Interstate 55 in Missouri – Directory of Maps

I-55

Begin

Holland

End

St. Louis

Length

210 mi

Length

338 km

Route

Arkansas1 Holland

4 Cooter

8 Steele

14 Caruthersville

17 → Dyersburg

19 Haiti

27 Wardell

32 Portageville

40 Marston

44 New Madrid

49 Animals

52 Animals

58 Matthews

66 → Chicago

67 Sikeston

69 Miner

80 Benton

89 Scott City

91 Cape Girardeau Airport

93 Cape Girardeau

95 Cape Girardeau

96 Gordonville

99 Cape Girardeau

105 Fruitland

111 Oak Ridge

117 Old Appleton

123 Biehle

129 Perryville

135 Brewer

141 St. Mary

143 Ozora

150 Ste. Genevieve

154 Rocky Ridge

157 Bloomsdale

162 Route DD

170 US 61

174 Crystal City

175 Festus

178 Herculaneum

180 Pevely

185 Barnhart

186 Imperial

190 Richardson Road

191 Arnold

193 Meramec Bottom Road

195 Butler Hill Road

196 → St. Louis Beltway

197 Lindbergh Boulevard

199 Reavis Barracks Road

200 Union Road

201 Weber Road

202 Germania Avenue

203 Virginia Avenue

204 South Broadway

205 Gasconade Street

206 Potomac Street

207 → Springfield

208 Park Avenue

209 → Kansas City

Poplar Street Bridge

Illinois

Interstate 55 or I -55 is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Missouri. I-55 forms a north-south route through the southeastern part of the state, paralleling the Mississippi River from the Arkansas border at Holland and the Illinois border at St. Louis. I-55 is 238 miles long in Missouri.

COLLEGESANDUNIVERSITIESINUSA: Lists 4-year public and private colleges and universities in Missouri.

Travel directions

I-55 at Hayti and the interchange with I-155.

I-55 at Cape Girardeau.

I-55 at Barnhart, just south of St. Louis.

I-55 runs through eastern Missouri, parallel to the Mississippi River. Interstate 55 in Arkansas comes from Memphis and crosses the border with the state of Missouri near Blytheville. Here, I-55 passes through the Missouri Bootheel, the southeasternmost part of the state. Characteristic of this region are the flat agricultural areas, with hardly any afforestation. Most places in this region are small. At Caruthersville, [[Interstate 155 in Missouri|Interstate 155 exits to Dyersburg in Tennessee. Sometimes I-55 runs close to the meandering Mississippi River and close to the dikes at New Madrid.

I-55 has straight stretches through the flat meadows. Interstate 57 begins at Sikeston, which is a more direct route to Chicago. The US 60 also connects to this cloverleaf. US 61 runs parallel to I-55. I-55 then passes the town of Cape Girardeau, after which the landscape has some more forest and elevation changes, I-55 here leads through the eastern foothills of the Ozarks. The Mississippi River also flows here not too far from I-55.

From Festus, I-55 has 2×3 lanes, this is the southernmost place that still belongs to the St. Louis area of influence, although the suburbanization along I-55 is not very extensive until one gets closer to the city. From Barnhart there are 2×4 lanes and from Arnold even 2×5 lanes. The Mehlville suburb crosses the St. Louis Beltway, which consists of Interstate 255 to the east and Interstate 270 to the west. I-55 then has 2×4 lanes and leads through the older suburbs of the city. This area is heavily built-up and I-55 runs part of it a short distance from the Mississippi River. Just before downtown St. Louis, Interstate 44 ends at I-55. Just before the center follows the junction with theInterstate 64, after which I-55 crosses the Mississippi River, which also forms the border with the state of Illinois, via the Poplar Street Bridge. Interstate 55 in Illinois then continues through East St. Louis toward Springfield and Chicago.

ANSWERMBA: Provides information about Missouri overview.

History

I-55 was initially built at a fairly rapid pace. The first part opened in 1960 south of downtown, a short 2-kilometer stretch. By the late 1960s, large sections were completed, from St. Louis to Crystal City and from New Madrid to just north of Cape Girardeau. Some longer missing links were around Perryville and Ste. Genevieve, and to the far south at Caruthersville. These links were opened in 1973 and 1974, establishing I-55 through Missouri.

In the 1970s, a northward extension of I-55 along the west side of downtown St. Louis was planned to have interchanges with I-44 and I-64. The interchange with I-44 is prepared for this, as is that of I-64. This part of the highway was never built. What number it should have been is unknown, possibly I-355.

Opening history

Van	Unpleasant	Length	Opening
Exit 207	Exit 208	2 km	1960
Exit 89	Exit 105	26 km	1963
Exit 0	Exit 4	6 km	1964
Exit 197	Exit 202	8 km	1964
Exit 66	Exit 89	37 km	1965
Exit 44	Exit 66	35 km	1966
Exit 192	Exit 197	8 km	1966
Exit 202	Exit 204	3 km	1966
Exit 176	Exit 192	26 km	1967
Exit 204	Exit 207	5 km	1967
Exit 27	Exit 44	27 km	1968
Exit 174	Exit 176	3 km	1968
Exit 19	Exit 27	13 km	1970
Exit 165	Exit 174	14 km	1971
Exit 135	Exit 165	48 km	1972
Exit 105	Exit 135	48 km	1973
Exit 4	Exit 19	24 km	1974

Traffic intensities

The rural portion of I-55 is pretty quiet, hovering around 20,000 mvt/day. Towards Saint Louis this rises to 124,000 just before the ring, after which it drops again to 100,000, but further on it rises again to 138,000 mvt/24h. 99,000 vehicles cross the Mississippi River every day. These are 3 highways. Congestion is not too bad on these routes.