And so far it seems that while both the trip up the grade and down it are a challenge, it’s the descent that’s most dangerous. In fact, one hill, located between Chattanooga and Nashville, isn’t the steepest interstate climb in the country, but one full of twists, turns, and also one that goes on and on and on. It’s a place where you don’t necessarily overheat on the way up—but you lose your brakes on the way down.
This stretch of highway made enough of an impact on Johnny Cash that he wrote a song about it called “Monteagle Mountain”:
“When I started down Monteagle,
the brakes just wouldn’t hold.
I knew I was in trouble
and ’bout to lose control.
The runaway ramp was waitin’,
I saw the warning sign.
I said, ‘Lord help me make it —
have mercy on this soul of mine.”