Interstate 59
Route information
Length:	445.23 mi[1] (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-431 in Gadsden, AL
North end:	I-24 in Wildwood, GA
Highway system
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary 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 intersection with I-10 and I-12, and its northern terminus is at Wildwood, Georgia, at its intersection 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. Highway 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 Metropolitan Area, where it is several lanes wider.

Route description [edit]

Louisiana [edit]

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 Saint Tammany Parish and it enters Pearl River County, Mississippi.

Mississippi [edit]

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 overlaps or runs close to US 11. Between the towns of Pearl River and Picayune, US 11 is overlapped by 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 Mississippi–Louisiana state border and continued 21 miles (34 km) north to Poplarville.

Alabama [edit]

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 the 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. Beginning in 2010 and over the next two years, a construction project called "Project 59" has been ongoing to resurface the highway. This project consists of repaving the Interstate Highway with unbonded concrete (without any space cracks). There has also been the raising and widening of the highway's bridges and overpasses.

Georgia [edit]

I-59 has a short trek through the 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.^[2]

Exit list [edit]

This section contains a table that is missing mileposts for one or more junctions. Please help by adding the missing mileposts.

County	Location	Mile	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
St. Tammany	Slidell			1A	I-12 west – Hammond	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				0	I-10 east – Bay St. Louis	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
					I-10 west – New Orleans	Southbound exit and northbound entrance
				3	US 11 south / LA 1090 south – Pearl River	South end of US 11 overlap
	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 overlap
	Picayune			4	MS 43 south – Picayune, Kiln	South end of MS 43 overlap
				6	MS 43 north – North Picayune	North end of MS 43 overlap
				10	Carriere
				15	McNeil
				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 overlap
				60	US 11 – South Hattiesburg
Lamar	Hattiesburg			65	US 98 west (MS 198 east) / Hardy Street – Columbia	North end of US 98 overlap; 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 overlap; signed as exits 67A (south) and 67B (north)
				69	MS 42 east (Evelyn Gandy Parkway) – Petal	North end of MS 42 overlap
				73	Monroe Street
Jones				76	Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport
				78	Sanford Road
				80	Moselle
				85	MS 590 – Ellisville
	Ellisville			88	MS 29 – 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 overlap; 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 overlap
				97	US 84 east (Chantilly Street) – Waynesboro	North end of US 84 overlap
				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 overlap
	Meridian			150	US 11 south / MS 19 north – Philadelphia, Airport	South end of US 11 / MS 19 overlap
				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 overlap; signed as exits 154A (south) and 154B (north) northbound
				157	US 45 – Quitman, Macon	Signed as exits 157A (south) and 157B (north)
				160	Russell
				165	Toomsoba
				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 overlap
				100	Abernant, Bucksville	Unsigned eastern terminus for AL-216
Jefferson				104	Rock Mountain Lake	McAshan Drive
				106	I-459 – Gadsden, Montgomery, Atlanta
	Bessemer			108	US-11 north / SR-5 north (Academy Drive)	North end of US-11 / SR-5 overlap
				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
				126B	31st Street North
				128	SR-79 (Tallapoosa Street)
				129	Airport Boulevard
				130	I-20 east – Atlanta	North end of I-20 overlap
				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 – Montgomery, Tuscaloosa, Atlanta
				141	Trussville, Pinson
				143	Deerfoot Parkway, Mount Olive Church Road
				148	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 – Gadsden
				183	US-278 / US-431 – Attalla, Gadsden
	Gadsden			188	SR-211 to US-11 – Noccalula Falls Park
DeKalb				205	SR-68 – Collinsville, Crossville
	Douglas			218	SR-35 – Fort Payne, Rainsville
				222	US-11 – Fort Payne
				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
Concurrency terminus       Closed/former       HOV only       Incomplete access       Tolled/ETC       Unopened

Auxiliary routes [edit]

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

v t e Auxiliary routes of Interstate 59 Alabama 359 459 759

See also [edit]

• U.S. Roads portal

References [edit]

External links [edit]

Route map: Google / Bing

• Media related to Interstate 59 at Wikimedia Commons

v t e Main Interstate Highways Signed 4 5 8 10 12 15 16 17 19 20 22 24 25 26 27 29 30 35 37 39 40 43 44 45 49 55 57 59 64 65 66 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 (W) 76 (E) 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 (W) 84 (E) 85 86 (W) 86 (E) 87 88 (W) 88 (E) 89 90 91 93 94 95 96 97 99 H-1 H-2 H-3 Unsigned A-1 A-2 A-3 A-4 PRI-1 PRI-2 PRI-3 Lists Primary Main Intrastate Suffixed Temporary Future Gaps Auxiliary Main Future Unsigned Other Standards Business Bypassed Tolled Major Interstates highlighted