Interstate 20

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"I-20" redirects here. For , see .

Interstate 20 (abbreviated I-20 or IH-20) is a major east-west interstate highway in the southeastern United States. It runs 1,535 miles (2,470 km) from near Kent, Texas at Interstate 10 ([map]) to Florence, South Carolina at Interstate 95 ([map]). After splitting off from Interstate 10, I-20 runs through Odessa, Midland, Abilene, and the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. In Mississippi, it runs through Jackson and joins with northbound Interstate 59 at Meridian. The two interstates enter Alabama together, running through Tuscaloosa before splitting in Birmingham. I-20 continues east, crossing into Georgia, where it runs through downtown Atlanta and Augusta. In South Carolina, it runs through Columbia before terminating at Interstate 95, just west of Florence. Beyond the I-95 interchange, the road itself continues into Florence as Business Spur 20 for about two more miles.

Contents

1 Length
2 Major cities
3 Intersections with other interstates
4 Spur routes
5 Notes
6 External links
7 References

Length


Miles	km
634	1,020	Texas
189	304	Louisiana
154.5	248.6	Mississippi
215	346	Alabama
201	324	Georgia
141	227	South Carolina

1,535	2,470	Total

Major cities

Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs.

Intersections with other interstates

Interstate 10 in Kent, Texas
Interstate 30 in Fort Worth, Texas
Interstate 35 in the Dallas, Texas area has two spurs. I-20 connects with I-35W in Fort Worth, Texas and I-35E in Dallas, Texas.
Interstate 45 in Dallas, Texas
Interstate 49 in Shreveport, Louisiana
Interstate 55 in Jackson, Mississippi
Interstate 59 in Meridian, Mississippi ([Map]). These roads stay connected until Birmingham, Alabama.
Interstate 65 in Birmingham, Alabama
*The interchange with I-20/59 and I-65 is commonly referred to as "Malfunction Junction"
Interstate 59 in Birmingham, Alabama
Interstate 75 in Atlanta, Georgia
Interstate 85 in Atlanta, Georgia
Interstate 26 in Columbia, South Carolina
Interstate 77 in Columbia, South Carolina
Interstate 95 in Florence, South Carolina ([Map])

Spur routes

[http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit ]

Auxiliary routes of Interstate 20

Notes

Until 1971, I-20 passed through downtown Dallas, Texas and Fort Worth, Texas along the Dallas/Fort Worth Turnpike, a route now signed as Interstate 30 (and called the Tom Landry Freeway). I-30 ended at the border of Dallas and Mesquite, Texas. When I-20 was built through Arlington and Grand Prairie, it took over the southern portions of Fort Worth's loop I-820 and Dallas' three-quarter-loop I-635.

In 1987, the I-20 designation was moved to a cutoff from Terrell, Texas to the southeast Dallas suburb of Balch Springs. Most of the bypassed segment of I-20 was already designated US 80, but that still left a three-mile (5 km) segment of old I-20 west of Terrell with no designation. It is now (2004) signed westbound as "To US 80" and eastbound as "To I-20", and is officially designated as Texas Spur 557.

As the combined interstates of I-20/59 converge on Interstate 65 in Birmingham, Alabama, many wrecks, and accidents that have occurred that include the melting of support beams of overpasses after 18-wheelers crashed and burned on two separate occasions, and the numerous collisions that happen every year, has led this interchange to be nicknamed, "Malfunction Junction".

The westbound lanes of Interstate 20 contain an extremely sharp curve near the Birmingham airport, as the highway merges with Interstate 59. Engineers were forced to build the curve into the route to avoid a cemetery.

There were two Interstate 420s that were never completed. One was to be a bypass around Monroe, Louisiana, but it was never built. The other I-420 was planned as a bypass to the south of downtown Atlanta. Due to anti-freeway sentiments, I-420 was never completed, and the already-built portion has been signed as GA 154/GA 166. Additionally, it is highly unlikely that any road will ever be designated as "Route 420," due to that number being popular in the drug trade.

I-20 is also the nickname of a hip-hop artist from Atlanta.

Past Birmingham, Alabama near Anniston, the Talladega Superspeedway is visible south of the Interstate.

The North Carolina Department of Transportation in 2003 proposed to extend I-20 eastward to Wilmington, North Carolina at the behest of North Carolina Governor Mike Easley and his 'Strategic Transportation Plan' for the southeast portion of the state. The new I-20 would follow US 76 east from Florence, South Carolina to Whiteville, North Carolina, and then parallel US 74/US 76 into Wilmington. Part of this route is already planned to be designated Interstate 74. As part of the 2005 SAFETEA-LU transportation legislation, North Carolina received $5 million for a feasibility study for this extension. While this extension has considerable support among towns in southeastern North Carolina, the South Carolina DOT has stated that they have no interest in upgrading their portion of US 76 to an Interstate. This is likely due, in no small part, to a desire to encourage eastbound vacationers to travel to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina rather than Wilmington and that they are concentrating their efforts on plans to build Interstate 73 that will terminate near Myrtle Beach.

The part of I-20 in Georgia is designated - but not signed - as State Route 402.

External links

http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-020.html I-20 on Interstate-Guide.com
http://www.duke.edu/~rmalme/ncfutint.html Proposed I-20 in North Carolina

References

http://www.duke.edu/~rmalme/i74seg18.html I-20 in NC discussion on I-74 in North Carolina Progress Page, accessed October 4, 2005.

Main Interstate Highways
4	5	8	10	12	15	16	17	19	20	22	24	25	26	27	29
30	35	37	39	40	43	44	45	49	55	57	59	64	65	66	68
69	70	71	72	73	74	75	76 (W)		76 (E)		77	78	79	80	81
82	83	84 (W)		84 (E)		85	86 (W)		86 (E)		87	88 (W)		88 (E)
89	90	91	93	94	95	96	97	99	(238)		H-1	H-2	H-3
Unsigned			A-1	A-2	A-3	A-4	PRI-1		PRI-2		PRI-3
Lists		Main - Auxiliary - Suffixed - Business - Proposed - Unsigned Gaps - Intrastate - Interstate standards - Replaced

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 0.5em auto; font-size:95%;" |- !colspan=5|Browse numbered routes |- style="text-align: center;" |- style="text-align: center;" |colspan=2 align="center"|← 401'' !Georgia |colspan=2 align="center"|403 →''

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