Interstate-16 Extension

Start: Savannah, GA – End: Macon, GA
(Extension Phase) Start: Macon, Ga – End: Lubbock, TX




Est. Length: TBD

Benefits: Homeland Security, Economic Growth, Population Centers, Environmental/Fuel, Evacuation Route

Connecting: GA: Savannah, Macon/Warner Robins, Columbus. AL: Opelika/Auburn, Montgomery, Tuscaloosa. MS: Columbus, Starkville, Greenville. AR: El Dorado, Texarkana. OK: Durant, Ardmore. TX: Paris, Wichita Falls, Guthrie, Lubbock.

Intersections: I-95, Savannah, GA; I-75, Macon, GA; I-85, Auburn/Opelika, AL, I-65, Montgomery, AL; I-20/59 Birmingham/Tuscaloosa, AL; I-55, Winona, MS; I-30, Texarkana, AR; I-35 Ardmore, OK; I-44, Wichita Falls, TX.

Description: Completed in 1968, Interstate-16 runs between Savannah and Macon, Georgia. An extension of I-16, Corridor 6, is presently included in ISTEA/NHS/TEA-21 as the sixth highest priority corridor. Corridor 6 contemplates an east-west route between Macon, Georgia and Meridian, Mississippi using portions of U.S. 80.

A similar east-west route is considered with the proposed I-14. This Project suggests the western extension for I-16 co-route with I-14 between Warner Robins, Georgia and west of Montgomery (Selma), Alabama. I-16 and 14 would be co-signed for that distance to Montgomery, as well as with an I-85 extension west of Montgomery to about Selma (I-85 is suggested to split south to Biloxi). West of Montgomery, I-14 will split and continue east to Meridian while I-16 will continue north-northeast toward Tuscaloosa to Columbus, Mississippi.

The suggested/proposed routes for both I-16 and I-14 would create southern loop Interstate highways for metro-Macon, Georgia, Columbus, Georgia and Montgomery, Alabama. Interstate 16 in Macon, and 85 in Montgomery, as well as the limited-access segment of U.S. 80 in Columbus are heavily traveled and would benefit from an alternate metro route to avoid mixing inter- and intra-metro traffic. These loop segments, along with the suggested I-22 Extension, create wide-loop interstates around these metro areas, however linking small towns around the central business districts is given serious consideration.

An alternate proposal for both I-16 and I-14 suggests co-routing with I-85 to about Opelika/Auburn, Alabama. While this proposal has some merit, I-85 between Montgomery and Atlanta, Georgia is a heavily traveled Interstate and imposing the additional east-west traffic would most certainly require a widening project to and through downtown Montgomery which would be costly and disruptive to well established neighborhoods.

From western Alabama, I-16 will route across north Mississippi, south Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas ultimately terminating at Lubbock. While I-14’s route is through the southern regions of the Southern states, and the suggested I-30 Extension is through the northern sections of Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi, I-16 is the Interstate binding the middle portions of these states. Once complete, these Interstates will be roughly the same distance apart as Interstates 55, 65, 75 and 85 as north-south routes.

That portion of current I-16 between Macon and the new I-16 direction west at Warner Robins would be designated as I-116 spur.

I-16’s existing termination at Savannah, Georgia will provide an important east-west link with Georgia’s port coast to the Southwestern states.