(from the archived US Highways Web site; update date 2005)

This archived Web site has a detailed description of the Dixie Highway, including Connectors to the East and West Main Lines.  The Connectors began in Mackinaw City, Michigan, and ended in West Palm Beach, Florida.

From the site:

In the 1920’s, automobile use was booming.  Models were starting to hit the market that were affordable for the burgeoning middle class.  The Good Roads movement, started in response to bicyclist needs, shifted to promoting longer, transcontinental roads.  The Dixie Highway was heavily boosted by Carl Graham Fisher, who was also a big backer of the Lincoln Highway and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  It was over 5,706 miles long and stretched as far north as Ontario, Canada and reached as far south as Florida City, Florida, south of Miami.

…

Today, you could make a good case for calling I-75 the Modern Dixie Highway, it follows the east DH leg from Canada / Upper Michigan to Knoxville, then bears southwesterly along the DH Tennessee Connector to Chattanooga and follows along the DH west leg from there south to Miami, reforging a link broken when the US numbered highway system was forged.

A portion of the Dixie Highway passed through Roane County, and the route remains traceable today.  This is a portion of the “Tennessee Connector” from the Web site:

• Connect to Dixie Highway West at Knoxville, TN and head west along US 70 to Rockwood, TN
• Bear left on US 27 and continue south to Jenkins Waldo Lane, southwest of the Roane / Rhea county line
• Turn right and head northwesterly to Old Dixie Highway
• Turn left follow Old Dixie Hwy till it rejoins with US 27 near Saint Clair, TN
• Continue southwesterly on US 27 / Business US 27 to Dayton, TN

Click here to view the full route of the “Tennessee Connector.”