The route arose out of an effort to relieve congestion around downtown Cleveland, and the first section was constructed along with I-75 as a spur into the city, opening in 1966.

Since then, the growth of the city of Cleveland has resulted in traffic volumes that have placed considerable congestion and safety hazards on parts of the route.

The highway then curves again to the northwest where the freeway ends about 1⁄2 mile (0.80 km) later and the road becomes 25th Street, entering into a commercial area near the geographic center of Cleveland.

[7][8] The route that is now APD-40 was originally proposed and built to relieve congestion and divert commercial through traffic away from downtown Cleveland that increased as a result of industrial and residential growth.

These residents had argued the shift would be more beneficial to their communities and believed that the proposed location was impractical since it was in an area that was sparsely populated at the time.

[14][15] When the ADHS was created by the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965, the section between I-75 and US 64, as well as US 64 into North Carolina, became part of Corridor K. Construction of the extension to US 64, as well as the widening of US 64 to four lanes between Cleveland and Ocoee, was subsequently funded by this legislation.

[16] The contract for the segment between US 11/64 and Blythe Avenue, about 1⁄4 mile (0.40 km) east of Blue Springs Road, was awarded on January 30, 1970,[17] and construction was completed in November 1971.

[22] This was one of the first highway projects in Tennessee to utilize jersey barrier-style bridge railings, which had recently been deemed safer than conventional designs after crash tests.

In 1973, an at-grade intersection with Varnell Road, located at the bottom of the steep downgrade on the western slope of Candies Creek Ridge, was reconstructed with an overpass after many accidents occurred immediately after being opened to traffic.

[24][25] Prior to construction, the then-incumbent superintendent of the Bradley County Road Department had reportedly requested TDOT to make this change to the design, but they had refused.

[30] The Benton Pike interchange especially became a point of contention when Whirlpool Corporation moved their plant onto this road from downtown Cleveland in 2012, resulting in a large increase in truck traffic and crashes.

[34] In 2005, plans for a new interchange between I-75 and US 11/64 began to materialize in order to allow commercial development in this area,[35][36] and in 2009, TDOT undertook a feasibility study for this project.

[37] This project was further spearheaded in the early 2010s, when the city and county planned a controversial publicly owned industrial park directly south of this section of APD-40.

Subsequently, TDOT's decision to construct this interchange was criticized as pork barrel and a prioritization over more urgent needs in the area, such as improvements to other hazards on APD-40.

[22] SR 60 originally turned south about 1⁄4 mile (400 m) past the interchange with I-75 and went directly to downtown; it was moved to 25th Street NW in the mid-1960s after that road was widened,[44] and onto the section of APD-40 to US 64 after it opened.