The highway passes through
Tennessee,
Alabama, and
Mississippi. Most of the original eastern and western portions of the route through roughly follows the path of the
Memphis and Charleston Railroad, a railroad that predated the
American Civil War and now operated by
Norfolk Southern Railway as their
Memphis-
Chattanooga, Tennessee mainline.
US 72 Alt. follows the Memphis and Charleston route through
North Alabama.
West Tennessee US 72 begins at Bellevue Boulevard (
US 51) in
Memphis. From Memphis, the route follows Union Avenue and Poplar Avenue into
Collierville. Just south of Collierville, US 72 junctions
State Route 385 (the Bill Morris Parkway), a
freeway which links Collierville with
I-240. The route enters
Mississippi southeast of SR 385. This segment of the highway is
concurrently designated
State Route 86 (
SR 86) south of its concurrency with SR 57 between Union Avenue in Memphis and Collierville.
Mississippi US 72 enters Mississippi in western
Marshall County. The route follows rolling hills across the extreme northern part of the state, passing through
Walnut and
Corinth as it heads east. Near
Burnsville, US 72 crosses the Divide Cut of the
Tennessee–Tombigbee Waterway. Farther east, the route enters the
Tennessee Valley and heads through
Iuka before crossing into
Alabama. All of US 72 in Mississippi has been widened to four-lane highway, with the last two lane section between MS 302 and the Tennessee state line being completed in 2019. Legally, the Mississippi section of US 72 is defined in the Mississippi Code §65-3-3.
reassurance shield Alabama US 72 enters Alabama just west of
Cherokee. The route parallels the
Tennessee River east to
Muscle Shoals, where
US 72 Alternate splits from US 72. The mainline turns north, passing through Muscle Shoals and crossing the Tennessee River, entering
Florence on the opposite bank. From Florence to
Huntsville, the route heads through areas dominated by farmland. Between the two locales, however, US 72 enters
Athens. After passing through Athens and an overpass with
Interstate 65 (I-65), US 72 approaches Huntsville from the west. Part of this section has the local name
University Drive. At an interchange with
Memorial Parkway, the route turns northward briefly, joining the routes of
US 231 and
US 431, until it breaks off from the Parkway and heads eastward again. (This part is known to locals as "72 East" because it is east of the Parkway; it has no other name.) Northeast of downtown Huntsville, US 72 interchanges with
I-565. I-565/US 72 Alt., part of
Corridor V of the
Appalachian Development Highway System, terminates at the interchange while US 72 takes over the freeway alignment, joining Corridor V. I-565 is mentioned as the eastbound route and
SR 20 is mentioned as the westbound route. Signs for I-565 east at this interchange recently were changed to remove any mention of SR 20 east. Most of the US 72 portion of Corridor V is a four-lane divided
expressway with at-grade intersections. Past Huntsville, US 72 follows several mountain valleys to
Scottsboro. From Scottsboro, the route follows a northeasterly routing similar to that of the Tennessee River as it enters
Tennessee for the second time. All of US 72 within Alabama is four lanes in width. Additionally, much of US 72 has been built through northeast Alabama with interchanges at the major state highways. Just west of Moores Mill Road in Huntsville, US 72 becomes limited access over Chapman Mountain. Throughout Alabama, US 72 is paired with unsigned
State Route 2 (
SR 2). The stretch of US 72 paralleling
I-59 to the far northeast in between Scottsboro and
South Pittsburg contains multiple freeway-style
Interchanges.
East Tennessee US 72 enters Tennessee for the second time just south of
South Pittsburg. At South Pittsburg, Corridor V ends at an interchange with
Interstate 24.
US 64, concurrent with I-24 west of the exit, departs the expressway and forms an overlap with US 72 through
Kimball to
Jasper, where
US 41 joins the concurrency. Just east of Jasper, the highways cross the Tennessee River on
Nickajack Lake. The route then follows a cut in the
Cumberland Plateau made by the Tennessee River to the western outskirts of
Chattanooga, where it interchanges with I-24 once more. Just east of the interchange,
US 11 joins the overlap. Together, US 11, US 41, US 64, and US 72 follow the bluffs on
Lookout Mountain above the
Tennessee River to Chattanooga, where the routes follow Broad Street north into downtown. At the corner of Main Street and Broad Street, US 72 comes to an end;
US 76 begins at the intersection, making one highway in essence a continuation of the other. ==History==