Designation
Yazoo City, MS to Union City, TN

Suggested changes:  Designate US 47 along the following routing:

• Replace US 49E from US 49 at Yazoo City, MS to Greenwood, MS
• Replace MS 7 from Greenwood, MS to the MS/TN State Line
• Replace TN 18 from the MS/TN State Line to US 45 near Jackson, TN
• Duplex with US 45 from existing TN 18 to BYPASS US 45 in Jackson, TN
• Replace BYPASS US 45 around Jackson, TN
• Duplex with US 45 from BYPASS US 45 to US 45E/US 45W at Three Way, TN
• Replace US 45W from Three Way, TN to US 51 near Union City, TN

Under this scenario, the following other route changes would be made:

• US 49W becomes mainline US 49
• US 49E is eliminated
• MS 7 is eliminated north of Greenwood, MS
• Existing US 49E from US 82 to US 49 at Tutwiler becomes a realigned MS 7
• TN 18 is eliminated
• BYPASS US 45 is eliminated
• US 45W is eliminated
• US 45E becomes mainline US 45

Rationale:  Insofar as anyone can tell, US 47 has never been assigned.  I've used it here to designate an important regional route between Grenada, MS and Jackson, TN.  Although not quite 300 miles in length, the proposal does go through two states and removes a pair of split routes, which are discouraged by AASHTO.  In this case, we replace US 49E in Mississippi and US 45W in Tennessee.  US 49W becomes regular US 49, and US 45E becomes US 45.

Original credit for this idea should go to R.V. Droz, an MTR regular and curaitor of a major US Highways page.  His original idea was similar, but has been modified by me above.

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