Tennessee is behind the curve as well. I-24, I-65 north of Nashvegas, and I-75 all need to be 6 lanes where they are 4 now. Chattanooga is just complete poo, with I-24 and I-75 often backed up for miles.
All of Tennessee except maybe 81 north of Greenville need to be six lane rural
Even 840 is crowded daylight hours now
I occasionally drive from S.E. MO to Atlanta to see family. I am always amazed at Nashville’s and Chattanooga’s traffic. One or the other is always backed up—doesn’t matter what day of the week it is—one or both will be slow moving.
If anything Chattanooga is the worse of the two. Very slow going from east to west. Expecting a wreck or road construction or something, and then traffic seems to vanish.
But to the point of the story, you often notice a big difference in road conditions when you leave one state and enter another. One reason might be that Georgia is a more prosperous state than South Carolina and has more money to spend on its roads.
Strangely, Northeastern Tennessee roads are pretty good. But I was amazed at how poor the roads leading into the Knoxville area were. It took about two hours to get from Gatlinburg to Knoxville. I only stayed in Upland parts of South Carolina, but those Road seemed pretty good. Frankly, Tennessee was a relief after driving I-81 in Virginia, which was two lanes when it needed to be at least three.