Tennessee State Route 204

Covington Pike ; Sgt. Walter K. Singleton Parkway
Route information
	Maintained by TDOT
Major junctions
South end	Stratford Avenue and Macon Road in Memphis
	I-40 in Memphis
North end	I-269 / SR 385 near Millington
Location
Country	United States
State	Tennessee
Counties	Shelby
Highway system
	Tennessee State Routes; Interstate; US; State;

State Route 205 (SR-204) is a state highway in Shelby County, Tennessee.

Route description

The route starts at the Intersection of Stratford Road and Macon Road in Memphis, about a mile south of Interstate 40 (I-40). The road (locally known as Covington Pike), passes over the Wolf River after its interchange with I-40. Between here and Raleigh–Lagrange Road are numerous car dealerships; Covington Pike is best known regionally for this. SR-204 continues north into the Memphis neighborhood of Raleigh, crossing SR-15 (Stage Road) and SR-14 (Austin Peay Highway). At this intersection, SR-204 changes into Singleton Parkway, a four-lane divided highway with a 55-mile-per-hour (89 km/h) speed limit. This route was named for Walter K. Singleton, a Memphis native, who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor as a result of the Vietnam War. This is one of the main routes for residents who commute from Millington to Memphis. After passing over the Loosahatchie River, SR-204 ends at I-269/SR-385. Singleton Parkway continues north into Naval Support Activity Mid-South and continues until SR-205 (Navy Road) in Millington. However, the base is closed to through traffic, so through traffic must go onto SR-385 in order to go to Millington.

History

Up until the 1970s, Covington Pike ran from Raleigh–Lagrange Road to just south of its current junction with Austin Peay Highway. However, instead of taking a turn towards the west along the current route, Covington Pike continued north and crossed Austin Peay Highway north of where it does today. Covington Pike crossed over SR-14 several times in somewhat discontinuous sections, over the Loosahatchie River, and past the community of Rosemark. In theory, one could get to Covington, Tennessee (about 40 miles, 64 km north of Memphis) by having traveled this route as its name suggests. Once in Tipton County, the route is known as Old Memphis Road (or Old Brighton Road in the city of Covington), which is more continuous and still goes from the Tipton County line to Covington. Today, segments of the old Covington Pike still exist, but are mainly dead ends.

Singleton Parkway was built in the 1970s from Austin Peay to Egypt Central Road, and was extended north to Millington in the 1980s.

References

Tennessee Department of Transportation
Tennessee Official Transportation Map
Memphis Road Map—Published by Esso, circa 1960's
Memphis and Vicinity--Published by Rand-McNally in 1925