While there are currently no bicycle-specific routes on the western side of Johnson City, there is hope. The Tennessee governor recently allotted $2.4 million towards the “First Frontier Trail,” which is a planned expansion of the Tweetsie Trail from the trailhead at Legion Street all the way to Jonesboro.
Until this gets built, however, we are stuck with automobile-focused infrastructure only. West Market Street should absolutely be avoided. It has lots of traffic and that traffic moves fast. It is dangerous for a bicycle to try and ride alongside it. Beyond just being dangerous, there are a couple of hills that are a bit too steep to be comfortable for bikes. NOTE: If you are ever crossing a busy road, do so at a stoplight with protected turns.
W Walnut Street
One option to take is W Walnut Street. While cars definitely speed on this road, it is nowhere near the extent of W Market. It can still be dangerous, especially around turns in the road. Only take this route if you feel extremely comfortable on your bike around car traffic.
If you are heading towards downtown Johnson City, get on W Walnut Street and stay on it until reaching the Kroger parking lot on State on Franklin. Turn into the parking lot in order to avoid competing with the traffic on State of Franklin.
Turn right onto South Greenwood Drive on the opposite side of the parking lot. Turn into the left-most lane since you will be making a left onto Go Bucs Trail quickly afterwards.
On Go Bucs Trail, get onto the multi-use path that runs alongside it. This will get you all the way to Jack Vest Drive. From there, you can cut across campus and the Tree Streets to reach downtown.
Scenic Bypass
If W Walnut is still the route you want to take, you are able to bypass some of it on McKinley Road. It has less traffic and better scenery (in my opinion), but more twists and turns. Some cars take these turns really fast, so be prepared.
Safety First Route
This route, although not the most direct, is by far the safest. It has more frequent and steeper hills, however, it avoids W Market entirely and all but a small fraction of W Walnut.
Start on Old Embreville Road and turn onto Jim Range Drive.
At the end of Jim Range, turn right and then onto Delaney Road.
Turn left onto Summit Drive. Keep riding along Summit for a little while.
Turn right onto Antioch Road. Antioch experiences more traffic than the other roads so far, but is still relatively calm compared to the other route options.
Keep on Antioch Road until reaching the end of it. then turn right onto W Walnut. From there, you can follow the directions listed above through the Kroger lot and onto the ETSU multi-use pathway.
