Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Use American English Template:Infobox road Interstate 77 (I-77) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the Eastern United States. It traverses diverse terrain, from the mountainous state of West Virginia to the rolling farmlands of North Carolina and Ohio. It largely supplants the old U.S. Route 21 (US 21) between Cleveland, Ohio, and Columbia, South Carolina, as an important north–south corridor through the middle Appalachian Mountains. The southern terminus of I-77 is in Cayce, South Carolina, in Lexington County at the junction with I-26.<ref>Template:Cite map</ref> The northern terminus is in Cleveland at the junction with I-90. Other major cities that I-77 connects to include Columbia, South Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; Charleston, West Virginia; and Akron, Ohio. The East River Mountain Tunnel, connecting Virginia and West Virginia, is one of only two instances in the U.S. where a mountain road tunnel crosses a state line. The other is the Cumberland Gap Tunnel, connecting Tennessee and Kentucky.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> I-77 is a snowbird route to the Southern U.S. for those traveling from the Great Lakes region.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Route descriptionEdit
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South CarolinaEdit
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I-77 begins as an eight-lane highway at I-26 in the far southwestern part of the Columbia metropolitan area. In the Columbia area, I-77 offers access to Fort Jackson before meeting I-20 in the northeastern part of the city. This segment of I-77, combined with I-20 and I-26, form a beltway around Columbia, though it is not officially designated as such.
After leaving the northern Columbia suburb of Blythewood, I-77 narrows to four lanes until it widens to eight lanes at Rock Hill from exit 77 to the North Carolina state line at I-485.
The final section of the entire length of I-77 was completed in Columbia in 1995.
North CarolinaEdit
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I-77 through North Carolina begins at the South Carolina state line at Pineville. It narrows to six lanes on the North Carolina side south of Charlotte and then widens to 8 and 10 lanes through downtown before entering the North Carolina Piedmont region. In Charlotte, it intersects I-85 as well as intersecting each of the loops of I-485 and I-277 (twice). North of Charlotte, it skirts Lake Norman where it narrows again to four lanes before passing through Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson, and Mooresville. At Statesville, Template:Convert north of I-85, it intersects I-40 and US 70. Next, it crosses over US 421 in Yadkin County and continues on through Elkin. The final intersection in the state is with a discontinuous section of I-74 near Mount Airy.
I-77 in Charlotte is also known as the Bill Lee Freeway; this designation stretches from exit 6 (South Tryon Street/Woodlawn Road) in Charlotte to exit 33 (US 21 north), near Mooresville. A Template:Convert portion south of the city is called the General Younts Expressway. When I-77 crosses over I-85 (which runs in an east–west direction through the interchange), the northbound lanes are to the west of the southbound lanes.
North Carolina completed its section of I-77 in 1975.
VirginiaEdit
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I-77 through Virginia passes through two tunnels: the Big Walker and East River mountain tunnels. For Template:Convert, I-77 and I-81 overlap near Wytheville. This is a wrong-way concurrency, where two roads run concurrent with each other but are designated in opposite directions. For its entire length in Virginia, I-77 is either parallel to or concurrent with US 52. It will have a concurrency with I-74 throughout the state.
On March 31, 2013, there was a nearly 100-car pileup on I-77 near Fancy Gap; as a result of that crash, electronic variable speed limit signs are now in place along that stretch of I-77. The speed limit can be adjusted according to driving conditions at any given time.
West VirginiaEdit
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I-77 enters West Virginia through the East River Mountain Tunnel. At milepost 9, I-77 becomes cosigned with the West Virginia Turnpike for the next Template:Convert, a toll road between Princeton and Charleston. It is concurrent with I-64 to Charleston at Beckley. The speed limit is Template:Convert for most of the length, with a Template:Convert limit for the section between Marmet and the toll plaza near Pax.
It enters Charleston via the Yeager Bridge before splitting off at a four-level junction with I-64. Template:Convert north of the city center, it junctions with I-79, before proceeding north to Ripley and Parkersburg.
North of Charleston, I-77 is known as the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway.
OhioEdit
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Entering from West Virginia at Marietta, I-77 passes through rolling Appalachian terrain.
The interchange with I-70 at Cambridge is (or at least at one time was) thought to be the largest interchange in the world, covering over Template:Convert.
I-77 continues north through Canton and then Akron, where it connects with I-76. The interchange with I-80, the Ohio Turnpike, between Akron and Cleveland was completed in December 2001;<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> previously, traffic had to exit at State Route 21 (SR 21) to access the turnpike. I-77 ends at I-90 in Cleveland.
I-77 is also known as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway in Ohio<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and the Willow Freeway in Greater Cleveland.<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>
HistoryEdit
Junction listEdit
- South Carolina
- Template:Jct in Cayce
- Template:Jct in Cayce
- Template:Jct in Columbia
- Template:Jct on the Woodfield–Dentsville CDP line
- Template:Jct in Dentsville
- Template:Jct south of Blythewood
- Template:Jct on the Lesslie–Rock Hill line
- Template:Jct in Rock Hill
- Template:Jct north of Fort Mill. The highways travel concurrently to Charlotte, North Carolina.
- North Carolina
- Template:Jct in Charlotte
- Template:Jct in Charlotte
- Template:Jct in Charlotte
- Template:Jct in Charlotte
- Template:Jct in Charlotte
- Template:Jct in Huntersville
- Template:Jct in Cornelius. The highways travel concurrently to Mooresville.
- Template:Jct southeast of Troutman
- Template:Jct in Statesville
- Template:Jct in Statesville
- Template:Jct north of Statesville
- Template:Jct west-northwest of Hamptonville
- Template:Jct south-southeast of Jonesville. The highways travel concurrently to Elkin.
- Template:Jct west-southwest of Pine Ridge. The highways travel concurrently to the Virginia state line north-northwest of Pine Ridge.
- Virginia
- Template:Jct in Woodlawn
- Template:Jct in Fort Chiswell. The highways travel concurrently to Wytheville.
- Template:Jct in Fort Chiswell. The highways travel concurrently to Wytheville.
- Template:Jct west of Bland
- Template:Jct in Rocky Gap
- Template:Jct north-northwest of Rocky Gap. The highways travel concurrently to Bluefield, West Virginia.
- West Virginia
- Template:Jct east-southeast of Princeton
- Template:Jct south-southeast of Camp Creek
- Template:Jct southeast of Crab Orchard. The highways travel concurrently to Charleston.
- Template:Jct southeast of Snow Hill. The highways travel concurrently to Charleston.
- Template:Jct northeast of Charleston
- Template:Jct in Ripley. The highways travel concurrently to Silverton.
- Template:Jct east of Parkersburg
- Ohio
- Template:Jct in Marietta
- Template:Jct south-southeast of Cambridge
- Template:Jct east of Cambridge
- Template:Jct northeast of Cambridge
- Template:Jct in Newcomerstown
- Template:Jct in New Philadelphia. The highways travel concurrently to south-southeast of Strasburg.
- Template:Jct in Canton. I-77/US 62 travels concurrently through Canton.
- Template:Jct south of Akron
- Template:Jct in Akron. I-76 and I-77 travel concurrently through Akron.
- Template:Jct West of Akron
- Template:Jct in Richfield
- Template:Jct on the Richfield–Brecksville line
- Template:Jct on the Independence–Brooklyn Heights line
- Template:Jct in Cleveland
- Template:Jct in Cleveland
- Template:Jct in Cleveland
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Auxiliary routesEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
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