of the community and the 11W corridor. As the region's economy began to diversify, manufacturing soon took over agriculture as the area's main source of income. As the community witnessed increased development along routes 25E and 11W and the emergence of manufacturing facilities by the mid-century, the community would attempt to incorporate into a city in 1964. Residents would reject to incorporate in a 153 to 94 vote. In 1967, community residents organized and chartered the Bean Station Volunteer Fire Department. Eight years later, the Bean Station Volunteer Rescue Squad would be established to service the community. On May 13, 1972, 14 people were killed and 15 injured in a head-on collision between a double-decker Greyhound bus and a tractor-trailer on U.S. Route 11W in Bean Station. The accident is considered one of the deadliest and worst traffic collisions in the history of the state of Tennessee. The collision, the deadliest in state history, led to outcry from politicians and citizens in Bean Station calling for traffic safety and infrastructure improvements, such as the widening of 11W and other state highways, and the completion of Interstate 81 in Tennessee in order to alleviate the congestion that 11W experienced being the main thoroughfare between Knoxville and Bristol. Following the completion of Interstate 81 in neighboring Morristown in December 1974, the community would witness a massive decline in business following the decreased traffic on 11W. Most truck stops, gift stores, and motels would close in Bean Station following the reported 60% decline in business in the community. In 1977, residents in Bean Station would petition to incorporate into a city again, with new boundaries including portions of the neighboring Mooresburg community across the Hawkins County line. The proposal would be rejected in a 291 to 160 vote. US 25E would experience an opposite scenario to 11W in Bean Station, as the completion of I-81 led to increased congestion on US 25E from its junction with I-75 in Kentucky through Bean Station into Morristown, due to the route becoming a popular alternate corridor for truckers bypassing I-75 in Knoxville. Urban sprawl-influenced residential development in Bean Station would also lead to the two-lane 25E to be overloaded with commuters to neighboring Morristown. In the 1980s, US-25E would be widened to a four-lane limited-access highway from Lakeshore Drive to across Cherokee Lake into Morristown, and from the gap at Clinch Mountain to the base near