knoxville and Bristol on the trains back in the early 1900's) and I worked in downtown JC. I took the 81 to 26 route because it was faster than going 11E and it took me almost exactly 1 hour each way. However if you drive from downtown JC (say the mall) to downtown Greeneville (say the Greeneville Commons shopping center) on 11 E it would take you about 35-40 minutes.
But it is a beautiful drive! These pictures are on 11E on that route.
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[ceylona]

Yes, thank, both of you. I did mean the town of Greeneville as it connects with JC via 11e. I saw on the map there were no direct interstates from that area, and wondered if 11e had some hold up that caused one to have to drive 30mph the entire trip or something, since the map "directions to" feature estimated the trip to be 1 hr for 30.1 miles! I was wondering if I should count out the Greeneville area as commutable within 30 minutes to JC...and you did answer that for me. Again, thanks. My Hubby and I are both in the medical field, so the commute would be to the medical center or shopping in most cases. I think I'll still look closer to JC to make it more convenient to get the kids to all the fun spots. Thanks for the beautiful landscape pictures. I'm drooling on my keyboard, which I'm pretty sure is incompatible with its continued function.

[jabogitlu]

Most parts of East Greene are commutable. I did it for a while. You might want to check out equally nice parts of Washington County, though.

[AppalachianAngler]

Definitely commutable to JC. I drove from Jonesborough (outside JC) to downtown Greeneville everyday for a year. Not bad at all, usually 20-25 minutes. 11-E is 65 mph most of the way until you get near Jonesborough.

[veragemini]

I actually just drove this Sat...it was not an hour at all from where we were in Greenville. I cannot remember the road we took or what it was called, but it was a 4 lane highway & from the main drag with all the restaurants it was about 20 mins to JC, but this was on a weekend with no traffic so bear that in mind.

HTH,


Julie

[williboy]

Just drove from Johnson City to downtown Greeneville today in the snow and it took 35 minutes.

[jabogitlu]

Hey williboy, I'm in Greeneville today, too! Maybe we saw each other and didn't know it!

[GrannyLois]

On maquest dot com, it says 31 miles and 45 minutes.

You have to remember on these map sites, they are going from the middle of town to the middle of the other town.