Interstate 10 Totally Explained

Everything about Interstate 10 totally explained

Interstate 10 (abbreviated I-10) is the southernmost east-west, coast-to-coast interstate highway in the United States. It stretches from the Pacific Ocean at State Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) in Santa Monica, California to Interstate 95 in Jacksonville, Florida.

Route description

|- | CA | 242.54 | 390.33 |- | AZ | 392.33 | 583.00 |- | | 2460 | 3959 |}

California

Between its west terminus in Santa Monica, California and the East Los Angeles Interchange it's known as the Santa Monica Freeway. The Santa Monica Freeway is also called the "Rosa Parks Freeway" for the segment beginning at the San Diego Freeway (The 405 Freeway) and ending at the Harbor Freeway (The 110 Freeway), however either name can be used when referring to this stretch of road. The segment between the East Los Angeles Interchange and the city of San Bernardino, California (53 miles, or 92 km, long) is known as the San Bernardino Freeway. Other names exist for the freeway. For example, a sign near the western terminus of the highway announces it as the "Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway". It is known to a considerably lesser degree as the "Veterans Memorial Highway" and is listed as a Blue Star Memorial Highway.
A stretch in Palm Springs is signed as the "Sonny Bono Memorial Freeway" as a tribute to the late entertainer who served both as mayor and as a United States Congressman. A second stretch a short distance east in Indio is signed as the "Doctor June McCarroll Memorial Freeway". As a nurse with the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1924, Dr. McCarroll was alarmed at the number of head-on traffic collisions on a nearby stretch of then-new U.S. Route 99, today known as State Route 86. She is credited with painting a white stripe down the middle of 99 near Coachella in order to separate the two lanes of traffic.

Arizona

Major cities Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs
Santa Monica, California Los Angeles, California San Bernardino, California Indio, California Blythe, California Phoenix, Arizona Tucson, Arizona Lordsburg, New Mexico Deming, New Mexico Las Cruces, New Mexico El Paso, Texas Van Horn, Texas San Antonio, Texas Houston, Texas Beaumont, Texas Lake Charles, Louisiana Lafayette, Louisiana Baton Rouge, Louisiana New Orleans, Louisiana Slidell, Louisiana Bay St. Louis, Mississippi Gulfport, Mississippi Biloxi, Mississippi Pascagoula, Mississippi Mobile, Alabama Pensacola, Florida Tallahassee, Florida Lake City, Florida Jacksonville, Florida

In Arizona, the highway is designated the "Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway". The portion through Phoenix is named the "Papago Freeway" and is a very vital piece of the regional freeway system. This designation starts at the initial junction/southern terminus of I-17 and runs westward out to AZ Loop 101, a loop route whose current western terminus is Interstate 10. Phoenicians more often than not refer to the freeway as "the I-10".
   From the southern terminus of Interstate 17 to the junction with the AZ Loop 202 freeway, the freeway is signed as the "Maricopa Freeway". This name holds true as well for I-17 from its southern terminus to its second junction with I-10, north of McDowell Road. From Loop 202 south to Interstate 8 (eastern terminus just southeast of Casa Grande), the freeway is signed as the "Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway". ADOT also has maps that show it as the Maricopa Freeway, while AAA and other sources show it as the Pima Freeway. The latter's name is used on a stretch of Loop 101 from U.S. 60 to Interstate 17.
   In Tucson, I-10 is called the Casa Grande Highway from the western edge of town to the eastern terminus of Business Loop 10, where it picks up the name, Tucson-Benson Highway from that route.
   In Tucson, Arizona, between I-10 mileposts 259 and 260 are interchange ramps connecting I-10 with the northern terminus of Interstate 19 at its km post 100. I-19 leads 100 km south to its termination at the US-Mexico border at Nogales, Arizona (km post 0). Note that distance measurements on Interstate 19 are signed in metric units.
   Also in Tucson, all exits between Prince Road and 22nd Street will be closed from June 2007 through spring 2010. I-10 is being widened from six to eight lanes, and seven bridges and underpasses are being built to deal with congestion (External Link

). Plans are also under way to widen I-10 from Marana north to the I-8 interchange at Casa Grande from 4 lanes to 6 lanes starting in the later half of 2007 and continuing into 2008 and 2009.

New Mexico

Interstate 10 in New Mexico follows the former path of U.S. Route 80 across the state. Only three cities of significant size are located on the interstate: Lordsburg, Deming, and Las Cruces.
   At Lordsburg is the western junction of U.S. Route 70 and a concurrency; the two highways are joined all the way to Las Cruces. Several exits between Lordsburg and Deming are either for former towns (including Separ, Quincy, and Gage) or lack any town at all.
   At Deming is the western junction of U.S. Route 180, which also forms a concurrency with I-10 all the way to El Paso. One mile north of Deming on US 180 is New Mexico Route 26 which serves as a short cut to north I-25 and Albuquerque.
   I-10/US 70/US 180 continue east to Las Cruces which is the southern end of Interstate 25. Also, US 70 leaves Interstate 10, heading northeast to Alamogordo. I-10/US 180 then turns south to the Texas state line.

Texas

In Texas, the speed limit along I-10 from Kerr County to El Paso County is 80 mph (130 km/h), the highest in the nation. However, the night time maximum speed limit remains 65 mph (105 km/h).
   From the state line with New Mexico to State Highway 20 in west El Paso, I-10 is bordered by frontage roads Desert South for lanes along I-10 East (actually headed south) and Desert North for lanes along I-10 West (headed north). The interstate then has no frontage roads for nine miles but regains them east of downtown and retains them to Clint. In this stretch, the frontage roads are Gateway East for the Eastbound lanes and Gateway West for the Westbound lanes. All four frontage roads are one way streets.
   A small portion of I-10 from Loop 1604 to downtown in San Antonio is known as the Northwest Expressway or the McDermott Freeway, while another portion from downtown to Loop 1604 East is called East Expressway or Jose Lopez Freeway.
   In Houston, from the western suburb of Katy to downtown, I-10 is known as the "Katy Freeway." This section is currently being widened to as much as 26 lanes (12 mainlanes, 4 lanes of access roads, and 4-6 mid-freeway HOT/HOV lanes, not counting access road turning lanes) and will be one of the widest freeways in the world. The section east of downtown Houston is officially known as the "East Freeway," although it's widely known by locals as the "Baytown East Freeway" due to a marketing push by Baytown, the easternmost principal city of the Greater Houston Area.
   In Beaumont, it's designated Eastex Freeway between both splits with U.S. Highway 69. Eastex isn't to be confused with the designation for U.S. Highway 59 in Houston.

Louisiana

In Louisiana, an 18.2-mile (29.3 km) stretch of elevated highway between Lafayette and Baton Rouge is known as the Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway, as it goes over the Atchafalaya River and the adjacent swamps and crosses the Mississippi River at the Horace Wilkinson Bridge. In Baton Rouge, Interstate 12 splits off to head north of Lake Pontchartrain and bypass Interstate 10's long southward jog through New Orleans and reconnects with Interstate 10 at Slidell. In New Orleans, a stretch of I-10 from the I-10/I-610 split near the Orleans-Jefferson parish line to the U.S. Route 90 / U.S. Route 90 Business interchange is known as the Pontchartrain Expressway. A dip near the 10-610 interchange to go underneath a railroad track is one of the lowest points in New Orleans, and is highly susceptible to flooding. Pictures of water dozens of feet deep during Hurricane Katrina are commonplace. Near Slidell, the final stretch of I-10 through the Mississippi state line is known as the "Stephen Ambrose Memorial Highway". I-310 and I-510 are parts of what was slated to be I-410 and act as a southern bypass of New Orleans. I-610 is a shortcut from the eastern to western portion of New Orleans avoiding the I-10's detour into New Orleans' Central Business District.

Mississippi

Interstate 10 in Mississippi runs from the Louisiana state line to the Alabama state line through Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties on the Gulf Coast. It passes through the northern sections of Gulfport and Biloxi while passing just north of Pascagoula and Bay St. Louis. The highway roughly parallels U.S. Route 90.
The law defining the route of Interstate 10 is Mississippi Code § 65-3-3.

Alabama

I-10 crosses from Jackson County, Mississippi and goes through Mobile County in Southwest Alabama. In Mobile, the highway is the southern terminus for Interstate 65. In downtown Mobile, I-10 goes through one of the few road tunnels in Alabama, the George C. Wallace Tunnel under the Mobile River. The eastbound approach is posted at 40 mph (60 km/h) because of the sharp curve approaching the tunnel. The highway then crosses approximately eight miles of the upper part of Mobile Bay on a bridge locals refer to as the Bayway. On the other side of Mobile Bay, the highway goes through suburban Baldwin County before crossing the Perdido River into Florida.

Florida

Most of Interstate 10 in Florida travels through some of the least-populated areas in the state, much of which is forested. Consequently, I-10 west of Interstate 295 in Jacksonville has only 4 lanes. In Pensacola, an approximately 3-mile stretch of I-10 is currently being widened to 6 lanes, which will be completed in 2008. A construction project also started in Tallahassee in October 2006 to widen I-10 to six lanes.
In Jacksonville, as in Arizona, I-10 is known as Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway. Throughout much of Florida, Interstate 10 is also known as State Road 8 or State Road 8A, though it isn't signed as such.

History

In September 2004, Hurricane Ivan's storm surge pushed up and washed out part of I-10 at the causeway over Escambia Bay near Pensacola, Florida. Westbound lanes had only a couple of sections missing, while eastbound lanes were almost completely gone for a quarter-mile (400m).
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the I-10 Twin Span Bridge, a portion of I-10 between New Orleans and Slidell spanning the eastern end of Lake Pontchartrain, was severely damaged, causing a break in I-10 at that point. Unlike the Escambia Bay Bridge (east of Pensacola, Florida and damaged by Hurricane Ivan) which is a major artery, Interstate 12 is available to bypass New Orleans and taking I-12 to the Lake Ponchartrain Causeway allowed entry and exit to and from the Greater New Orleans area from the East. On October 14, 2005 at 3:00 PM, the eastbound span was reopened to two way traffic. On January 6, 2006 at 6:00 AM, both lanes of the westbound span were reopened to traffic using temporary metal trusses and road panels to replace damaged sections. (External Link

) This restored all four lanes of the I-10 twin spans for normal traffic with a 45 mph (70 km/h) speed limit for the westbound lanes and 60 mph (100 km/h) for the eastbound lanes. Oversized and overweight traffic is prohibited until a new permanent six lane span is built to replace the two temporarily repaired spans. Construction is slated to begin in mid-July 2006, with the new westbound span opening in 2008/2009 and the new eastbound span opening in 2011. See WWL-TV story

In Mississippi, the twin spans crossing the Pascagoula River were opened on October 1 and are now operational, making that state's portion fully functional.

Future

In Phoenix, a bill has been drafted that, if passed, states that the stretch of I-10 between Downtown and the suburb of Buckeye, Arizona will be widened to 24 lanes due to severe traffic problems that take place on the freeway during rush hours. This would make this stretch of the I-10 the widest along its entire length, as well as the widest highway in North America; currently, the 22-lane section of Highway 401 between Highways 403/410 and Highway 427 in Mississauga, Ontario, just west of Toronto is the widest.
A three-year construction project is currently underway on Interstate 10 between Causeway Boulevard and the 17th Street Canal in Metairie, Louisiana. The $68.9 million project will add new lanes in both directions and improve the exit and entrance ramps at Causeway and Bonnabel Blvd. The state has recently completed a widening project between Causeway and Clearview Pkwy and between the I-10/I-610 split and Airline Highway (US 61).

Major intersections

Interstate 405 in West Los Angeles, California

Interstate 110 southwest of Downtown Los Angeles, California

Interstate 5 at the East Los Angeles Interchange in Los Angeles, California

Interstate 710 in East Los Angeles, California

Interstate 605 in El Monte/Baldwin Park, California

Interstate 15 in Ontario, California

Interstate 215 South of Downtown in San Bernardino, California

Interstate 17 in Phoenix, Arizona

Interstate 8 in Casa Grande, Arizona

Interstate 19 in Tucson, Arizona

Interstate 25 in Las Cruces, New Mexico

Interstate 20 near Kent, Texas

Interstate 410 in San Antonio, Texas (twice)

Interstate 35 and Interstate 37 in San Antonio, Texas

Interstate 45 in Houston, Texas

Interstate 610 in Houston, Texas (twice)

Interstate 210 in Lake Charles, Louisiana (twice)

Interstate 49 in Lafayette, Louisiana

Interstate 110 and Interstate 12 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Interstate 55 in Laplace, Louisiana

Interstate 310 near Kenner, Louisiana

Interstate 610 (twice) and Interstate 510 in New Orleans, Louisiana

Interstate 12 and Interstate 59 in Slidell, Louisiana

Interstate 110 in Biloxi, Mississippi

Interstate 65 in Mobile, Alabama

Interstate 110 in Pensacola, Florida

Interstate 75 in Lake City, Florida

Interstate 295 and Interstate 95 in Jacksonville, Florida

Auxiliary routes

Los Angeles, California - I-110, I-210, I-710

San Bernardino, California - I-210

El Paso, Texas - I-110

San Antonio, Texas - I-410

Houston, Texas - I-610

Lake Charles, Louisiana - I-210

Baton Rouge, Louisiana - I-110

New Orleans, Louisiana - I-310, I-510, I-610, I-910

Biloxi, Mississippi - I-110

Pensacola, Florida - I-110Further Information

Get more info on 'Interstate 10'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://interstate_10.totallyexplained.com">Interstate 10 Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.