Interstate 20

Interstate 20 Main route of the Interstate Highway System
Length:	1,535 mi (2,470 km)
Formed:	1957
West end:	I-10 near Kent, TX
Major junctions:	I-35W in Fort Worth, TX I-35E in Dallas, TX I-45 in Dallas, TX I-55 in Jackson, MS I-65 in Birmingham, AL I-75/I-85 in Atlanta, GA
East end:	I-95/BS 20 near Florence, SC

"I-20" redirects here. For other uses, see I-20 (disambiguation).

Interstate 20 (abbreviated I-20 or IH-20) is a major east-west interstate highway in Texas and 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.

Length

Major cities

Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs.

• El Paso, Texas (via Interstate 10)
• Odessa, Texas
• Midland, Texas
• Abilene, Texas
• Fort Worth, Texas
• Dallas, Texas
• Tyler, Texas
• Longview, Texas
• Shreveport, Louisiana
• Monroe, Louisiana
• Vicksburg, Mississippi
• Jackson, Mississippi
• Meridian, Mississippi
• Tuscaloosa, Alabama
• Birmingham, Alabama
• Anniston, Alabama
• Atlanta, Georgia
• Augusta, Georgia
• Columbia, South Carolina
• Florence, South Carolina

Intersections with other interstates

• Interstate 10 in Kent, Texas
• Interstate 820 in Fort Worth, Texas (twice)
• Interstate 30 in Fort Worth, Texas
• Interstate 35W in Fort Worth, Texas
• Interstate 35E in Dallas, Texas
• Interstate 45 in Dallas, Texas
• Interstate 635 in Dallas, Texas
• Interstate 220 in Shreveport, Louisiana (west terminus)
• Interstate 49 in Shreveport, Louisiana
• Interstate 220 in Bossier City, Louisiana (east terminus)
• Interstate 220 in Jackson, Mississippi
• Interstate 55 in Jackson, Mississippi
• Interstate 59 in Meridian, Mississippi (Map). I-20 and I-59 stay connected until Birmingham, Alabama.

I-95 approaching the eastern terminus of I-20

• Interstate 359 in Tuscaloosa, 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 459 in Birmingham, Alabama (twice)
• Interstate 285 in Atlanta, Georgia (twice)
• Interstate 75/Interstate 85 in Atlanta, Georgia. Both follow the same stretch of freeway better known as the Downtown Connector.
• Interstate 520 in Augusta, Georgia
• Interstate 26 in Columbia, South Carolina
• Interstate 77 in Columbia, South Carolina
• Interstate 95 in Florence, South Carolina (Map)

Spur routes

• Shreveport, Louisiana - I-220
• Jackson, Mississippi - I-220
• Augusta, Georgia - I-520
• Fort Worth, Texas - I-820

	edit Auxiliary routes of Interstate 20
I-220	Louisiana - Mississippi
I-520	Georgia-South Carolina
I-820	Texas
past/ future	I-420: Georgia - Louisiana

Exit list

Texas

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.

• Near Anniston, Alabama, the Talladega Superspeedway is visible south of the Interstate.

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

• 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.

• In Western Texas, I-20 has a posted Speed Limit of 80 mph. This, along with I-10 (also in Texas), is the highest posted speed limit in the United States.

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 extension 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.
• Georgia Deartment of Transportation, Office of Transportation Data (2003). "Interstate Mileage Report (438 Report)".

edit Main Interstate Highways (major in pink)
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
66 (W)		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

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