Interstate 35 - Definition and Overview

Interstate 35 is an interstate highway in the central United States. Like other interstates, it is commonly referred to as I-35. Its odd number indicates that it is primarily a north-south highway. It stretches from Laredo, Texas at the Mexico border to Duluth, Minnesota at Minnesota State Highway 61 (London Road). Many interstates used to be divided into north/south or east/west branches in the past, but I-35 is the only one that still has such divisions. In two stretches, the highway splits into Interstate 35E (Saint Paul & Dallas) and Interstate 35W (Minneapolis & Fort Worth).

Length

Major cities along the route

• Laredo, Texas
• San Antonio, Texas
• Austin, Texas
• Dallas, Texas (I-35E)
• Fort Worth, Texas (I-35W)
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Wichita, Kansas
• Kansas City, Missouri
• Des Moines, Iowa
• Minneapolis, Minnesota (I-35W)
• Saint Paul, Minnesota (I-35E)
• Duluth, Minnesota

Intersections with other Interstates (from South to North)

• Interstate 10 in San Antonio, Texas
• Interstate 37 in San Antonio, Texas
• Interstate 35 splits into I-35E and I-35W in Hillsboro, Texas
• Interstate 20 in Dallas and in Fort Worth, Texas
• Interstate 30 in Dallas and in Fort Worth, Texas
• Interstate 45 in Dallas, Texas (via I-30 in the downtown Mixmaster)
• I-35E and I-35W rejoin in Denton, Texas
• Interstate 40 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Interstate 44 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
• Interstate 70 in Kansas City, Missouri
• Interstate 29 in Kansas City, Missouri
• Interstate 80 in Des Moines, Iowa
• Interstate 90 in Albert Lea, Minnesota
• Interstate 35 splits into I-35E and I-35W in Burnsville, Minnesota
• Interstate 94 in Minneapolis and in Saint Paul, Minnesota
• I-35E and I-35W rejoin in Forest Lake, Minnesota

Spur routes

• Dallas, Texas - I-635
• Oklahoma City, Oklahoma - I-235
• Wichita, Kansas - I-235
• Spur to Wichita, Kansas and Salina, Kansas - I-135 (see below)
• Spur to Topeka, Kansas - I-335 (part of the Kansas Turnpike)
• Kansas City, Missouri - I-435, I-635
• Des Moines, Iowa - I-235
• Duluth, Minnesota - I-535

While numbered as loop routes for I-94, routes I-494 and I-694 in Minneapolis/St. Paul serve as loops for I-35 as well.

Notes

• When I-35 ends at Laredo, Texas, Mexico Highway 85 begins at Nuevo Laredo, on the other side of the Rio Grande.

• In Austin, Texas, elevated express lanes were constructed on either side of the original freeway. Prior to this expansion, this section included an at-grade railroad crossing, which is extremely unusual for a freeway.

• I-35 splits up into I-35W and I-35E in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas area. The official mile markers follow I-35E through Dallas -- I-35W carries its own milage from Hillsboro to Denton, as though it were an x35 loop.

• I-135, which branches off in Wichita, Kansas, is 95 miles (153 km) long. It carried the designation I-35W until the 1980s, despite never rejoining the main line of I-35. It terminates in Salina, Kansas at the intersection with Interstate 70 (though the controlled-access freeway continues north as US 81).

• In Kansas, all of I-335 and I-35 between Emporia and the Oklahoma border are toll roads (the Kansas Turnpike).

• At Medford, Minnesota, the on/off ramps lead to roundabouts rather than standard cross intersections. This is the first site in the state linked to a major highway to use roundabouts.

• Interstate 335 was planned as an additional bypass of the Twin Cities; that road was never built.

• I-35 splits again into I-35W and I-35E in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota area. At one sharp turn in I-35W near the junction with I-94, it is advised to slow to 35 mi/h (56 km/h) (although many drivers are able to maintain the speed limit of 55 mi/h (88 km/h)). Additionally, it is not possible to go from westbound I-94 to northbound I-35W or from southbound I-35W to eastbound I-94 without resorting to surface streets.

• I-35 is part of the Avenue of the Saints between Clear Lake, Iowa, and St. Paul. A four-lane link has been completed between Clear Lake and Interstate 380 in Waterloo, Iowa.

External links

• Kansas City Star's "I-35 Odyssey, A Summer Travel Series" (http://www.kcstar.com/fyi/travel/i35/i35.htm)
• Highway History - A Look at the History of the Federal Highway Administration (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/history.htm)