Interstate 69

Interstate 69 (abbreviated I-69 or in Texas IH-69) is an interstate highway in the Midwestern United States. It currently runs from Indianapolis, Indiana at Interstate 465 to the U.S. side of the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Michigan, at the Canadian border, where it continues as Highway 402 in Ontario. It is proposed that it should be extended to form a major new highway from the Mexican border in Texas to the Canadian border in Michigan (see Notes section below).

Length

Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs.

Between Lansing, Michigan and Port Huron, Michigan I-69 is signed as an east-west route.

Temporary Interstate 69 or TEMP I-69 between Lansing and Flint, Michigan was an expressway with at-grade intersections that was originally designated as Michigan State Highway 78. This segment of highway is now a fully controlled-access freeway designated as I-69.

In Flint, I-69 is also known as the Chevrolet-Buick Freeway, as a tribute to the Flint automotive industry.

A 30 mile stretch of I-69 between Flint and Perry, Michigan is designated as the Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway.

The original southern termination point of I-69 was to have been at the I-65/I-70 interchange (known locally as the "spaghetti bowl") near 13th and College Avenue in Indianapolis, Indiana. In fact, the grading and overpasses for this connection's ramps can still be seen at that location. Later, the State of Indiana changed its mind and sought to designate the freeway connecting the spaghetti bowl to the I-69/I-465 interchange (approximately 11 miles or 18 km) as "I-169". Due to a political fight over the inner-city portions of I-70 and I-65, it was decided to scrap I-169. In its place, the state widened I-70 from eight to 10 lanes and reworked its eastside interchange with I-465 to handle the additional traffic loads from the northeastern suburbs.

In 1998, Congress approved an extension of I-69 to the south and west from Indianapolis to the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas. Should the construction be completed, it will become only the second Interstate to reach from Mexico to Canada (the only one currently existing is Interstate 5).

From the Texas-Mexico border, I-69 will follow a path into Houston, then turn northward through Cleveland, Shepherd, Livingston, Lufkin, and Nacogdoches. It will go to the northeast, passing through Carthage, and then enter Louisiana towards Stonewall, where it will meet I-49 (which will be extended northward from its current terminus in Shreveport). It will also cross I-20 near Haughton, Louisiana.

From the Shreveport area, I-69 will trek to Memphis via the towns of Haynesville, Louisiana; El Dorado, Hampton, Warren, Monticello, McGehee, and Arkansas City, Arkansas; and Benoit, Clarksdale, Rich and Robinsonville, Mississippi (via US 61); there could be a spur into Greenville, Mississippi, which would be called I-169.

I-69 will follow US 61 and US 51 through the Memphis area. While in the area, it will overlap with I-55, I-240 and I-40. Also, construction has begun on a new bypass route, called I-269.

Finally, I-69 will continue through Bloomington its original southern terminus in Indianapolis via I-465 and various Indiana state routes. The specific route has not yet been settled and is a matter of great contention in Indiana politics. On June 4, 2005, the Indiana State Capitol was vandalized by a group opposed to the expansion of I-69. Weeks later, the I-69 expansion office in Bloomington was vandalized.

I-69 could stop in Texas at any of the following cities in the Mexican border region: in Laredo (via US 59), McAllen (via US 281), or Brownsville (via US 77). Since no one knows exactly where it will end, suffixes have been applied to it: I-69A, I-69C and I-69E. However, because federal law prohibits suffixed Interstate numbers (except for I-35 in Texas and Minnesota), two of the routes would most likely be made spurs of I-69. Two of the three potential routes meet at Victoria, Texas, where I-69 will continue into Houston via US 59.