I-69

[dimebag1980]

Hey, if I-49 has a topic, why not I-69?

Progress has been made in recent months on narrowing the path of this freeway through the Shreveport-Bossier metro area.

On this interactive map, if you zoom into the Haughton area, you can see the preferred alignment with its interchange to I-20, just west of the Webster Parish line. If I'm not mistaken, this puts it very close to the current Goodwill Road exit from I-20. The freeway is expected to skirt Haughton to the east, situating it right between Haughton and Doyline. Eventually this freeway will swing down, around the Port of Shreveport-Bossier, tie in to I-49 south of the city, and then make its way into Texas.

Once in the state of Texas, the freeway will extend through towns like Carthage, Lufkin, etc using the existing Hwy. 59 which in recent years has been upgraded to interstate standards for this very purpose.

One leg of the freeway will actually double back to the north, creating a spur between Carthage and Texarkana following the remainder of the Hwy. 59 route into the Texarkana region.

If anyone has any further information they'd like to share about I-69, please feel free.

Related links:

Local: http://www.i69arkla.com/

State: http://www.i69dotd.com/

National: http://www.i69info.com/

Texas: http://www.i69texas.org/

[richyb83]

Keep me up to date, I had been wondering the status of I-69. That would be great for the SBC region and would compliment the port big-time. They got some sharp looking curves just to the NE of SBC.

The proposed I-69 route would be very near you huh, Brian? Would you like that?

[dimebag1980]

Keep me up to date, I had been wondering the status of I-69. That would be great for the SBC region and would compliment the port big-time. They got some sharp looking curves just to the NE of SBC.

The proposed I-69 route would be very near you huh, Brian? Would you like that?

[bigboyz05]

I-69 and it's spurs will create a tremendous boom in not only Shreveport but the whole Ark-La-Tex. I've heard that parts of I-69 are already under construction. I know there is an existing section in Michigan and Indiana.

[dimebag1980]

I-69 and it's spurs will create a tremendous boom in not only Shreveport but the whole Ark-La-Tex. I've heard that parts of I-69 are already under construction. I know there is an existing section in Michigan and Indiana.

[fridayinla]

Where along the study process are the I-69 segments through LA? It's hard to tell if the website info is current. Has anyone read possible dates of construction?

[dimebag1980]

Here's the metro Shreveport page:

http://www.i69info.com/shreveport.html

And here's the Shreveport-Memphis page, which covers the rest of Louisiana as well:

http://www.i69info.com/shr-mem.html

I've never heard a proposed construction start date.

[bigboyz05]

Yeah, I-69 goes from Indianapolis to Flint, MI right now, I believe. And didn't a stretch of it also recently open in the Memphis area as well? The road is definitely coming together in bits and pieces, and you're right it will be a good thing for the entire Ark-La-Tex region. The Texarkana spur will be great for that part of the region just as much as the metro Shreveport stretch. And it'll be so nice for Shreveport to finally have a direct, high-speed link to Houston. As it stands now, the easiest way is to take I-20 out of Shreveport to Greenwood, and then Hwy 79 south to Texas, and eventually you come to Hwy 59. I think you could easily shave at least 30 minutes off a drive from Shreveport to houston with the completed freeway.

[fridayinla]

For SIU #14 (Shreveport to Memphis), I found some recent literature on at this link (dated Oct 2006):

http://www.i69arkla.com/news.asp

Those downloadable PDF files mention that they're currently doing field work on the preferred corridor - staking, soil samples, wildlife habitat monitoring, etc. What would be the next logical step? While all of this field work is happening - you'd think the engineering planning would be happening concurrently.

[Rardy]

For SIU #14 (Shreveport to Memphis), I found some recent literature on at this link (dated Oct 2006):

http://www.i69arkla.com/news.asp

Those downloadable PDF files mention that they're currently doing field work on the preferred corridor - staking, soil samples, wildlife habitat monitoring, etc. What would be the next logical step? While all of this field work is happening - you'd think the engineering planning would be happening concurrently.

[dimebag1980]

I-69 is open between Hwy. 51 and I-55 in DeSoto County, just south of Memphis. It's already signed I-69. It's got a lot of Memphians talking. Widening on I-240 in Midtown Memphis is supposed to begin in early '07 to accomodate the extra traffic I-69 will bring.

It's interesting -- 10 years ago, Shreveport had only 1 2di interstate that was complete, I-20. Now there's 2, and in 10 more years there'll be 3. Congrats!

[Rardy]

The left over leg of I-49, which is currently the inner-city stretch of I-49 through Shreveport, would likely gain a 3di interstate distinction from what I've read.

[dimebag1980]

So where would I-49 go?? Would they be moving it, or would a 3di run concurrently with it? If so, which one? As you can tell, this is news to me!

[woob]

Not my favorite choice, but they want to start it at I-220 in north Shreveport and go north from there, using existing sections of 3132 and I-220 as the new I-49. The inner city freeway that exists in Shreveport would then have to be renamed. If I can find a map, I'll post it.

[dimebag1980]

I wish 49 would go through the city but hey we'll take what we can get! If you think about it.. the location is perfect... we have access from the port to the gulf from the gulf anywhere! Shreveport is far enough inland that hurricanes wont pose much threat! I think companies would be crazy not to want to locate here. oh yeah with 69 and 49 done too. Memphis is a skip away with 69.

[bigboyz05]

I'm with you. I just want the damn thing built. Instead of all the lollygagging.

[Rardy]

Not my favorite choice, but they want to start it at I-220 in north Shreveport and go north from there, using existing sections of 3132 and I-220 as the new I-49. The inner city freeway that exists in Shreveport would then have to be renamed. If I can find a map, I'll post it.