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Interstate 80

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Polaron (talk | contribs) at 03:59, 29 October 2006 (I thought cross country Interstates should have only Interstates ending in 5/0 in the infobox junction list). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Routeboxint Interstate 80 (abbreviated I-80) is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States. It connects downtown San Francisco, California to Teaneck, New Jersey, a suburb of New York, just as the Lincoln Highway did in the years before the Interstate Highway System. The highway roughly traces some historically significant travel corridors, particularly in the Western U.S. These include the Oregon Trail in Nebraska and westward and the California Trail in Nevada and California.

The highway from near Chicago, Illinois east to near Youngstown, Ohio is a toll road - the end-to-end Indiana Toll Road and Ohio Turnpike. At Youngstown I-80 leaves the tolled alignment, which continues towards New York, in favor of the Keystone Shortway, a shortcut across northern Pennsylvania built as part of a new corridor for I-80. The tolled route to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was originally designated Interstate 80S, and is now Interstate 76.

Major cities

Lengths
  mi km
CA 199.24[1] 320.65
NV 410.67[1] 660.91
UT 196.34[1] 315.98
WY 402.76[1] 648.18
NE 455.32[1] 732.77
IA 306.01 492.48
IL 163.52[1] 263.16
IN 151.56[1] 243.91
OH 237.48[1] 382.19
PA 311.07[1] 500.62
NJ 68.54[2] 110.30
2902.51 4671.13

Bolded cities are officially designated control cities for signs.

Intersections with other Interstates

I-80 from the 1700 East overpass in Salt Lake City, Utah looking west.
Interstate 80 bridge over the Des Plaines River in Joliet, Illinois.

Auxiliary routes

Where Interstate 80 begins, in San Francisco, California
Interstate 80 is a major urban freeway through the East Bay, north of the Bay Bridge, in the San Francisco Bay Area (seen here in Berkeley, California)

California

Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois

Interstate 80 in the Quad Cities

Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New Jersey

Suffixed routes

Notes

File:BlueStarHighwaySign.jpg
Blue Star Memorial Highway Sign in Nebraska
Interstate 80 as seen from an overpass in Davis, California
File:P3090044.JPG
View of Bergen-Passaic Expressway (Interstate 80) in Roxbury Twp., NJ
  • Among many picturesque sections of I-80 are the crossing of San Francisco Bay over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge (toll paid westbound only), the view of the Golden Gate from Berkeley, the traverse above Donner Pass and Donner Lake (near Lake Tahoe) in California, and its run along the Truckee River both west and east of Reno, Nevada. Interstate 80 crosses the southern end of Great Salt Lake Desert west of Salt Lake City, Utah, providing views of various mountains, although it incorporates a very long stretch of straight roadway that can induce some drivers to fall asleep. Also in that category, is the stretch of I-80 from east of Rock Springs, WY to Laramie, WY (around 200 miles). It passes through the Red Desert just prior to Rawlins and is always very windy.
  • The longest stretch in between exits on an Interstate Highway is between Wendover and Knolls in Utah, with 37 miles between those exits.
  • All of I-80 in Indiana is duplexed with another interstate, such as I-90 or I-94.
  • Contrary to the opinions of some interstate enthusiasts, the longest straight (by any reasonable definition of "straight") stretch of interstate anywhere in the system is the approximately 72 miles of I-80 occurring between Exit 318 and milemarker 390 in Nebraska. Along this length the road does not vary from an ideally straight line by more than a few yards.
  • Although Interstate 80 does not enter Colorado, it does manage to come within a mile of the border between Nebraska and Colorado at the junction of Interstates 80 and 76. This intersection is visible from Colorado as one approaches it from the west on I-76.
  • Although it never enters Michigan, Interstate 80 (with Interstate 90) lies within ten miles (16.1 km) of the Michigan state line between La Porte, Indiana and Toledo, Ohio. Looking north at the intersection of State Road 9 and I-80, the "Welcome to Michigan" sign is visible in the distance.
  • I-80 does not go all the way to New York City via the George Washington Bridge. Its designated end is about four miles (6.4 km) short of New York City in Teaneck, New Jersey. There, it joins and becomes designated as I-95, which does cross the bridge. The tolled section of the New Jersey Turnpike ends at exit 18, which is actually just the toll plaza at the northern terminus. The next exit on I-95 is exit 68, which is consistent with the exit structure on I-80. (The truth is that the exit numbers on this section of I-95 match the mile markers on I-95 had the Somerset Freeway been built. The fact that they are similar to what the exit numbers are on I-80 is just a coincidence.)
  • The portion of 80 that goes through New Jersey is sometimes called the Bergen-Passaic Expressway.
  • The portion of Interstate 80 through Ohio that is part of the Ohio Turnpike is designated the "James W. Shocknessy Ohio Turnpike."

Major bridges on I-80

See also

Interstate 80 by state:

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Federal Highway Administration Route Log and Finder List, Main Routes of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways as of October 31, 2002
  2. ^ New Jersey Department of Transportation, 2005 Straight Line Diagrams - I-80 (PDF)
Browse numbered routes
← Error: Invalid type: StateCA→ Error: Invalid type: State
← Error: Invalid type: StateIL→ Error: Invalid type: State
← PA 79PA→ PA 81
 NJ 
← Error: Invalid type: StateNY→ Error: Invalid type: State
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