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Interstate 80
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Interstate 80 (I-80) is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States (after I-90). It connects downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City. I-80 is the interstate that most closely approximates the Lincoln Highway, the first road across America. Some sections of I-80 lie directly on top of the old Lincoln Highway, particularly in Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California. The highway roughly traces other historically significant travel corridors, particularly in the Western United States.
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Encyclopedia
Interstate 80 (I-80) is the second-longest Interstate Highway in the United States (after I-90). It connects downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City. I-80 is the interstate that most closely approximates the Lincoln Highway, the first road across America. Some sections of I-80 lie directly on top of the old Lincoln Highway, particularly in Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and California. The highway roughly traces other historically significant travel corridors, particularly in the Western United States. These include the Oregon Trail in Nebraska and westward, the California Trail in Nevada and California, and the Transcontinental Railroad from western Nebraska to San Francisco.
The highway from near Chicago, Illinois, east to near Youngstown, Ohio, is a toll road—the ticketed portion of the Indiana Toll Road and the majority of the Ohio Turnpike. At Youngstown, I-80 leaves the tolled alignment, which continues toward Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, 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.
I-80 intersects I-90 near Elyria, Ohio, and they share a route west all the way to Portage, Indiana, where I-90 splits off but I-80 then runs concurrently with I-94 until the Chicago suburb of South Holland, Illinois. I-80 then runs concurrently with I-294 until Markham, Illinois.
Route description
|-
|CA
|199.24
|320.65
|-
|NV
|410.67
|660.91
|-
|UT
|196.34
|315.98
|-
|WY
|402.76
|648.18
|-
|NE
|455.32
|732.77
|-
|IA
|306.01
|492.48
|-
|IL
|163.52
|263.16
|-
|IN
|151.56
|243.91
|-
|OH
|237.48
|382.19
|-
|PA
|311.07
|500.62
|-
|NJ
|68.54
|110.30
|-
|Total
|2902.51
|4671.13
|}
Major cities
Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs |
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- San Francisco, California
- Oakland, California
- Berkeley, California
- Sacramento, California
- Reno, Nevada
- Battle Mountain, Nevada
- Elko, Nevada
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Evanston, Wyoming
- Rock Springs, Wyoming
- Laramie, Wyoming
- Cheyenne, Wyoming
- Sidney, Nebraska
- North Platte, Nebraska
- Kearney, Nebraska
- Grand Island, Nebraska
- Lincoln, Nebraska
- Omaha, Nebraska
- Council Bluffs, Iowa
- Des Moines, Iowa
- Iowa City, Iowa
- Quad Cities, Iowa-Illinois (Eastbound Davenport, Iowa Westbound Moline-Rock Island, Illinois)
- Joliet, Illinois
- Chicago, Illinois (bypassed, via Interstate 55, Interstate 57, Interstate 90, or Interstate 94)
- South Bend, Indiana
- Toledo, Ohio
- Cleveland, Ohio (bypassed, via Interstate 90)
- Youngstown, Ohio (also signed as Youngstown-Niles)
- Sharon, Pennsylvania
- Clarion, Pennsylvania
- Du Bois, Pennsylvania
- Clearfield, Pennsylvania
- Bellefonte, Pennsylvania
- Williamsport, Pennsylvania (via Interstate 180 (Pennsylvania)
- Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania
- Hazleton, Pennsylvania
- Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania
- Delaware Water Gap, Pennsylvania
- Netcong, New Jersey
- Paterson, New Jersey
- George Washington Bridge (via Interstate 95)
- New York City, New York (via Interstate 95)
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California
A portion of the route through Pinole, California involved the experimental transplantation of the rare species Santa Cruz tarweed in the right-of-way.
Nevada
In the state of Nevada, Interstate 80 runs northeast from the Lake Tahoe region near Reno to Battle Mountain. At Battle Mountain, it turns east to the salt flats of Utah via Elko. In Nevada, I-80 is routed along the Truckee and Humboldt rivers.
The stretch of I-80 through Nevada is largely desolate and mountainous. Services are limited compared to I-80 in other states.
Utah
After crossing Utah's western border, I-80 crosses the desolate Bonneville Salt Flats west of the Great Salt Lake. The longest stretch between exits on an Interstate Highway is located between Wendover and Knolls, with 37.1 miles (60.1 km) between those exits. This portion of I-80, crossing the Great Salt Desert, is extremely flat and straight, dotted with large warning signs about driver fatigue and drowsiness.
East of the salt flats, I-80 passes through Salt Lake City, where it merges with I-15 for three miles (5 km) before entering the Wasatch Mountains east of the city. It ascends Parley's Canyon and passes within a few miles of Park City as it follows a route through the mountains towards Wyoming.
The route of the Utah section of I-80 is defined at Utah Code Annotated § 72-4-113(10).
Wyoming
In the state of Wyoming, I-80 reaches its maximum elevation of 8,640 feet (2,633 m) above sea level between Cheyenne and Laramie, Wyoming. Farther west in Wyoming, the interstate passes through the dry Red Desert and over the Continental Divide. In a way, the highway crosses the Divide twice, since two ridges of the Rocky Mountains split in Wyoming, forming the Great Divide Basin - from which no surface water escapes.
Nebraska
I-80 enters Nebraska west of Bushnell. The western portion of I-80 in Nebraska runs very close to the state of Colorado, without entering the state; the intersection of Interstate 76 and I-80 is visible from the Colorado-Nebraska state line. From its intersection with I-76 to Grand Island, I-80 lies in the valley of the South Platte and Platte Rivers. The longest straight stretch of interstate anywhere in the system is the approximately of I-80 occurring between Exit 318 in the Grand Island area and milemarker 390 near Lincoln. Along this length, the road does not vary from an ideally straight line by more than a few yards. After Lincoln, I-80 turns northeast towards Omaha. It then crosses the Missouri River in Omaha to go into Iowa.
Part of Interstate 80 in Nebraska is marked as a Blue Star Memorial Highway.
Iowa
In the state of Iowa, Interstate 80 runs from the I-80 bridge over the Missouri River where it intersects with I-29 and runs east to the Quad Cities and the Fred Schwengel Memorial Bridge over the Mississippi River. It is the main east-west arterial freeway through south-central Iowa, and the main east-west Interstate in the state.
In Iowa I-80 serves the cities of Council Bluffs, Des Moines, Iowa City, and the Iowa portion of the Quad Cities—including Davenport and Bettendorf.
Illinois
In the state of Illinois, I-80 runs from the Fred Schwengel Memorial Bridge across the Mississippi River south to an intersection with I-74. It then runs east across north-central Illinois just north of the Illinois River to Joliet. I-80 continues east and joins I-94 just before entering Indiana.
Indiana
In the state of Indiana, I-80 runs concurrent with another Interstate Highway for its entire length. It runs with I-94 on the Borman Expressway before joining I-90 to Ohio on the Indiana Toll Road.
The portion of I-80 between La Porte, Indiana and Toledo, Ohio runs (with I-90) within ten miles (16 km) of the Michigan state line. From the State Route 9 and I-80 intersection, the sign marking the Indiana-Michigan state line is visible. At another point in northern Indiana, I-80 comes within about 200 yards (meters) from the Michigan border.
Ohio
In the state of Ohio, I-80 enters with I-90 from the Indiana Toll Road and immediately becomes the "James W. Shocknessy Ohio Turnpike", more commonly referred to as simply the Ohio Turnpike. The two Interstates cross rural northwest Ohio and run just south of the metropolitan area of Toledo. In Rossford, Ohio it intersects with Interstate 75 in an area known as the Crossroads of America. This intersection is one of the largest intersections of two Interstate Highways in the United States.
In Lorain, just west of Cleveland, I-90 splits from I-80 and runs northeast as a freeway. I-80 runs east-southeast through the southern suburbs of Cleveland and retains the Ohio Turnpike designation. Just northwest of Youngstown, the Ohio Turnpike continues southeast onto Interstate 76, while I-80 runs east to the north of Youngstown, entering Pennsylvania south of Sharon, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania
In the state of Pennsylvania, I-80 is the main east-west Interstate-standard highway through central Pennsylvania. It runs from the Ohio state line near Sharon to the Delaware Water Gap Toll Bridge over the Delaware River,and is called the Confair Memorial Highway.
I-80 serves no major metropolitan areas in Pennsylvania directly. Spurs from I-80 run to State College, Williamsport, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. I-80 intersects I-79 in Western Pennsylvania which connects with Erie (about to the north) and Pittsburgh (about to the south). Interstate 80's highest point (east of the Mississippi) is also located in Pennsylvania, near Exit 111 near Penfield, in Clearfield County.
In 2007, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, combined with state legislature Act No. 44, initiated plans to enact a tolling system on the entire span of I-80 throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. On October 15, 2007, PennDOT and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission signed a 50-year lease agreement, which will allow the Commission to maintain and, eventually, toll I-80.
New Jersey
The portion of 80 that goes through New Jersey is sometimes called the Bergen-Passaic Expressway.
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 km) short of New York City in Teaneck, New Jersey. There, signs designate the end of I-80 and the beginning of I-95. I-95 does cross the bridge north of here. This has led to some confusion because heading southbound from the George Washington Bridge this I-95 segment is also signed with "TO I-80" signs, and many maps show this section as I-80/95. The I-80 mileage markers continue for a short distance past the "END I-80" signs. Southbound I-95 heads toward the Lincoln Tunnel. However, if you are in the local lanes of I-80 and take the exit for southbound I-95, the mileage markers continue to follow I-80's mileage numbering for a whole mile, and the last exit (Exit 68 to US-46) before the toll plaza is consistent with I-80's mileage markers and numbering, not I-95's. This is the case even though it can be reached from the local lanes of I-95. Continuing south leads to the tolled section of the New Jersey Turnpike, although the Turnpike's northernmost toll plaza (exit 18) is several miles further south.
One section of I-80 running from Netcong to Denville was constructed in 1958. It is one of the oldest sections of Interstate highway in the United States.
Auxiliary routes
External links
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