Interstate 20

Interstate 20 is an interstate highway in the southeastern United States. It goes from near Kent, Texas at Interstate 10 to Florence, South Carolina at Interstate 95.

Length

Until 1971, I-20 passed through downtown Dallas, Texas and Fort Worth, Texas along the Dallas/Fort Worth Turnpike, a route now signed as Interstate 30 (and called the Tom Landry Freeway). I-30 ended at the border of Dallas and Mesquite, Texas. When I-20 was built through Arlington and Grand Prairie, it took over the southern portions of Fort Worth's loop I-820 and Dallas' three-quarter-loop I-635.

In 1987, the I-20 designation was moved to a cutoff from Terrell, Texas to the southeast Dallas suburb of Balch Springs. Most of the bypassed segment of I-20 was already designated US 80, but that still left a three-mile segment of old I-20 west of Terrell with no designation. It is now (2004) signed westbound as "To US 80" and eastbound as "To I-20", and is officially designated as "Texas Spur 557". Note that the problem would have been avoided -- to the benefit of mapmakers and drivers alike -- if the Texas Department of Transportation had requested AASHTO designate the highway from Terrell to the I-30 intersection as "I-120", or perhaps "I-130".

There were two Interstate 420s that were never completed. One was to be a bypass around Monroe, Louisiana, but it was not even built. The other I-420 was planned as a bypass to the south of downtown Atlanta, whose roads are the most congested outside Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Due to anti-freeway sentiments, I-420 was never completed, and the already-built portion has been signed as GA 154/GA 166.

There are plans to extend I-20 eastward into Wilmington, North Carolina. The new I-20 would follow US 76 from Florence, South Carolina to Whiteville, North Carolina, and then parallel US 74 into Wilmington.

Primary Interstate Highways


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