All Roads Start Somewhere
Every Interstate highway was once a new Interstate highway.
As the photograph on this page attests, new Interstate corridors have to start somewhere. Today’s supercommuters on busy routes like I-85 may laugh ruefully at the pristine surroundings of yesteryear. But those with vision see I-22 from Memphis to Birmingham or other new routes as emerging corridors ripe with development potential for industry and tourism.
Out of 102 high priority corridors officially designated by Congress, I-22 is one of 35 designated as a future Interstate highway. Among others:
- I-69 “from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, through Port Huron, Michigan, southwesterly … through Indianapolis, Indiana, through Evansville, Indiana, Memphis, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Shreveport / Bossier Louisiana, to Houston, Texas, and to the Lower Rio Grande Valley at the border between the United States and Mexico”
- The Raleigh-Norfolk Corridor
- The North-South Corridor (I-49) from Kansas City, Missouri, to Shreveport, Louisiana
- The California Farm-to-Market Corridor, California State Route 99 from south of Bakersfield to Sacramento
- The East-West Transamerica Corridor from Hampton Roads, Virginia, across sections of the I-73/74 corridor in West Virginia and the I-66 corridor in Kentucky
- The Middle Georgia Corridor (I-14) beginning at the Alabama-Georgia border and following the Fall Line Freeway from Columbus, Georgia, to Augusta.
A full listing with complete route breakdowns and maps can be found at the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration website at www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/national_highway_system/high_priority_corridors.
A full exploration of these corridors’ potential can be found in future issues of Site Selection.
