Interstate 70

Missing image
I-70-Kansas.JPG

I-70 looking westbound near Mile 326, Wabaunsee County, Kansas

Interstate 70 is a long interstate highway in the United States. It runs from Cove Fort, Utah at Interstate 15 to a Park and Ride in Baltimore, Maryland.

Contents

1 Length

Length

When I-70 leaves the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Breezewood, Pennsylvania, there is a sign of a policeman pointing at you saying, "You! Slow Down!" You then have to drive a few blocks on US 30 before returning to I-70. This is a rare instance of a traffic light on an interstate. This could be fixed by building a direct connection between the PA Turnpike and the freeway section of I-70. However, it is argued that building a direct connection between the two would disrupt the economy in Breezewood which serves motorists passing through the town.

I-70 was originally supposed to intersect with Interstate 95 in Baltimore. Due to opposition from environmental groups, this plan was scrapped. The intersection to I-95 and the spur route to downtown (I-170) had already been built before plans were cancelled. The signs for I-170 are now replaced with signs for US 40, and I-70 terminates in a Park and Ride. Only the exit ramp to nowhere on I-95 lets you know it was planned.

The aforementioned I-170 ends shortly beyond the US 1 (Fulton Avenue/Monroe Street) junction. No traffic is allowed on this part of the freeway (all traffic must utilize the exit ramp back to surface streets and US 40), although streetlights and an empty sign bridge serve as proof that I-170 was to be extended beyond this point, along with vacant ramps to/from US 1. After the I-70 extension was scrapped, I-170 was to continue towards I-95 and be renamed I-595. After that plan fell through, US 40 was rerouted to the old I-170 freeway. A ghost ramp onto southbound I-95, the most obvious clue that I-70/I-595 was planned to intersect there, has been demolished.

At Frederick, Maryland, I-70 split into two branches: I-70N, which led into Baltimore, and I-70S, which took a path into the Washington, D.C. area. I-70N is now I-70, while I-70S has been renamed I-270. The I-70S designation was also used for the current I-70 freeway in Western Pennsylvania. (There are signs along US 40 in Baltimore that still depict the I-70 freeway as I-70N. Trucks are directed onto it via I-695.)

I-70 went through Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at one point; its original route has been incorporated into I-376, as well as parts of I-76, I-79 and I-279.

What had been planned as I-470 around Denver, Colorado exists in three sections: CO 470 (main), E-470 (eastern extension) and W-470 (western extension). There are no immediate plans to promote the 470s (as they are called in Denver) to Interstate status.

The Eisenhower Tunnel on I-70 is the highest vehicular tunnel in the world, and the longest tunnel built under the Interstate program.

In Kansas City, Missouri, I-670 cuts directly through the downtown while I-70 bypasses the taller buildings a few blocks north. Westbound I-670 is also designated Alternate I-70 making this the only "alternate" interstate in the country. The pair along with US 71, US 24, US 40, US 169, I-35 an I-29 create the downtown "alphabet" loop. Most of the Interstates in this loop are in their second mile, so all exits (no matter the which Interstate carries the road) are numbered 2 and suffixed with every letter of the alphabet except I, O and Z.

In Saint Louis, Missouri, I-70 spawns two child routes: I-170, or the Innerbelt Expressway, and I-270, or the American Veterans Memoral Highway. In addition to the two child routes, people often confuse Missouri Route 370 to be I-370. The 12 mile (19 km) freeway gives area commuters an alternate route across the Missouri River, allowing them to avoid the congestion on I-70's Blanchette Bridge crossing of the Missouri River. Route 370 runs from I-270 at the Bridgeton/Hazelwood border (at Exit 22B) to I-70 in St. Peters (at Exit 224).

Some observers reckon the section of Interstate 70 from Missouri to West Virginia as a kind of "Mason-Dixon Line," with the area lying south of this being considered psychographically part of the South.

The highway gave its name to the "I-70 Killer," a serial killer who committed a string of murders within a few miles of it in several Midwestern states in the 1980s. No suspect has ever been apprehended despite the widespread publicity the murders have generated, including their being featured several times on the television show America's Most Wanted.

The 1985 World Series between the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals was nicknamed the "I-70 Series" because St. Louis and Kansas City are the two endpoints of I-70 in Missouri.

2005 Rand McNally "The Road Atlas 2005" - newest feature- interstate mileage by state

Template:Ed divPrimary Interstate Highways							Missing image Interstate_blank.png Interstate Highway marker
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	238	H-1	H-2	H-3
Unsigned Interstate Highways
A-1	A-2	A-3	A-4	PRI-1	PRI-2	PRI-3
Lists Two-digit Interstates - Three-digit Interstates Gaps in Interstates - Intrastate Interstates Interstate standards - Proposed Interstates