Approaching an exit for I-65 in downtown Birmingham
In the state of Alabama, I-65 passes through or near four of the state's major metropolitan areas: Mobile, Montgomery, Birmingham, and Huntsville. I-65 begins its path northward in Mobile at its junction with I-10. From I-10, I-65 runs west of downtown Mobile and through the northern suburbs of the city before turning northeasterly towards Montgomery. In Montgomery, I-65 connects with the southern terminus of I-85. In the Birmingham suburbs, I-65 has an interchange with I-459 and another interchange in the city at I-20/I-59. North of downtown, I-22 branches off I-65 toward Memphis. From Birmingham, I-65 continues north, crossing the Tennessee River near Decatur. A few miles north of the river, it intersects I-565, a short spur route which provides access to Huntsville. It then continues northward out of the Tennessee Valley to the state of Tennessee toward Nashville.
I-65 enters Tennessee from the south near the town of Ardmore and passes through mostly rural territory for 65 miles (105 km). It then passes Lewisburg. Then it passes close to Columbia and crosses Saturn Parkway, which brings travelers to the town of Spring Hill. I-65 then continues on to reach I-840 and progresses until it intersects State Route 96 (SR 96) at Franklin. Then the highway goes through Brentwood, and enters Nashville, where it first interchanges with I-440. It then has brief concurrences with I-40 and I-24 near downtown Nashville. The freeway then meets State Route 155 (SR 155, Briley Parkway), and after passing through Madison, meets SR 386 (Vietnam Veterans Boulevard) in Goodlettsville. The freeway then passes through Millersville and White House, and then, close to Portland, crosses into Kentucky.
The widest stretch of I-65 in its entirety is in Louisville at Kentucky Route 1065 (KY 1065, Outer Loop), where the main line is 14 lanes wide. The highway crosses the Ohio River into Indiana on a toll bridge. The southbound side is called the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge (southbound) and the northbound side is called the Abraham Lincoln Bridge. The latter bridge opened in October 2016 as part of the Ohio River Bridges Project. Prior to the project, the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge (completed in 1963) carried traffic in both directions. The project also included reconstruction of the I-65/I-64/I-71 convergence interchange just south of the Kennedy Bridge, as well as renovating the older span to carry six lanes of southbound traffic. Additionally, a second six-lane cable-stayed bridge 12 miles (19 km) upstream on the Ohio River, the Lewis and Clark Bridge, was built as part of the project, opening in December 2016 to complete the I-265 loop around Louisville.
At one time, the 65-mile (105 km) stretch of I-65 from Louisville to Elizabethtown was a toll road, called the Kentucky Turnpike. The bonds that financed the road have been paid off, and tolls are no longer collected. All signs of the former turnpike have been removed.
On November 15, 2006, the stretch of I-65 from Bowling Green to Louisville was renamed the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Expressway.
On July 15, 2007, Kentucky highway officials raised the speed limits on most Interstate and state parkway highways to 70 mph (110 km/h). Prior to that, Kentucky was the only state along I-65 that had a maximum speed limit of 65 mph (105 km/h).
I-65 enters Indiana at Jeffersonville and Clarksville. Miles 0–9 were rebuilt, widened, and realigned from north of Sellersburg to the Ohio River during 2008–2010, giving great traffic relief to the fast-growing Indiana suburbs of Louisville. Over 300,000 of the 1.5 million people in Louisville's CMSA live in its Indiana counties.
A section of I-65 in Downtown Indianapolis runs concurrently with I-70. The junctions are often referred to as the "North Split" and the "South Split", forming a section of Interstate locally known as the "Inner Loop" or "The Spaghetti Bowl" due to the visual complexity of the intersecting ramps and overpasses.
In mid-March 2007, a six-mile (9.7 km) section of I-70 from the North Split to I-465 east of downtown was restricted to automobiles only for the "Super 70" project, a massive rebuild and expansion of that freeway.[4] Trucks over 13 short tons (12 t) were forced to divert through I-65 if coming from the north and use the circular I-465 to the south to reconnect to I-70 eastbound. Westbound traffic from I-70 was required to loop north or south along I-465 to get to I-65 or I-70. The Super 70 project was completed in November 2007.
In mid-2003, the portion of I-65 that runs concurrently with I-70 was closed to all traffic due to the "HyperFix" project. During that time, a new concrete surface was installed and the overpasses were upgraded.
In 1999, the 25-mile (40 km) segment of I-65 between the two I-465 interchanges was renamed the Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds Highway.
North of Lafayette near Brookston, the road passes through the Meadow Lake Wind Farm for several miles, with the turbines and standards spaced out in order to avoid a collapse onto the highway. The Fowler Ridge Wind Farm is also visible on both sides of the highway.
From its crossing into Lake County over the Kankakee River to its northern terminus, the highway is known as the Casimir Pulaski Memorial Highway.
Prior to 2004, the northern terminus of I-65 was only 0.125 miles (0.201 km) north of I-90 (Indiana Toll Road). Traffic going from I-90 to I-65 had to stop at a traffic signal to make a left turn. Traffic from I-65 to I-90 bypassed the traffic signal via an isolated right-turn lane. In 2004, the interchange was fully grade-separated, so it is now one interchange involving I-65, I-90, US 12, and US 20, thereby eliminating a connection gap in the Interstate Highway System.
History
The first section of Interstate 65 reused the Kentucky Turnpike, a toll road that opened on August 1, 1956.[5] The first section of Interstate Highway in Tennessee constructed under the authorization of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 was a short section of I-65 which opened on November 15, 1958.[6][7] The first section of Interstate Highway to be completed in Alabama was also a section of I-65, which opened on December 10, 1959.[8] The first section of I-65 in Indiana was opened on September 14, 1960.[9][10] Kentucky was the first state to complete its portion of I-65, with the last stretch opening on June 22, 1970.[11] The final section in Tennessee opened on October 26, 1973.[12][13] The last section in Indiana, part of the concurrent section with I-70 in Indianapolis, opened on October 15, 1976.[14][15] I-65 was not officially completed until December 19, 1985, when a section north of Birmingham opened, replacing a four-lane stretch of US 31 that had been designated as part of I-65 but did not meet Interstate Highway standards.[16]
I-265, the beltway around the Louisville area in Kentucky and Indiana. The highway is called the Gene Snyder freeway in Kentucky, and the Lee H. Hamilton Highway in Indiana between I-65 and the Lewis and Clark Bridge connecting Indiana and Kentucky on the eastern side of Louisville..
^"Inner loop completed". Daily Journal. Franklin, Indiana. United Press International. October 16, 1976. p. 16. Retrieved December 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
I-10 in Mobile, AL
US 12 / US 20 in Gary, IN
