Interstate 66 (west)

Infobox road
route=66
type=I


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terminus_b=The U.S. Department of Transportation has had plans to extend Interstate 66 westward across the country to California. However, Interstate 66 west of Wichita, Kansas has been cancelled. This was due to several reasons, among them: lack of interest in the states west of Kansas, insufficient traffic for an interstate in the area (in fact, in some places a highway didn't exist at all), and the route was to go through Death Valley National Park (to which the National Park Service was strongly opposed). The main reason for that specific number was to capitalize off U.S. Route 66 and was started by businessmen in Wichita.

No connection is currently planned between this I-66 and the Interstate 66 in Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Route description

Kansas

I-66 was planned to extend west from I-44 near Joplin, Missouri to Wichita, Kansas. U.S. Route 400 follows the route that I-66 would have followed. However, plans to extend I-66 west of Wichita have been cancelled.

Missouri

Missouri has had several proposals to bring I-66 through the state over the years. Currently the two main locations for consideration are bringing I-66 from Kentucky through Illinois to Cape Girardeau (which would require going through Shawnee National Forest), or bringing the route through close to the current bridges by Wyatt to Sikeston where it could overlap the current U.S. Route 60 westward. Illinois has only recently gained interest in bringing I-66 through their state. [cite news | first=Mark | last=Bliss | title=Routes for proposed I-66 narrowed to four | date=May 7, 2003 | publisher=Southeast Missourian | url=http://www.semissourian.com/story/108428.html ] If Cape Girardeau and Illinois cannot lure Congress to modify the route through there, Sikeston may eventually be the convergence point of three Interstates, I-55 to St. Louis and Memphis, I-57 to Chicago, and the new I-66 to Kentucky and Washington, D.C. in addition to the considerable pieces of the U.S. Highway System already present there.

On November 2, 2006 it was announced that there will be two 4-year studies funded by the Federal Highway Administration to study the impact of a Sikeston route vs. a Cape Girardeau one. [cite news | first=Mark | last=Bliss | title=Illinois, Kentucky to study I-66 routes | date=November 2, 2006| publisher=Southeast Missourian | url=http://www.semissourian.com/story/1175718.html ]

Kentucky

I-66 is planned to cross the Mississippi River east of Cape Girardeau, then continue east on a new alignment to Interstate 24 south of Paducah. It will then follow I-24 east to Eddyville, where it will turn northeast following I-69/Western Kentucky Parkway to the Natcher Parkway, then turn southeast following the Natcher Parkway to I-65 near Bowling Green. Former Governor Paul Patton has written I-66 into law in Kentucky, with the routing being confirmed along the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway. This route is not without controversy, however; opponents note that the segment between London and Somerset, currently served by the two- to four-lane Kentucky Route 80, would risk damaging delicate karst formations. The route between London and Hazard, parallel to the Super two Hal Rogers Parkway (formerly the Daniel Boone Parkway) would cut a swath through the Daniel Boone National Forest.

Preliminary construction has started on a less controversial segment in western Pulaski County.

West Virginia

Interstate 66's proposed route in West Virginia would follow the Coalfields Expressway alignment from the Interstate 64, Interstate 77, and West Virginia Turnpike junction southwest of Beckley to an interchange northeast of Welch. It would then follow the King Coal Highway to the Interstate 66 connection to Kentucky. The Coalfields Expressway is not being constructed to interstate highway standards at this time, however. [Coalfields Expressway Web Site. Coalfields Expressway Authority. 20 June 2003 [http://www.coalfieldsexpressway.com] .]

Miscellanea

Numbering considerations

A completed I-66 would not be in strict compliance with AASHTO interstate highway system numbering standards, Fact|date=February 2007 since most of it would actually run south of existing I-64. [cite web | title=Kentucky Official Interstate 66 Website | url = http://www.interstate66.com/ | accessdate = September 12 | accessyear = 2006] A similar condition exists where I-75 and I-85 cross over at Atlanta, Georgia, so it is not without precedent. I-99 in Pennsylvania is also out of sequence, though its designation was written into law by its Congressional sponsor, Bud Shuster, not designated by AASHTO. However, I-64 doesn't yet exist west of St. Louis Metro, so west of around Poplar Bluff, this section of I-66 would comply with AASHTO, since the western terminus of I-64 is at this longitude.

Another concern is that the proposed route of I-66 in Missouri and Kansas would cross the former path of historic U.S. Route 66. However, as the US route has been decommissioned, there would be no official route numbering conflicts. Proposed expansions of other Interstate corridors are expected to have intersections with similarly-numbered active US routes, such as the future intersection of Interstate 69 and U.S. Route 69 in Texas, and Interstate 74 and US 74 in North Carolina.

References

2005-2006 WV State Highway Map

External links

* [http://www.aaroads.com/high-priority/corr03.html Information on origin and future plans of I-66]
* [http://www.interstate66.com/ Kentucky's Official Site for the Proposed Interstate 66]
* [http://www.kick66.org/ kick66.org website in opposition to the I-66 project in Kentucky]