Interstate 55 in Missouri

Interstate 55
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Route information
Maintained by Missouri DOT
Length:	210.45 mi (338.69 km)
Existed:	1956 – present
Major junctions
South end:	I-55 at Arkansas state line
	I-155 / US 412 near Hayti I-57 / US 60 in Miner US 62 in Sikeston I-255 / I-270 in Mehlville US 50 / US 61 / US 67 in Mehlville I-44 in St. Louis I-64 / US 40 in St. Louis
North end:	I-55 / I-64 / US 40 / I-44 in St. Louis
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Missouri State Highway System Interstate US State Supplemental ← US 54 US 56 →

In the U.S. state of Missouri, Interstate 55 runs from the Arkansas state line to the Poplar Street Bridge over the Mississippi River in St. Louis.

Route description

Interstate 55 enters Missouri at the Arkansas border near Cooter. It runs northward through mostly flat land in the Bootheel, where it has an interchange with U.S. Route 412 and Interstate 155. The highway continues over bumpy land through or near the towns of Hayti, Portageville, and New Madrid before reaching an interchange with U.S. Route 60 and Interstate 57 just south of Sikeston. The next interchange, U.S. Route 62, provides access into the city of Sikeston and one of its most popular attractions, Lambert's Cafe, the "Home of the Throwed Rolls".

North of Sikeston, I-55 begins to traverse rolling terrain on its way to Cape Girardeau. Exit 95, Route 74 east, provides direct access to the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge into southern Illinois. The heart of the city of Cape Girardeau as well as Southeast Missouri State University can be reached by taking either Exit 96 or Exit 99.

I-55 then goes through rural areas again as it makes a north-northwesterly run through the towns of Perryville and Ste. Genevieve before entering the southern reaches of the St. Louis metro area at the interchange with U.S. Route 67 and the Twin Cities of Festus and Crystal City. U.S. Route 61 and 67 run concurrently immediately east of I-55 nearly due north through the Jefferson County towns of Herculaneum, Pevely (where the interstate expands from 4 lanes to 6), Barnhart (and then to 8), Imperial, and finally Arnold before crossing the Meramec River into St. Louis County.

From Richardson Road in Arnold to I-270, I-55 is 10 lanes wide. The interstate narrows back down to 8 lanes past I-270, through southern St. Louis County, and into the city of St. Louis. In the last few miles of I-55 in the state of Missouri, there is an interchange/brief overlap with Interstate 44 before reaching the Poplar Street Bridge crossing into Illinois.

History

Sponsorship controversy

The white supremacy group Ku Klux Klan began fighting several court battles with the state of Missouri after the state disputed its right to sponsor a stretch of freeway in Saint Louis County and Jefferson County, near St. Louis. In March 2001, after a U.S. District Court judge found that blocking the Klan's sponsorship was unconstitutional, the Court of Appeals ruled that the state must erect signs announcing the group's sponsorship. However, the Missouri Legislature later voted to rename the stretch of I-55 the "Rosa Parks Freeway" in honor of the Montgomery civil rights hero who began the Montgomery bus boycott. When asked how she felt about this honor, she is reported to have commented, "It is always nice to be thought of." The Klan were eventually dropped from the scheme on April 4, 2001, on the grounds that for the duration of their sponsorship, they had not once cleaned the freeway.

Exit list

County	Location	mi	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Arkansas state line					I-55 south – Memphis	Continuation into Arkansas
Pemiscot	​	0.00	0.00	1	Route O to US 61 – Holland
	​			4	Route E – Cooter, Holland
	​			8	US 61 south / Route 164 – Steele	South end of US 61 overlap
	​			14	Route U / Route H / Route J – Caruthersville, Braggadocio
	​			17	I-155 east / US 412 – Caruthersville, Dyersburg, Hayti, Kennett	Signed as exits 17A (east) and 17B (west); I-155/US 412 exits 1A-B
	Hayti			19	Route 84 – Hayti, Caruthersville
	​			27	Route K / Route A / Route BB – Wardell
New Madrid	Portageville			32	US 61 north / Route 162 – Portageville	North end of US 61 overlap
	Marston			40	Route EE (St. Jude Road) – Marston
	New Madrid			44	Business Loop I-55 north / US 61 / US 62 – New Madrid, Howardville
	​			49	Business Loop I-55 south / US 61 / US 62 – New Madrid, Kewanee
	​			52	Route P – Kewanee
	​			58	Route 80 – Matthews, East Prairie
Scott	Sikeston			66	I-57 north / US 60 – Dexter, Poplar Bluff, Chicago	Signed as exits 66A (north/east) and 66B (west); I-57/US 60 exits 1A-B
				67	US 62 – Sikeston, Bertrand
				69	Route HH – Miner, Sikeston
	​			80	Route 77 – Benton, Diehlstadt
	Scott City			89	US 61 south / Route M / Route K – Scott City, Chaffee	South end of US 61 overlap
				91	Route AB – Cape Girardeau Regional Airport
Cape Girardeau	Cape Girardeau			93	Business Loop I-55 north / US 61 north / Route 74 west – Dutchtown, Cape Girardeau	North end of US 61 overlap; south end of Route 74 overlap; signed as exits 93A (west) and 93B (north) northbound
				95	Route 74 east – Cape Girardeau	North end of Route 74 overlap
				96	Route K – Cape Girardeau, Gordonville
				99	Business Loop I-55 / US 61 / Route 34 – Cape Girardeau, Jackson
	​			105	Business Loop I-55 south / US 61 – Fruitland, Jackson
	​			111	Route E – Oak Ridge
	​			117	Route KK – Old Appleton
Perry	​			123	Route B – Biehle
	Perryville			129	Route 51 – Perryville
	​			135	Route M – Brewer
Ste. Genevieve	​			141	Route Z – St. Mary
	​			143	Route N / Route J / Route M – Ozora
	​			150	Route 32 / Route B / Route A – Ste. Genevieve, Farmington
	​			154	Route O – Ste. Genevieve, Rocky Ridge
	​			157	Route Y – Bloomsdale
	​			162
Jefferson	​			170	US 61
	Crystal City			174	Business Loop I-55 north / US 67 – Crystal City, Farmington, Bonne Terre	Signed as exits 174A (north) and 174B (south)
	Festus			175	Route A – Hillsboro, Festus
	Herculaneum			178	Business Loop I-55 south – Herculaneum
	Pevely			180	Route Z – Pevely
	Barnhart			185
	Imperial			186	Imperial Main Street
	Arnold			190	Richardson Road	Signed as Richardson Road/Vogel Road southbound
				191	Route 141 – Arnold, Fenton
St. Louis	​			193	Meramec Bottom Road
	​			195	Butler Hill Road
	​			196	I-255 east / I-270 west – Chicago, Kansas City
	​			197	US 61 / US 67 / US 50 (Lindbergh Boulevard)	Southbound exit via exit 196
	​			199	Reavis Barracks Road
	​			200	Union Road	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
	​			201A	Bayless Avenue
	​			201B	Weber Road	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
City of St. Louis				202A	Carondelet Boulevard	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
				202B	Germania Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				202C	Loughborough Avenue
				203	Virginia Avenue, Bates Street
				204	4500 South Broadway
				205	Gasconade Street	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				206A	Potomac Street	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
				206B	3200 South Broadway	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
				206C	Arsenal Street
				207A	Gravois Avenue	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
				207B	I-44 west – Tulsa	Signed as exit 207 southbound
				290C	12th Street, Gravois Avenue	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				207C	Truman Parkway	Northbound exit and southbound entrance
				208	Park Avenue, 7th Street
				251C	Memorial Drive – Downtown St. Louis, Gateway Arch, Busch Stadium
				40C	I-64 west / US 40 west – St. Louis	South end of I-64 / US 40 overlap; southbound exit and northbound entrance
				209B	I-44 east to I-70 west – Kansas City	North end of I-44 overlap
Mississippi River				Poplar Street Bridge
St. Clair	East St. Louis	210.45	338.69		I-55 north / I-64 east / US 40 east to I-70 east – Illinois	Continuation into Illinois
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi       Concurrency terminus       Incomplete access

Auxiliary routes

• I-155: A spur running from I-55 in Hayti, MO to US-51 in Dyersburg, TN; overlaps with U.S. Route 412 for its entire length. Eight miles of this highway will be absorbed into the newly extended Interstate 69 in the future.
• I-255: The eastern third of the beltway around the St. Louis Metro Area (with I-270 forming the remaining two-thirds)

External links

• The Name Game, at Snopes.com.

Interstate 55
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