Interstate 24

Infobox road
route=24
type=I

---

length_mi=316.36
length_round=2
length_ref=cite web|publisher=Interstate Guide|url=http://www.interstate-guide.com/i-024.html|title=Interstate 24 @ Interstate-Guide.com|accessdate=2008-02-15]
direction_a=West
terminus_a=Jct|state=IL|I|57 in Goreville, IL
junction=Jct|state=TN|I|65 in Nashville, TN
Jct|state=TN|I|40 in Nashville, TN
Jct|state=GA|I|59 in Wildwood, GA
direction_b=East
terminus_b=Jct|state=TN|I|75 in Chattanooga, TN
commons=category

Interstate 24 (I-24) is an interstate highway in the eastern United States. I-24 runs (diagonally) from Interstate 57 (10 miles south of Marion, Illinois) to Chattanooga, Tennessee, at Interstate 75.cite web|publisher=Google Maps|url=http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=6811086053806484689,37.599533,-88.992556&saddr=I-24+E+%4037.599533,+-88.992556&daddr=35.004093,-85.217214&mra=mi&mrsp=1,0&sz=15&sll=35.006694,-85.226569&sspn=0.015888,0.028925&ie=UTF8&ll=36.315125,-87.473145&spn=4.000945,7.404785&z=7|title=Overview Map of I-24|accessdate=2008-02-15]

I-24 makes up the majority of a high-traffic corridor between St. Louis, Missouri, and Atlanta, Georgia. This corridor utilizes Interstate 64 and Interstate 57 west of I-24, and Interstate 75 east of I-24.

Route description

-
IL
38.73
62.33
-
KY
93.37
150.26
-
TN
180.16
289.94
-
GA
4.10
6.60
-
Totalcite web |url=http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/table1.htm |title=Route Log- Main Routes of the Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways - Table 1 |author=United States Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration |date=2002-10-31 |accessdate=2006-07-12]
316.36
509.13

Illinois

In the state of Illinois, Interstate 24 is a remote, four-lane freeway that travels through hilly rural southern Illinois and the Shawnee National Forest. There are only five mainline exits; of those five, four have services. Interstate 24 crosses into Kentucky via the Interstate 24 Bridge from Metropolis, Illinois to Paducah, Kentucky.

Kentucky

In the state of Kentucky, Interstate 24 runs from Paducah to the Tennessee border just northwest of Clarksville. Along its route are Kentucky Dam which forms Kentucky Lake and Barkley Dam which forms Lake Barkley, Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area ("LBL"; under the management of the US Forest Service ), and Fort Campbell.

Future extensions of Interstate 69 and possibly Interstate 66 are proposed to run concurrent with Interstate 24 in the Eddyville to Calvert City corridor.Fact|date=February 2007

Tennessee

In the state of Tennessee, Interstate 24 runs from Clarksville to Chattanooga by way of Nashville. Just west of Chattanooga, I-24 drops into Georgia for 4 miles (6 km).

One of the most notoriously hazardous stretches of Interstate highway in the United States is approximately 40 miles (64 km) west of Chattanooga on I-24 in Monteagle, where the highway goes over the Cumberland Plateau. Compared to grades elsewhere, Monteagle's 4 to 6% grade does not come close to the steepest highway roads (the Siskiyou Pass of Interstate 5 in Oregon has some the steepest grades in the nation), [citeweb|title=Interstate 5: Interesting Facts|url=http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/COMM/interstate50_I5.shtml |publisher=Oregon Department of Transportation |accessdate=2007-09-26] but the slope is protracted over a distance of several miles.

Interstate 124 is an occasional (currently unsigned) designation of a portion of the US 27 freeway which runs as a spur into downtown Chattanooga and beyond. [Tennessee Department of Transportation, [http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/roadprojects/2007/ Fiscal Years 2008-2010 Transportation Improvement Program] , May 1, 2007] Also in Chattanooga is the "Ridge Cut", a 1/4 mile section of Missionary Ridge, between the 4th Avenue exit and the Germantown/Belvoir exit. Accidents and severe congestion are common here.

Georgia

In the state of Georgia, Interstate 24 runs for 4 miles (6 km), running along the southern flank of Raccoon Mountain and intersecting with Interstate 59 before turning back north to the Tennessee River and around the northern flank of Lookout Mountain. The exits and mileposts remain numbered according to Tennessee's mileposts.

This segment is also officially State Route 409.

Major intersections

Interstate 24 intersects with the following interstates, from west to east:
* (western terminus)
* (concurrent for about 2 miles (3 km))
* (concurrent for about 2 miles (3 km))
*
*
* (eastern terminus)

Future

The highway is expected to cross Interstate 69 in Eddyville, Kentucky and Interstate 66 in Paducah, Kentucky.Fact|date=February 2007

Auxiliary routes

References

External links

* [http://illi-indi.com/il_EndsPage.php?id=3024&section=1 Illinois Highway Ends: Interstate 24]
* [http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/Maps/front.pdf Official State of Tennessee Road Map]

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