Where Does The Time Zone Change In Tennessee On I-40? (MAP)
Traveling takes its toll. It is not the length of time that produces the wear and tear you feel. It is also the ever-changing time zones. When you are driving, you are lucky to cross only one time zone in a day’s worth of traveling. That is not so bad even when this change takes place in the same state.
The time zone change on the 1-40 in Tennessee takes place at the border of Cumberland County. There should be a sign up mentioning the county border and the time zone you are entering should be right underneath that name. The other county is Roane.
To learn more about this topic, just continue to read our article. It has the information you want to know about so you can be prepared to change your watches, etc. Some cell phones automatically update the time zone for you.
Why Are Time Zone Boundaries Crooked?
Technically, they are not crooked. The sun does not jump back and forth in the sky to make life weird for people. All the true time zones are very straight lines. These lines are 15 degrees latitude apart from each other.
And if you are not sure what 15 degrees latitude refers to, that is the distance between each line. Each boundary is one hour apart from the other so the time zones are very accurate in their ideal state.
However, due to politics and the wishes of different governments in different countries, those lines are drawn to fit what the leaders of those countries want. Sometimes those leaders ignore the time zone boundaries and make their country just one instead of 5.
This is seen in China. The country used to have 5 time zones but Mao decided that to promote national unity, the whole country should be set to Beijing time. While this is the official time in the country, many ethnic groups in the country use the 15-degree boundaries to promote their ethnic pride.
The official lines may be straight but people have a way of messing up a good thing.
Where Does The Time Change in Tennessee on Interstate 40?
If you are not sleeping as someone else is driving, you should see the signs that clearly mark where the time zone changes in this state. When you are traveling west, you should see a sign saying you are entering Cumberland County and the Central time zone.
When you are traveling east, you will see a sign that says Roane County and Eastern time zone. Depending on which direction you are traveling you would need to set your watch for one hour either way.
Now some cell phones automatically change the time on their clocks for you. They do this as they ping to the nearest cellphone tower in each time zone. That is the way they are supposed to work.
Sometimes those cell phones delay that alteration or they do not do it at all and you end up having to do it for them. It is best to double-check your cell phone to see if yours is doing it for you or if you have to change it like you would your watch.
Time Zone Map Tennessee I40
If you are traveling through Tennessee on roads that are not the I-40, then this time zone map will show you exactly where you are entering the eastern time zone from the central or vice versa.
The green and yellow colors give you the best illustration of where each time zone starts and ends. If you want to see the names of those counties, just click on the map to enlarge it.
American Time Zones
It is said that the country has 5 time zones but that is if you only count Alaska and leave Hawaii out of the count. Hawaii is a fair distance from the mainland and is in what is called the HAST time zone. Only some of the Alaskan islands are in the same time zone as Hawaii.
Alaska, for the most part, is in its own time zone and that is called the AKST, It is an hour later in most of Alaska than it is in Hawaii. The lower 4 states only cover 4 time zones, PST, MST, CST,& EST, with each one hour later than the previous time zone the further east you travel.
If you look at this link, you will see that the northern part of Idaho is listed in the PST time zone and not the MST, while portions of eastern Oregon are in the MST even though their physical location is well within the PST boundary.
Time zones can get confusing if you travel a lot.
Who Created The Time Zones?
The story goes that Sir Sandford Fleming was trying to catch a train in 1876. he missed it as the time he had on his watch was not the same as the local time. He proposed that there be one standard time with variations for the different zones around the world.
He also decided the time zones should be one hour apart from each other. It wasn’t until 1884 that an International Meridian Conference in Washington DC, USA, finally made the standard time and all other time zones official.
It was at this conference that the Greenwich Observatory’s transit instrument would mark the prime timekeeping spot. The reason for this was that Britain had more ships using Greenwich time than any other ship in the world.
Plus, Greenwich was famous for producing top-quality data all the time.
Some Final Words
Even though time zones can get confusing and mess up tight schedules, they are important. They help you function better when you have to travel or do business in other states or countries.
The only problem is that with politics involved, those time zone lines can get fairly confusing and are often drawn in strange ways. It takes new leaders to make more sensible changes when needed.
