Interstate 66 (Kansas–Kentucky)

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For the current Interstate 66 in Virginia and the District of Columbia, see Interstate 66.

Future Interstate 66 marker

Future Interstate 66

Map
Proposed I-66 corridor highlighted in red
Route information
Existed1991–2015 (never built)
Location
CountryUnited States
Highway system

Interstate 66 (I-66) is a canceled

Interstate Highway designated in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act
(ISTEA) of 1991 as the East–West TransAmerica Corridor and High Priority Corridor 3.

History and background

The

US Department of Transportation originally planned to extend the current I-66 from its western terminus at Middletown, Virginia across the country to California. The route west of Kansas was not favored by any of the related state highway departments, and, as a result, I-66 west of Wichita, Kansas, through New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada
and California was canceled. Among the reasons for this was a lack of interest from any of the state highway departments, and the insufficient projected traffic did not justify an Interstate, especially since many segments had no preexisting highway.

The National Park Service was strongly opposed to building I-66 across the Death Valley National Park. The choice for the number I-66 was a hope to capitalize on the name association with the decommissioned US Route 66 (US 66). The case for westward expansion of I-66 was started by businesspeople in Wichita. Furthermore, there were no plans to build I-66 across the West Virginia–Virginia state line, leaving it as a non-contiguous highway. The I-66 concept was supported in Kentucky mainly because of the efforts of Representative Hal Rogers; however, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) completed its feasibility study in 2005 and concluded that building I-66 was too costly and of little traffic benefit with high potential environmental impact and canceled the project in that state.[1] The only remaining study of I-66 was conducted by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) under the 66 Corridor Study, a Tier 1 environmental impact statement (EIS). This study was canceled on August 6, 2015, by IDOT, and subsequently, the FHWA announced the cancellation of the EIS in the Federal Register,[2] ending the last I-66 project and therefore officially canceling the I-66 Trans America Highway.[3]

Route description

Kansas

I-66 was proposed to extend west from I-44 near Joplin, Missouri, to Wichita, Kansas.

Missouri

Missouri had several proposals to bring I-66 through the state:

  1. Bringing I-66 from Kentucky through Illinois to Cape Girardeau,[4] which required going through the Shawnee National Forest
  2. Crossing the Mississippi River with a new bridge, then follow I-57 to Sikeston, where it would have followed US 60 westward to Springfield.

Sikeston would have been the convergence point of three Interstates,

US Numbered Highway System already present there, such as US 60, US 61, and US 62. The Missouri Department of Transportation
did not plan to proceed with any part of I-66 when Illinois and Kentucky dropped their commitment to the project.

Illinois

On August 17, 2011, IDOT received $3.7 million (equivalent to $4.95 million in 2023[5]) to conduct the 66 Corridor Study, a feasibility study that would investigate a route between Cape Girardeau on the Mississippi River and Paducah, Kentucky, on the Ohio River.[4] The route would have utilized the existing I-24 bridge at Paducah and new four-lane bridge at Cape Girardeau. The 66 Corridor concept was heavily opposed in Illinois from farmers to environmentalists because the plan required that I-66 cross the Shawnee National Forest.[6] The FHWA and IDOT canceled the 66 Corridor Study on July 9, 2015.[7]

Kentucky

I-66 was planned to cross the Mississippi River east of Cape Girardeau, then continue east on a new alignment to

super-two Hal Rogers Parkway. The Interstate would have then turned northeast toward Pikeville and east to West Virginia. The KYTC finished its final I-66 feasibility study in 2005 and concluded that I-66 was not cost beneficial for the foreseeable future to justify its construction or any further study, thereby canceling Kentucky's participation in the I-66 project.[1] Construction was completed in 2011, however, on a less controversial segment in western Pulaski County, relocating the eastern terminus of the Cumberland Parkway to US 27
, making it the only part ever constructed for the Southern Kentucky Corridor as it had officially named by then.

The

I-565 (although the number eventually approved by American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials [AASHTO] in 2017 is I-165
). A total of $66 million in construction funds are planned to convert the Natcher Parkway to Interstate standards between Bowling Green and Owensboro.

West Virginia

The western segment of I-66 was proposed to end at the

District of Columbia, which would have made I-66 a non-contiguous Interstate. Travel between the two segments of freeway would have been possible by following the Future I-73/I-74/US 52 southeast, then northeast along the Future US 121 (Coalfields Expressway) to Beckley, north along I-79, and east on the Future US 48 (Corridor H) of the Appalachian Development Highway System
(ADHS).

Virginia

The final segment of the Trans America Corridor (not I-66 though) in Virginia followed US 460 from the West Virginia border to Norfolk. US 460 was widened in Virginia before the Trans America Corridor concept existed as a four-lane divided highway with some interchanges and freeway bypasses around many of the towns and cities along the route. The Virginia Department of Transportation never committed to any Interstate freeway through the Trans America Highway, especially with the I-66 designation that would have duplicated the existing I-66 in Northern Virginia, and probably would have required changing the northern I-66 to some other new Interstate number since I-66 was the designation established by Congress for the Trans America Corridor. Building a third east–west freeway in Virginia was also not a high priority given the existence of I-64 to the Norfolk–Chesapeake area. Ambitious plans to build a public–private partnership toll-road parallel to US 460 from Norfolk to Petersburg have met with resistance and the toll-road project has been canceled, with the new project now scaled back to converting the existing US 460 to a limited-access expressway or to a fully controlled access freeway with bypasses around some towns.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b "I-66". Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  2. ^ "Federal Highway Administration" (PDF). Federal Register. Government Publications Office. August 6, 2015.
  3. ^ "Shorter Illinois highway emerges from failed interstate bid". bnd. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
  4. ^ a b "seMissourian.com: Local News: Cape city leaders announce funding for I-66 feasibility study (08/19/11)". seMissourian.com. Retrieved September 29, 2014.
  5. Gross Domestic Product deflator
    figures follow the MeasuringWorth series.
  6. ^ "Corridor 66". Citizens for Southernmost Illinois. Archived from the original on February 16, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  7. ^ Nelsen, Carrie (July 9, 2015). "For Immediate Release" (PDF) (Press release). Illinois Department of Transportation. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 6, 2015.
  8. ^ "Route 460 Project in Southeast VA". www.route460project.org. Retrieved February 13, 2016.

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