The road over the pass is generally open all year round, easily negotiable by most vehicles, and closes only during severe winter storms.

The area was formerly a World War II training ground for United States Army troops of the 10th Mountain Division from nearby Camp Hale.

The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad constructed a narrow gauge railroad over Tennessee Pass in 1881, first as a branch line to access mines near Red Cliff, but by the mid 1880s the line became part of its extension to the Aspen area constructed in order to beat the Colorado Midland's standard gauge route to the rich mining area.

In 1890, a new standard gauge line was built from Pueblo, to Grand Junction, and jointly with the Colorado Midland Railway, a tunnel was constructed about 200 ft (61 m) below the summit.

Southern Pacific’s (SP) acquisition by The Denver & Rio Grande in 1988 made Tennessee Pass once again the preferred transcontinental route.

The Tennessee Pass Line may be able to be used as an alternate route as trans-mountain rail demand grows due to increased development on the Western Slope or if the Moffat Tunnel were damaged or closed for any reason.

The Royal Gorge Route Railroad currently offers scenic, tourist rail trips on 12 miles of the Tennessee Pass Line west of Cañon City.

After a long battle in court, the ICC[dubious – discuss] declared that they would not force a sale, but if other evidence was found, Colorado Pacific could re-file the report.

[8] During 2022 and 2023 the Tennessee Pass route was at the center of controversy because, with the Uinta Basin Railroad construction project in Utah, the Tennessee Pass was expected to be reactivated for the shipment of trains loaded with waxy-crude Oil, due to the shortening of travel miles between Dotsero and Pueblo, where the trains enter the trackage rights at BNSF, bound for Gulf Coast refineries.

[9] Both Eagle County and environmental groups lobbied hard to put the project on hold for the time being, citing the potential risks of increased oil train traffic both in the Central Corridor and eventually through Tennessee Pass.

One of the major concerns that both Eagle County and environmental groups indicated is that if a major derailment were to occur on the Central Corridor or Tennessee Pass route with the resulting Oil spill, the environmental consequences to the Colorado River (which runs adjacent to the Central Corridor rail tracks), or the Arkansas River, which runs adjacent to the Tennessee Pass tracks, would be catastrophic.