Rogersville or Mountain City to Johnson City driving times (Kingsport: movers, house)

[Marblemovers]

Hey everybody. Hope you are all enjoying this wonderful weather that Mother Nature is throwing at us! Ain't global warming great???
My question today is this...How long does it really take to go from either the Mountain City or the Rogersville areas to Johnson City? We are still trying to find that "perfect" house, and are finding many that we would like to see in these areas. The problem is that not being from the area and being too far away to just go check it out, we have to rely on the internet maps and drive times. How can it possibly take over an hour to drive 40 miles? Are the roads that bad or is it the mountain passes that take more time?
Hubby has to get into the north part of Johnson City for work and we want to keep his drive time down to ideally 30-40 minutes max. Coming from a relatively flat state that is divided into 1 mile sections almost everywhere, the roads are a bit confusing down there. Not to mention trying to figure out the school district lines! Having to reference the written bus routes to determine where one school ends and another begins is something we have never had to deal with before. Looks like hubby is gonna have to get there sometime in March or April, but we can't all come down until our house here sells because we don't want to leave it empty and can't afford two households anyway.
Would it take as long to get from one place to the other if a house was located nearer to a highway? Sometimes it looks on the map like the property would be easy to access from the main roads but the times listed for the travel is still longer than we would expect.
Thanks! You guys on this board don't know how helpful to us you have been! You are all great with your info and help!

[DubbleT]

Originally Posted by Marblemovers

The problem is that not being from the area and being too far away to just go check it out, we have to rely on the internet maps and drive times. How can it possibly take over an hour to drive 40 miles?

I ran into a similar question when I bought my house a few months ago. My house is 22 miles from where I work in JC and mapquest put it as a 35 minute drive. All but about 2 miles of it is all highway, so I was wondering why such a long drive time. Turns out that almost all of that highway runs through various city limits and the posted speed is 45 mph (part of it is 35mph! ) for about half my drive time. It's even longer when I'm running a few minutes late and hit that 15mph school zone at the wrong time.

[kamoshika]

The drive from downtown Rogersville to JC's Exit 19 (Oakland Ave./State of Franklin Rd.) is 47 miles and takes about 50 minutes. It's an easy drive and even though you'll go through about 10 traffic lights on 11-W, you should still average almost 50 mph between Rogersville and the exit onto I-26.

From downtown Mountain City to Exit 19 is 50 miles but a a slower drive due to the mountainous terrain between MC and S. Holston Lake; there are lots of sharp curves on that stretch. It can be a fairly harrowing trip in inclement weather or at night, especially for anyone who's not accustomed to driving in the mountains. Count on 60-65 minutes in good weather.

[jabogitlu]

Something else to ask yourself is do you really want to live that far out? Rogersville isn't so bad because you can drive into Kingsport, but Mountain City is reeeallly isolated. Our cities aren't so large that you can't find a nice piece of rural property close by, sometimes even in the city limits.

[mbmouse]

Hello,
I live in Gray( N.JC), my parents live in Rogersville. It takes me 45 minutes. however, for me anyway, the more you drive that route, the longer it seems to take. I could not imagine driving it every day, twice a day. But, like I said, that is me.

[kamoshika]

Originally Posted by jabogitlu

Our cities aren't so large that you can't find a nice piece of rural property close by, sometimes even in the city limits.

That's a good point. I went for a long walk yesterday in an area between Fall Branch and Rock Springs that's rural & beautiful with big rolling hills of pastureland, but it's very close to Kingsport and only about 18-20 min. from JC. On the other side of I-81, Fordtown and Harmony are similar areas.

[mbmouse]

I love Fordtown and Harmony areas! Especially HWY 75 just south of that area, by Bomentown. Feels like you are miles from anywhere but yet so close in.

[Aspen!]

From MTCity to JC depends on the weather and how many slow moving trucks and cars you get behind around the lake. Always figure on a hour and a half trip, anytime of the day.

It would be hard to justify the amount of time spent in the car going back and fourth. If I ever move back to TriCities, I would look around Erwin due to HWY26.

Good Luck!