Interstate 55 in Mississippi

Infobox road
route=55
state=MS
type=I

---

alternate_name=
length_mi=290.41
length_round=2
length_ref=cite web|url=http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/table1.cfm|title=Route Log and Finder List - Interstate System: Table 1|publisher=FHWA|accessdate=2007-10-05]
year_established=1955 (route proposed in 1939)
direction_a=South
terminus_a= line
junction=
direction_b=North
terminus_b=jct|state=TN|I|55|I|69 at the Tennessee line
previous_type=MS
previous_route=53
next_type=MS
next_route=57

Interstate 55 is a major north-south Interstate Highway that serves the middle of the United States. It runs 963.5 miles from Interstate 10 in Laplace, Louisiana - about 25 miles west of New Orleans to U.S. 41 in Chicago, Illinois.

Route description

In Mississippi, I-55 runs 290.5 miles from the Louisiana border near Osyka to Southaven on the Tennessee border, just south of Memphis. The highway parallels U.S. 51 during its trek roughly through the center of Magnolia State. North of Jackson, the Interstate runs east of the bluffs of the Mississippi Delta.

Number of Lanes

*Louisiana to Byram: 4 lanes
*Byram to Madison: 6-10 lanes
*Madison to Southaven: 4 lanes
*Southaven to Tennessee: 8-10 lanes

Overlap with Interstate 69

On January 18, 2008, the Federal Highway Administration authorized the states of Mississippi and Tennessee to extend I-69 from the I-40/TN 300 interchange in north Memphis to the I-55/I-69 interchange in Hernando; in late May 2008, Mississippi began posting signs reflecting the extension of the route. [Capka, J. Richard (FHWA Administrator), [http://www.transportation.org/sites/route/docs/SIGNED%20%20MISSISSIPPI%20LETTER%20I-69%20I-55.pdf Letter to Harry Lee James] (MDOT) dated January 18, 2008, retrieved May 28, 2008.] [Lawrence, Christopher N. [http://www.flickr.com/photos/lordsutch/2530138958/ Photograph] taken May 27, 2008.]

Major cities

Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs.

* New Orleans, Louisiana
* McComb
*Brookhaven
** Used as a control city
* Jackson
* Grenada
*Hernando
*Southaven
* Memphis, Tennessee

Exit list

References