Interstate 59

Interstate 59
Route information
Length:	445.23 mi (716.53 km)
Existed:	1960 – present
Major junctions
South end:	I-10 / I-12 near Slidell, LA
	US 98 in Hattiesburg, MS US 84 in Laurel, MS I-20 in Meridian, MS US 82 in Tuscaloosa, AL I‑65 in Birmingham, AL I‑20 in Birmingham, AL US 278 / US 431 in Gadsden, AL
North end:	I‑24 in Wildwood, GA
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business ← SR 405 SR 407 →

Interstate 59 (I-59) is an Interstate Highway in the southern United States. Its southern terminus is near Slidell, Louisiana, a northeastern suburb of New Orleans, at its interchange with I-10 and I-12, and its northern terminus is at Wildwood, Georgia, at its interchange with I-24. The highway's major purpose is to connect Chattanooga, Tennessee, and points north, with New Orleans via Birmingham, Alabama. Along its entire route, I-59 is parallel to U.S. Route 11 (US 11). I-59 is a four-lane freeway along its entire route except for some portions north of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and in the Birmingham, Alabama, metropolitan area, where it is several lanes wider.

About a third of the entire route overlaps with Interstate 20 between Birmingham, Alabama and Meridian, Mississippi.

Route description

Lengths

	mi	km
LA	11	18
MS	171.716	276.350
AL	241	388
GA	20.57	33.27
Total	444	715

Louisiana

At the bottom of I-12's eastbound ramp to LA 59, travelers also find a shield for the unrelated I-59, some 20 miles (32 km) farther east

In the U.S. state of Louisiana, I-59 is shorter than it is in any other state: Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. From south-to-north, I-59 begins at its junction with I-10 and I-12 near Slidell. Then it bypasses Pearl River before crossing the West Pearl River and then the East Pearl River. At the East Pearl River, I-59 leaves St. Tammany Parish and it enters Pearl River County, Mississippi.

Mississippi

In Mississippi, I-59 continues to run parallel with US 11, traversing mainly rural areas, but going through or bypassing the towns of Picayune, Poplarville, Hattiesburg, Ellisville, Moselle, Laurel, and Meridian.

For its length in Mississippi, I-59 either travels concurrent with, or runs close to, US 11. Between the towns of Pearl River and Picayune, US 11 travels concurrent with I-59. The highway also has concurrencies with US 98 in Hattiesburg; US 84 and Mississippi Highway 15 (MS 15) in Laurel, and US 80, US 11, and MS 19 in the Meridian area.

A notoriously sharp S-curve, at milepost 96 in Laurel, was the subject of a large reconstruction project. Those sharp curves were the legacy of an overpass over the Southern Railway on a town bypass with design dating from before the Interstate Highways, and they featured a 40 mph (64 km/h) speed limit, one of the lowest anywhere on the Interstate Highway System. This work was completed in 2009.

A stretch of I-59 in Mississippi

Just west of Meridian, I-20 joins I-59 and these two highways continue together for 145 miles (233 km), across the border with Alabama to and through Birmingham. The exit numbers are given as those of I-59.

At 4:00 p.m. on August 27, 2005, for the first time in its history, the southbound lanes of I-59 were temporarily redirected northward to accommodate evacuation for Hurricane Katrina. This was a previously agreed to joint plan by the states of Mississippi and Louisiana called contraflow lane reversal. The program began at the Louisiana–Mississippi state line and continued 21 miles (34 km) north to Poplarville.

Alabama

I-59 (co-signed with I-20) approaching I-65 in downtown Birmingham.

I-59 and I-20 travel together for about 40 percent of their route through Alabama, passing northeast through Tuscaloosa before finally parting ways in eastern Birmingham.

In Birmingham, many wrecks and accidents occur near the cross-over interchange of I-20/I-59 and I-65. On two occasions, 18-wheelers crashed and burned fiercely enough to melt the support beams of overpasses. Beginning in eastern Birmingham, I-59 continues on its own northeast, passing by Gadsden and Fort Payne in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, before entering Georgia.

I-59 from Gadsden at mile marker 182 to Stephen's Gap at mile marker 193 had degraded over the decades since it was opened into a rough concrete highway. Between 2010 and 2014, a construction project called "Project 59" took place between Gadsden and Fort Payne. This project consisted of reconstructing the Interstate Highway with unbonded concrete (without any space cracks) as well as modifications to the width and vertical clearance of the bridges and overpasses in the segment.

Georgia

I-59 has a short trek through Georgia, with only three exits before ending at I-24 several miles west of Chattanooga, Tennessee, in Wildwood, Georgia. During this stretch, the highway is also designated as Georgia State Route 406 for internal Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) purposes.

Exit list

County	Location	mi	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
St. Tammany	Slidell			1A	I-12 west – Hammond	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				1B	I-10 east – Bay St. Louis	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				2	I-10 west – New Orleans	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				3	US 11 south / LA 1090 south – Pearl River	South end of US 11 concurrency
	Pearl River			5A	LA 41 Spur – Pearl River
	​			5B	Honey Island Swamp
	​			11	Pearl River Turnaround
Pearl River				Louisiana–Mississippi state line
Pearl River	​			1	US 11 north / MS 607 south – Nicholson, Stennis Space Center	North end of US 11 concurrency
	Picayune			4	MS 43 south – Picayune, Kiln	South end of MS 43 concurrency
				6	MS 43 north – North Picayune	North end of MS 43 concurrency
	​			10	Carriere
	​			15	McNeill
	​			19	Millard
	​			27	MS 53 – Necaise, Poplarville
	​			29	MS 26 – Poplarville, Wiggins
	​			35	Hillsdale Road
	Lumberton			41	MS 13 – Lumberton
Lamar	Purvis			51	MS 589 – Purvis
Forrest	​			59	US 98 east – Lucedale, Mobile	South end of US 98 concurrency
	​	61	98	60	US 11 – South Hattiesburg
Lamar	Hattiesburg	65	105	65	US 98 west (MS 198 east) / Hardy Street – Columbia	North end of US 98 concurrency; signed as exits 65A (MS 198) and 65B (US 98) northbound
Forrest				67	US 49 / MS 42 west – Hattiesburg, Jackson	South end of MS 42 concurrency; signed as exits 67A (south) and 67B (north)
				69	MS 42 east (Evelyn Gandy Parkway) – Petal	North end of MS 42 concurrency
	​			73	Monroe Road
Jones	​			76	Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport
	​			78	Sanford Road
	​			80	Moselle
	​			85	MS 590 – Ellisville
	Ellisville			88	MS 29 / MS 588 – Ellisville
	​			90	US 11 (Ellisville Boulevard)
	Laurel			93	US 11 – South Laurel
				95	US 84 west / MS 15 north (16th Avenue)	South end of US 84/MS 15 concurrency; signed as exits 95A (south) and 95B (north)
				95C	Beacon Street	Laurel S-curve southbound
				96A	4th Avenue, Masonite Road
				96B	MS 15 south (Cook Avenue)	North end of MS 15 concurrency
				97	US 84 east (Chantilly Street) – Waynesboro	North end of US 84 concurrency
				99	US 11 (Ellisville Boulevard)
	​			104	Sandersville
Jasper	​			113	MS 528 – Heidelberg, Bay Springs
	​			118	Vossburg, Paulding
Clarke	​			126	MS 18 – Rose Hill, Pachuta
	​			134	MS 513 – South Enterprise
	​			137	North Enterprise
Lauderdale	​			142	Savoy
	​			149	I-20 west (US 80 west) – Jackson	South end of I-20/US 80 concurrency
	Meridian			150	US 11 south / MS 19 north – Philadelphia, Airport	South end of US 11/MS 19 concurrency
				151	Valley Road, 49th Avenue
				152	29th Avenue
				153	MS 145 south (22nd Avenue) – Quitman
				154	MS 19 south / MS 39 north (US 11 north/US 80 east) – De Kalb, Butler	North end of US 11/US 80/MS 19 concurrency; signed as exits 154A (south) and 154B (north) northbound
				156	Jimmie Rodgers Pkwy
				157	US 45 – Quitman, Macon	Signed as exits 157A (south) and 157B (north)
	​			160	Russell
	​			165	Toomsuba
	​			169	US 11 / US 80 – Kewanee
				Mississippi–Alabama state line
Sumter	​			1	To US 80 east – Cuba, Demopolis
	​			8	SR 17 – York
	​			17	SR 28 – Livingston, Boyd
	​			23	CR 20 – Gainesville, Epes
Greene	​			32	Boligee
	​			40	SR 14 – Aliceville, Eutaw
	​			45	Union
	​			52	US 11 / US 43 – Knoxville
Tuscaloosa	​			62	Fosters
	Tuscaloosa			68	Northport Tuscaloosa Western Bypass
				71	I‑359 north / SR 69 – Tuscaloosa, Moundville	Signed as exts 71A (south) and 71B (north)
				73	US 82 (McFarland Boulevard)
				76	US 11 – Cottondale, East Tuscaloosa
				77	Cottondale
	​			79	US 11 / SR 7 – Coaling, Cottondale
	​			86	Brookwood, Vance
	​			89	Mercedes Drive
	​			97	US 11 south / SR 5 south – West Blocton, Centreville	South end of US 11/SR 5 concurrency
	​			100	Abernant, Bucksville	Unsigned eastern terminus for AL-216
Jefferson	​			104	Rock Mountain Lake	McAshan Drive
	​			106	I‑459 north – Gadsden, Montgomery, Atlanta	Southern terminus of I-459
	Bessemer			108	US 11 north / SR 5 north (Academy Drive)	North end of US 11/SR 5 concurrency
				110	Alabama Adventure Parkway
				112	18th Street, 19th Street
				113	18th Avenue
				115	Allison–Bonnet Memorial Drive, Jaybird Road
	Fairfield			118	Valley Road – Fairfield
	Birmingham			119	Lloyd Nolan Parkway	Signed as exit 119A southbound
				119B	Avenue I	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				120	SR 269 (20th Street) / Ensley Avenue
				121	Bush Boulevard	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				123	US 78 (Arkadelphia Road) – Jasper
				124	I‑65 – Montgomery, Huntsville	Signed as exits 124A (south) and 124B (north)
				125A	17th Street – Downtown Birmingham	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
				125B	22nd Street – Downtown Birmingham	Signed as exit 125 southbound
				126A	US 31 (11th Avenue North) / US 280 east / Carraway Boulevard – Civic Center	Western terminus of US 280
				126B	31st Street North
				128	SR 79 (Tallapoosa Street)
				129	Airport Boulevard
				130	I‑20 east – Atlanta	North end of I-20 concurrency
				131	Oporto–Madrid Boulevard	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
				132	US 11 (1st Avenue North)
				133	4th Avenue South	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
				134	To SR 75 (Roebuck Parkway)
	Trussville			137	I‑459 south – Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Atlanta	Northern terminus of I-459
				141	Trussville, Pinson
	​			143	Deerfoot Parkway, Mount Olive Church Road
	​			148	I‑422 south	Proposed interchange
	​			149	To US 11 – Argo
Saint Clair	​			154	SR 174 – Odenville, Springville
	​			156	SR 23 – Ashville, St Clair Springs
	​			166	US 231 – Ashville, Oneonta
	​			174	Steele
Etowah	Attalla			181	SR 77 – Attalla, Rainbow City
	Attalla			182	I‑759 east – Gadsden	Western terminus of I-759
				183	US 278 / US 431 – Attalla, Gadsden
	Gadsden			188	SR 211 to US 11 – Noccalula Falls Park
DeKalb	​			205	SR 68 – Collinsville, Crossville
	​			218	SR 35 – Fort Payne, Rainsville
	​			222	US 11 – Fort Payne
	​			224	49th Street
	​			231	SR 40 / SR 117 – Valley Head, Hammondville
	​			239	To US 11 / Sulphur Springs Road
				Alabama–Georgia state line
Dade	​			4	Rising Fawn
	Trenton			11	SR 136 – Trenton
	​			17	Slygo Road – New England
	​			—	I‑24 – Nashville, Chattanooga	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Closed/former       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access       Unopened

Auxiliary routes

• I-359 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama
• I-459 in Birmingham, Alabama
• I-759 in Gadsden, Alabama

See also

• U.S. Roads portal

External links

• Media related to at Wikimedia Commons