INTERSTATE 44

'Interstate 44' (abbreviated 'I-44') is an interstate highway in the central United States. Its western terminus is in Wichita Falls, Texas at an intersection with U.S. Highway 277; its eastern terminus is in St. Louis at Interstate 55. Interstate 44 is one of five interstates built to bypass U.S. Route 66; this highway covers the section between St. Louis and Oklahoma City.
Virtually the entire length of the Interstate east of Springfield, Missouri was once US 66 which was upgraded from two to four lanes between 1949 and 1955. The section of I-44 west of Springfield was built further south than US 66 in order to connect Missouri's section with the already completed Will Rogers Turnpike, which Oklahoma wished to carry their part of I-44.
Interstate 44 is referenced in the song "Convoy" by C.W. McCall.

Route description

|-
|TX
|15
|24
|-
|OK
|329
|530
|-
|MO
|290
|467
|-
|Total
|634
|1021
|}

Major cities 'Bolded cities' are officially-designated control cities for signs
★ 'Wichita Falls, Texas' ★ 'Lawton, Oklahoma' ★ 'Oklahoma City, Oklahoma' ★ 'Tulsa, Oklahoma' ★ 'Joplin, Missouri' ★ 'Springfield, Missouri' ★ 'Rolla, Missouri' ★ 'St. Louis, Missouri'

Texas

I-44 begins in Wichita Falls and runs due north to the Texas-Oklahoma border at the Red River. Texas holds I-44 as the shortest segment of the freeway as there are only 14 miles of that highway within the state.

Oklahoma

Main articles: Interstate 44 in Oklahoma

I-44 in Oklahoma is a toll road most of the way, paralleled by former U.S. 66 from Oklahoma City to the Missouri state line. In southwestern Oklahoma, I-44 is the H.E. Bailey Turnpike and follows a north-south direction. In the Oklahoma City metro section range from 6-8 lanes, also I-44 is duplexed with I-35 for a short time in Oklahoma City. From Oklahoma City I-44 shifts its direction to east-west and follows the Turner Turnpike until Tulsa. As I-44 leaves Tulsa it becomes the Will Rogers Turnpike to the Missouri border.

Missouri

I-44/55/64/70 on one highway sign in downtown St. Louis

I-44 enteres Missouri southwest of Joplin at a point near the corner of Oklahoma, Missouri, and Kansas. It misses the state of Kansas by less than 200 yards. A marker is erected at the point, which can be visited on State Line Road after exiting at U.S. Route 166. The road continues through the south edge of Joplin, then continues east on the pathway of US 166 to Mount Vernon. At the northeast part of Mount Vernon, I-44 heads northeast, while old US 166 continued east on Missouri Route 174. The section of road to Halltown is a completely new road, not bypassing any previous highways. At Halltown, the road follows the general pathway of US Route 66 all the way to downtown St. Louis.
I-44 passes through Springfield on the north side of the city and continues northeast. At Waynesville, I-44 enters a very hilly curvy area until it passes Rolla. Although the road still passes through some hilly areas, none are as steep as that particular stretch.
At Eureka, I-44 begins to widen to six lanes, later to eight lanes. The interstate continues into the suburbs of St. Louis, finally ending near the Mississippi River at the intersection with I-55.
At some places, an "Alternate I-44" is posted. One such ran between Rolla and Springfield via U.S. Route 60 and U.S. Route 63 and another ran via US 63 and U.S. Route 50 between Rolla and Union. These were done to provide traffic relief during road work. The latter of these alternate routes detoured traffic around three hour delays due to road work near Cuba.

History

I-44 in Oklahoma City

I-44 was originally signed in 1958 as an Interstate designation of the Turner Turnpike linking Oklahoma City and Tulsa and the Will Rogers Turnpike linking Tulsa and the Missouri state line southwest of Joplin, along with the US 66 bypass in Tulsa that linked that city with the two turnpikes and the continued four-lane highway from the Missouri border to an interchange with US 71 south of Joplin previously designated as US 166.
As U.S. 66 was being bypassed by I-44, the Route 66 Association requested the designation Interstate 66 for I-44 from St. Louis to Oklahoma City. AASHTO rejected the request.^[2]
At the time the I-44 designation was assigned in Oklahoma in the 1950s, Oklahoma signed the milemarkers west to east starting at Turner Turnpike's Oklahoma City terminus at the I-44/I-35 interchange (near Edmond). I-44 was later extended southwest of Oklahoma City along the existing H.E. Bailey Turnpike, thus raising the milemarkers by about 100. The new section was also a violation of the Interstate numbering grid, as it extended south of I-40. (The "44" number indicated that it should lie north of I-40 for its entire length.)
What was once I-244 around St. Louis is currently part of that city's I-270/I-255 beltway.
During the historic Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak of 1999, an F5 tornado hit Interstate 44. This particular tornado had the fastest tornado wind speeds on record. The interstate was severely damaged where the tornado crossed it. In the end, this tornado was blamed for 36 deaths.
A section of I-44 was moved slightly north between Morgan Heights and Powellville, Missouri. The old road is highly visible for eastbound traffic near Powellville. As of April 2006, the rocks carved away for the new roadbed have virtually no lichen, reflecting that this construction occurred rather recently. ^[3]

Exit list

Texas
^[4] ^[5]
County	Location	Mile	#	Destinations	Notes
I-44 becomes U.S. 82 / U.S. 281 / U.S. 287
Wichita	Wichita Falls		1A	U.S. 277	'Westbound only'
			1B	Scottland Park	'Eastbound only'
			1C	Texas Travel Info Center
			1D	Business U.S. 287
			2	Maurine St.
			3A	U.S. 287 – Vernon, Amarillo
			3B	Spur 325 – Sheppard Air Force Base
			3C	FM 890 – Municipal Airport
			4	City Loop Street
			5	Access Road	'Eastbound only'
			5A	FM 3492 (Missile Road) – Sheppard Air Force Base
			6	Bacon Switch Road
			7	East Road
			11	FM 3492 (Daniels Road)
			12	State Highway 240 – Burkburnett
			13	State Highway Spur 383 (Glendale Street)
			14	State Highway Spur 267 (East Third Street)
Oklahoma
''See Interstate 44 in Oklahoma''
Missouri
^[6] ^[7]
County	Location	Mile	#	Destinations	Notes
Newton		0	1	U.S. Route 166/400 – Baxter Springs, Kansas	I-44 misses Kansas by less than 200 yards
	Joplin		4	Route 43 – Joplin, Seneca	Route 43 joins eastbound and splits westbound
			6	BUS I-44/Route 43 /Route 86 – Joplin, Racine	Route 43 splits eastbound and joins westbound
			8A	U.S. 71 Business (Range Line Rd.)
			8B	U.S. 71 Business (Range Line Rd.)
Jasper			11A	U.S. 71 – Neosho, Fort Smith, AR	U.S. 71 joins eastbound and splits westbound
			11B	Route 249 – Joplin
			15	I-44 BUS/Missouri Route 66 – Duenweg	'Westbound only'
			18A	Route 59 – Diamond
			18B	U.S. 71 – Carthage, Kansas City	U.S. 71 splits eastbound and joins westbound
			22	County Road 100
			29	Route U – Sarcoxie, La Russell
Lawrence			33	Route 97 – Pierce City	'eastbound'
			33	County Road No. 1010	'westbound'
			38	Route 97 – Stotts City	Both directions of Route 97 signed westbound
			44	BUS I-44/Route H – Mount Vernon, Monett
			46	Route 39/265 – Mount Vernon, Aurora
			49	Route 174 – Chesapeake
			57	Route 96 – Avilla	'Westbound only'
			58	Route O/Z – Halltown
			61	Route K/PP
Greene			67	Route T/N – Bois D'Arc, Republic
			69	Route 360 – James River Freeway
			70	Route B/MM
	Springfield		72	BUS I-44 (Chestnut Expressway)/Route 266
			75	U.S. 160 (West Byp.) – Willard
			77	Route 13 (Kansas Expy.) – Bolivar
			80A	BUS I-44 (Glenstone Ave.)
			80B	Route H – Pleasant Hope
			82A	U.S. 65 – Branson
			82B	U.S. 65 – Sedalia
			84	Route 744
			88	Route 125 – Fair Grove, Strafford
Webster			96	Route B – Northview
			100	Route 38/W – Marshfield
			107	Sampson Road
Laclede			113	Route J/Y – Conway
			118	Route A/C – Phillipsburg
			123	County Rd.
	Lebanon		127	BUS I-44 – Lebanon
			129	Route 5/32/64 – Lebanon, Hartville
			130	BUS I-44/Route MM
			135	Route F – Sleeper
			140	Route T/N – Stoutland
Pulaski			145	Route 133/AB – Richland
			150	Route 7/P – Richland, Laquey
			153	Route 17 – Buckhorn
			156	BUS Loop I-44/Route H – Waynesville
			159	BUS Loop I-44 – St. Robert
			161	BUS Spur I-44/Route Y – Fort Leonard Wood
			163	Route 28 – Dixon
			169	Route J
Phelps			172	Route D – Jerome and Dixon
			176	Sugar Tree Rd.
			179	Route C/T – Doolittle, Newburg
	Rolla		184	U.S. 63 /BUS I-44 – Rolla	South U.S. 63 accessed via Business I-44
			185	Route E – Rolla
			186		U.S. 63 crosses here
			189	Route V
			195
Crawford			203	Route F/ZZ
			208
			210	Route UU
			214	Route H – Leasburg
			218	Route C/J/N – Bourbon
Franklin			225	Route 185 /D – Sullivan-Potosi-Washington County	Route 185 does not join I-44
			226
			230	Route JJ/W – Stanton
			239	Route 30/WW/AB – St. Clair
			240	Route 47 – St. Clair, Union
			242	Route AH
			247	U.S. 50 /Route AT/O – Union Jefferson City	U.S. 50 joins eastbound and splits westbound
			251		Route 100 does not join I-44
			253
		257	BUS I-44 – Pacific
St. Louis (county)			261	BUS I-44 - Allenton(Allenton-Six Flags Rd)
			264	Route 109, MO SR W, Eureka
			265	Williams Rd
			266	Lewis Rd
			269	Beaumont Antire Rd
			272	Route 141, Fenton, Valley Park
			274A	Bowles Ave
			274B	Mraz Lane
			275	N Highway Dr , Soccer Park Rd	Westbound only
			276A	I-270, Chicago
			276B	I-270, Memphis
			277A	Route 366 EAST , Watson Rd
			277B	U.S. Route 61, U.S. Route 67, U.S. Route 50 , Lindbergh Blvd	US 50 joins westbound, splits eastbound
			278	Big Bend Rd
			280	Elm Ave
			282	Murdoch Ave, Laclede Station Rd	Eastbound only
		283	Shrewsbury Ave	Westbound only
St. Louis (city)	St. Louis		284A	Jamieson Ave	Eastbound only
				284B	Arsenal St	Westbound only
				286	Hampton Ave
			287A	Kingshighway	Eastbound only
				287B	Vandeventer Ave.
				287	Vandeventer Ave-Kingshighway
				288	Grand Blvd
				289	Jefferson Ave
			290A	I-55 , Memphis	I-44 ends, merges with I-55 NORTH & I-70 EAST-Illinois
		290B	18th St
		290C	12th St, Gravois Ave	Westbound only

Auxiliary routes

★ Tulsa, Oklahoma - I-244, I-444 (unsigned)

★ St. Louis, Missouri - I-244 decommissioned in 1974, today signed as I-270.

References

1. Route Log - Main Routes of the Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways - Table 1
2. McNichol, Dan. ''The Roads that Built America: The Incredible Story of the U.S. Interstate System''. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., Inc, 2006.
3. Aerial photo
4. Froehlig, Adam. I-44 Oklahoma and Texas. ''Highway Heaven''. 31 December 2003. URL accessed 20 May 2006.
5. Stuve, Eric. Interstate 44 Texas. ''OKRoads''. URL accessed 20 May 2006.
6. Stuve, Eric. Interstate 44 Missouri. ''OKRoads''. 7 July 2003. Accessed 27 January 2007.
7. Froehlig, Adam. I-44 Missouri. ''Highway Heaven''. December 31 2003. URL accessed 27 January 2007.

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INTERSTATE 44