Interstate 64

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Template:Routeboxint Interstate 64 (abbreviated I-64) is an Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. Its western terminus is just west of an interchange with SSR K in O'Fallon, Missouri--because it is multiplexed with U.S. Route 40 and U.S. Route 61 at the terminus, the road itself continues as an arterial road; its eastern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 264 and Interstate 664 at Bowers Hill in Chesapeake, Virginia.

The Missouri Department of Transportation is currently extending Interstate 64 to Interstate 70 in Wentzville, Missouri. Currently an interchange is being built at Route N in St. Charles County, Missouri. This interchange will also accommodate the future tie in of the Missouri State Highway 364 freeway to I-64. In 2007, construction will start to rebuild 12 miles of Interstate 64 from Spoede Rd. to Boyle Ave[1]. This project will include repaving the entire road, rebuilding the overpasses and interchanges, adding a fourth lane between Spoede Rd. and Interstate 170, and connecting Interstate 64 to Interstate 170 in all directions. MoDOT will use the Design-Build method in order to complete the project in as little as three years.

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Length

Mileskmstate
31 50 Missouri
131 211 Illinois
124 200 Indiana
191 308 Kentucky
184 296 West Virginia
299 482 Virginia
960 1,547 Total
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Major cities

Image:Interstate64 map.png Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs.

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Intersections with other interstates

Image:IMG 62361.jpg Of note is that many of these Interstate junctions are actually shared alignments.

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Spur routes

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Notes

  • The final section of Interstate 64 to be completed was in West Virginia between Sam Black Church and the West Virginia Turnpike near Beckley. This section, opened in 1988, is 38 miles long, and cost about $300 million to build, making it one of the most costly sections in the entire U.S. Interstate Highway System. It crosses some particularly rugged terrain, in one area descending at a 7% grade over nearly 5 miles, necessitating two emergency truck escape ramps to help runaway trucks stop safely. The ramps were used with such frequency that a truck speed advisory system was installed to automatically weigh each truck and indicate the speed at which it should begin the downhill section. The system has been plagued with problems since its installation; nevertheless, the journey from Charleston to Lewisburg is far quicker and far safer than the previous trip on U.S. 60, much of which winds through the mountains as a two-lane road.
  • Tolls are still collected on the portion of I-64 which is shared with Interstate 77 on the West Virginia Turnpike between Beckley and Charleston.
  • The terrain, possibly coupled with politics, results in the highway crossing the Kanawha River on major bridges no less than four times in the Charleston area.

Image:IMG 4039111.jpg

  • The eastern terminus of I-64 is not the road's easternmost point. After crossing Hampton Roads through the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and entering Norfolk, the road makes a wide loop toward Virginia Beach and through that city's northwest side. The road then curves toward its final destination on the west side of Chesapeake. From the point where the road enters Chesapeake, I-64 "East" actually runs westward, ending at a location known as Bower's Hill near the edge of the Great Dismal Swamp where it joins Interstate 664. Today, I-64 is no longer signed as "East" or "West" between Bower's Hill and I-264 to limit possible confusion, rather it is signed as the INNER or OUTER loops of the Hampton Roads Beltway. All entrance ramps between these two locations are signed with control cities that differ according to the location of the exit. For inner (westbound) traffic, Suffolk is the most common control city used, although Norfolk is used at two entrances in Chesapeake to indicate the most direct route to Norfolk. For outer (eastbound) traffic, Norfolk, Hampton, and Virginia Beach are variously used.
  • Interstate 64 in the Hampton Roads area is gradually being augmented with HOV-2 lanes.
    • In the 1990's, reversible HOV-2 lanes were added between I-564 and I-264 (then State Highway 44). A relatively simple design, it only allows direct exits to the aforementioned termini, slip ramps beyond them, and an additional pair of slip ramps just "west" (actually north) of the I-264 interchange. The reversible lanes operate westbound from around midnight to noon and eastbound from around noon to midnight. HOV restrictions are only in place during rush hour periods, otherwise any vehicle may use the lanes except around noon and midnight, at which point the lanes are closed to all traffic to empty them prior to a reversal of direction. Access is controlled by clock-controlled automated gates, and each ramp has multiple gates to provide a safeguard against malfunction.
    • Beyond the reversible lanes, increasing lengths of Interstate 64 (and its spur routes) are receiving HOV-designated left lanes, subject to restrictions during rush hours. Such extensions are ongoing.
  • The portion of Interstate 64 east from its junction with Interstate 664 in Hampton, and all of Interstate 664 form the Hampton Roads Beltway.
  • Interstate 64 has two three-digit bypasses that are shorter than the main leg, both in the Hampton Roads area.
    • Interstate 664, which connects the Virginia Peninsula to South Hampton Roads on the western side of Chesapeake (and to the eastern terminus of I-64), is about 15 miles (24 km) shorter than the bypassed main leg.
    • The bypass segment of I-264, which passes through downtown Norfolk, is about a mile (1.6 km) shorter than the main leg it bypasses.
  • Interstate 264 in the Hampton Roads area is an unusual 3-digit interstate that contains both a bypass and a spur route.
    • The bypass section is the original I-264--a direct connection to downtown Norfolk and Portsmouth, connecting back to I-64 at both ends.
    • The spur section, which runs from I-64 toward Virginia Beach's seaside resort district, was originally the Virginia Beach Expressway, a toll road designated as Virginia Highway 44. The tolls were removed in 1995 and the former toll road was renumbered as part of I-264 in 1999.
  • Part of the Blue Star Memorial Highway system.
  • Interstate 64 multiplexes with every interstate that it crosses except I-65 and I-71, for widely varying lengths (distances are approximate): I-95 (3 miles), I-81 (30 miles), I-77 (49 miles), I-75 (6 miles), I-57 (5 miles), and I-55 and I-70 (3 miles) over the Mississippi River.
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References

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See also

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External links

Template:Ed rightMain Interstate Highways (major in pink) Image:I-blank.svg
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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
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