Interstate 55

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Template:Infobox Interstate Interstate 55 (abbreviated I-55) is an interstate highway in the central United States. Like other "interstates," it is commonly referred to as I-55. Its odd number indicates that it is primarily a north-south highway. It goes from Laplace, Louisiana (some 25 miles (40 km) west of New Orleans) at Interstate 10 to Chicago, Illinois at U.S. Route 41 (Lake Shore Drive) next to McCormick Place.

In the Chicagoland area the expressway is referred to as the Adlai E. Stevenson Expressway in honor of one of Illinois' favorite sons. The general public uses both I-55 as well as "The Stevenson" to refer to this freeway in the Chicagoland metropolitan area. In the St. Louis, Missouri metropolitan area I-55 is known as the "Rosa Parks Highway" although the general public still refers to it as I-55.

The section of Interstate 55 between Chicago and St. Louis was built as a bypass for U.S. Highway 66.

Length

Major cities

Image:Interstate55 map.png Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs.

• New Orleans, Louisiana (via Interstate 10)
• Hammond, Louisiana
• McComb, Mississippi
• Jackson, Mississippi
• Grenada, Mississippi
• Memphis, Tennessee
• Blytheville, Arkansas
• Sikeston, Missouri
• Cape Girardeau, Missouri
• St. Louis, Missouri
• Springfield, Illinois
• Bloomington/Normal, Illinois
• Chicago, Illinois

Intersections with other interstates

• Interstate 10 in Laplace, Louisiana
• Interstate 12 in Hammond, Louisiana
• Interstate 20 in Jackson, Mississippi
• Interstate 40 in West Memphis, Arkansas (the two roads are joined through the city)
• Interstate 57 in Miner, Missouri
• Interstate 44 in St. Louis, Missouri
• Interstate 64 in St. Louis, Missouri
• Interstate 70 in St. Louis, Missouri. They stay joined until an exit near Troy, Illinois.
• Interstate 72 in Springfield, Illinois
• Interstate 74 in Bloomington/Normal, Illinois
• Interstate 39 in Bloomington/Normal, Illinois
• Interstate 80 in Shorewood, Illinois
• Interstate 90 in Chicago, Illinois
• Interstate 94 in Chicago, Illinois

Spur Routes

• Turrell to Jonesboro, Arkansas - I-555 (future)
• Caruthersville, Missouri to Dyersburg, Tennessee - I-155
• St. Louis, Missouri - I-255
• Spur to Peoria, Illinois - I-155
• Metropolitan Chicago, Illinois - I-355

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I-55 Klu Klux Klan Sponsorship

The notorious KKK began fighting several court battles with the state of Missouri after the state disputed its right to sponsor a stretch of highway. In March 2004, after a U.S. District Court judge found that blocking the Klan's sponsorship was unconstitutional, the Court of Appeals ruled that the state must erect signs announcing the group's sponsorship. However, the state took its revenge, when the Missouri Legislature voted to rename the stretch of I-55 the "Rosa Parks Highway" in honour of the Montgomery civil rights hero who began the Montgomery bus boycott. The Klan were eventually dropped from the scheme on April 4th, 2000, on the grounds that for the duration of their sponsorship, they had not once cleaned the highway.

Notes

• I-255 was the former numbering of I-240 between I-55 and I-40 through Midtown Memphis, Tennessee.
• A portion of I-55 in Saint Louis County, Missouri is named the Rosa Parks Highway.
• I-55 crosses the Mississippi River twice — once at Memphis, Tennessee and then again at St. Louis, Missouri.
• I-55 is often called the Mississippi Delta Highway because of its proximity to the Mississippi River.
• Law enforcement officials in Chicago have noted that Interstate 55, as well as its easterly counterpart Interstate 65, are often used to transport firearms into Chicago illegally. These weapons are purchased in southern states, where gun laws are much more lenient than in either of Illinois or Indiana. The weapons are then sold on the black market to gang members for substantial profit.
• Law enforcement authorities have also observed that the convenient intersections of I-55 and I-74 have rendered the Bloomington-Normal area an unwitting center for drug trafficking and other criminal activities.
• When the highway was being planned during the 1960s, Illinois Governor Otto Kerner made an effort to have the road redirected near the larger city of Peoria instead of the more straightforward route through the Bloomington-Normal area. This ultimately failed plan was ridiculed in the press as the "Kerner Curve". Given some of the problems noted above, some have editorialized that maybe the Kerner Curve was not such a bad idea after all.

References

• 2005 Rand McNally "The Road Atlas 2005"