INTERSTATE 59 IN LOUISIANA AND MISSISSIPPI

(Redirected from Interstate 59 (Mississippi))

In Louisiana, Interstate 59 has the shortage mileage of all the states the highway traverses. Beginning at the junction of Interstates 10 and 12 near Slidell, it bypasses Pearl River before entering crossing the West Pearl River and later the East Pearl River in Mississippi.
In the Magnolia State, the highway traverses mainly rural areas, but does go through or bypass Picayune, Hattiesburg, Laurel and Meridian.
Between the towns of Pearl River and Picayune, U.S. Route 11 overlaps I-59. The highway sees several more concurrencies: with U.S. Route 98 in Hattiesburg, U.S. Route 84 and Mississippi Highway 15 in Laurel, and U.S. Route 80, U.S. 11 and Mississippi Highway 19 in the Meridian area.
Also in the Meridian area, I-59 is joined by Interstate 20 and the two are conjoined until they reach Birmingham, Alabama. The exit numbers default to I-59's.

Contents

Major cities

Louisiana

Mississippi

The Laurel S-Curve

Exit list

References

External links

Major cities

'Bolded' cities are the officially-designated control cities:

Louisiana

★ 'New Orleans'

★
★ Signed from Hattiesburg southward.

★ 'Slidell'

★
★ It is a control city, but it isn't signed.

★ Pearl River

Mississippi

★ Picayune

★
★ Though not an official control city, it was once posted on a sign at exit 67A-B on I-59 south. Mississippi is one of a few states that practice placing smaller cities on signs as control cities.

★ 'Hattiesburg'

★ 'Laurel'

★ 'Meridian'

★ 'Tuscaloosa, Alabama'

★
★ Signed from Meridian northward.

The Laurel S-Curve

Just south of downtown Laurel between 16th and 4th avenues is a feature rarely seen on an Interstate highway. Planned in 1955 as a relocation of U.S. 11 and completed in 1961, Interstate 59 has a very sharp curve to the left, then to the right.
Approaching the S-shaped curve, the speed limit in the Laurel area drops from 70 miles per hour to 60 miles per hour (110 to 100 km/h) just outside of the city limits. Just north of exit 93 and just south of exit 97, respectively, the speed limit drops again to 50 mph (80 km/h). At the curves themselves, the speed limit drops to 40 mph (60 km/h), one of the lowest speed limits posted on an Interstate highway in the country. The reason for the low speed limit is the design of the highway, which includes no shoulders, tight entrance and exit ramps and the narrow overpasses.
Beginning in 1986, the Federal Highway Administration and the Mississippi Department of Transportation began an environmental assessment of the curve's replacement. An agreement was reached between the Housing Authority of Laurel, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, the FHWA and MDOT in 1992 that calls for the relocation of some of the city's public housing units and allowing for the relocation of I-59.^[2]
After a minor update earlier this decade, a $27 million contract was awarded to Tanner Construction on June 27, 2006. The project includes a 4,000-foot (1.21 km) wider overpass, shoulders and new entrance and exit ramps. Construction is scheduled to be completed by August 2009.^[3]

Exit list

Interstate 59's exits in Louisiana and Mississippi.[1][2][3][4]

State	Parish/County	Location	Exit #	Destinations	Notes
Southern terminus - 20 px 2 px 20 px I-10/I-12 - Slidell, Louisiana
Louisiana	Saint Tammany		1A	20 px I-12 west - Hammond	Southbound. Exit to reach Baton Rouge
			1B	20 px I-10 east - Bay St. Louis	Southbound.
			1C	20 px I-10 west - New Orleans	Southbound.
			3	20 px U.S. Route 11 south/LA 1090 south - Pearl River
		Begin 20 px 2 px 20 px concurrency
		Pearl River	5A	20 px 20 px LA 41 - Pearl River
			5B	Honey Island Swamp	No outlet
			11	Pearl River Turnaround	No outlet
		20 px 2 px 20 px crosses the West Pearl River
Saint Tammany Parish, Louisiana- Pearl River County, Mississippi border		20 px 2 px 20 px crosses the East Pearl River
Mississippi	Pearl River		1	20 px U.S. 11 north/MS 607 south - Nicholson, NASA-John C. Stennis Space Center
		End 20 px 2 px 20 px concurrency
		Picayune	4	20 px MS 43 south - South Picayune, Kiln	MS 43 joins northbound and exits southbound.
			6	20 px MS 43 north - North Picayune	MS 43 leaves northbound and joins southbound.
			10	Carreire
			15	McNeill
			19	Millard
			27	20 px MS 53 - Necaise, Poplarville
			29	20 px MS 26 - Wiggins, Poplarville
			35	Hillsdale Road
			41	20 px MS 13 - Lumberton
	Lamar	Purvis	51	MS 589 - Purvis
	Forrest		59	20 px U.S. Route 98 east - Lucedale, Mobile
		Begin 20 px 2 px 20 px concurrency
		Hattiesburg	60	20 px U.S. 11 - South Hattiesburg
	Lamar		65	20 px U.S. 98 west (Hardy Street) - Columbia	Southbound
			65A	Hardy Street	Northbound
			65B	20 px U.S. 98 west - Columbia	Northbound
			End 20 px 2 px 20 px concurrency
	Forrest		67A	20 px 2 px 20 px U.S. Route 49 south/MS 42 east - Hattiesburg
			67B	20 px 2 px 20 px U.S. 49 north/MS 42 west - Jackson
		Petal	69	Evelyn Gandy Parkway, Petal
			73	Monroe Road
	Jones		76	Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport
			78	Sanford Road
			80	Moselle
			85	MS 590 - Ellisville, (Mississippi) State School
		Ellisville	88	20 px MS 28/MS 588 - Ellisville	Exit to reach Jones County Junior College.
			90	20 px U.S. 11 (Ellisville Boulevard)
		Laurel	93	20 px U.S. 11 - South Laurel
			95A	South 16th Avenue
			95B	20 px 2 px 20 px U.S. Route 84 west/MS 15 north (N. 16th Avenue)	U.S. 84 and MS 15 joins northbound and exits southbound.
			95C	Beacon Street	Location of the "Laurel Curve" and 40 mph speed limit. The curve is in the process of being straightened.
			96A	4th Avenue, Masonite Road
			96B	20 px MS 15 south (Cook Avenue)	Exit to reach Richton.
			97	20 px U.S. 84 east - Waynesboro - (Chantilly Street)	U.S. 84 leaves northbound and joins southbound.
			99	20 px U.S. 11 - North Laurel
			104	Sharon, Sandersville
	Jasper	Heidelburg	113	MS 528 - Heidelburg, Bay Springs
			118	Vossburg, Paulding
	Clarke		126	20 px MS 18 - Pachuta, Quitman
			134	MS 513 - South Enterprise, Rose Hill
			137	North Enterprise, Stonewall
	Lauderdale		142	Savoy
			149	20 px 2 px 20 px I-20 west/U.S. Route 80 west - Jackson	U.S. 80 is unsigned.
		Begin concurrency
		Meridian	150	20 px 2 px 20 px U.S. 11 south/MS 19 north - Philadelphia, Meridian Airport
			Begin concurrency
			151	Valley Road, 49th Avenue
			152	29th Avenue, Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
			153	25 px MS 145 south (22nd Avenue) - Downtown Meridian	Exit to access Roebuck Drive.
			154A	20 px MS 19 south - Butler, AL
			154B	20 px 2 px 20 px 2 px 20 px U.S. 11 north/U.S. 80 east/MS 39 north - DeKalb
			154	20 px 2 px 20 px 2 px 20 px 2 px 20 px U.S. 11 north/U.S. 80 east/MS 19 south/MS 39 north - DeKalb, Butler, AL
			End concurrency
			157A	20 px U.S. Route 45 south - Quitman
			157B	20 px U.S. 45 north - Macon
			160	Russell
			165	Toomsumba
			169	20 px 2 px 20 px U.S. 11/U.S. 80 - Kewanee	U.S. 11 and U.S. 80 are not marked on exit signs.
Lauderdale County, Mississippi-Sumter County, Alabama border 20 px 2 px 20 px continues northeastward into Alabama

References

1. Federal Highway Administration Route Log and Finder List, Main Routes of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways as of October 31, 2002
2. Mississippi Department of Transportation. S-CURVE PROJECT HISTORY, six pages, includes map of project area with changes. MDOT Web site. Accessed April 23, 2007.
3. Mississippi Department of Transportation. Project Reports. Interstate 59 S-Curve Relocation Project. Online. Accessed April 24, 2007.

External links

★ Froehlig, Adam. "Interstate 59 Exit Guide. From: Interstate 10/12 Slidell, Louisiana. To: Louisiana-Mississippi State Line"

★ Froehlig. "Interstate 59 Exit Guide. From: Louisiana-Mississippi State Line to US 49 Hattiesburg, Mississippi"

★ Froehlig. "Interstate 59 Exit Guide. From: US 49 Hattiesburg, Mississippi to Interstate 20 West Meridian, Mississippi"

★ Froehlig. Interstate 20/59 Exit Guide. From Junction I-20/I-59 Meridian to Mississippi-Alabama Line"