Interstate 81

Interstate 81 (abbreviated I-81) is an interstate highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at Interstate 40 near Dandridge, Tennessee; its northern terminus is on Wellesley Island (near Fishers Landing, New York) at the Canadian border where the Thousand Islands Bridge connects it to Ontario Highway 401, the main freeway leading from Windsor-Detroit and Toronto to Montréal.

I-81 was originally a "line on a map" Interstate. For many years, it existed more to provide a path through the Appalachians than to relieve congestion on any specific route.

However, I-81 has become a major route for interstate truck transportation in recent years. Trucking companies that have tired of fighting big-city congestion along Interstate 95 are now opting to use this less congested inland route.

Distances by state


Miles	km	state
75	121	Tennessee
323	520	Virginia
23	37	West Virginia
11	18	Maryland
234	377	Pennsylvania
158	254	New York

824	1326	Total

Major cities

Bolded cities are officially-designated control cities for signs.

Knoxville, Tennessee (via Interstate 40)
Bristol, Tennessee
Bristol, Virginia
Roanoke, Virginia
Harrisonburg, Virginia
Winchester, Virginia
Martinsburg, West Virginia
Hagerstown, Maryland
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Hazleton, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Binghamton, New York
Syracuse, New York
Watertown, New York
Canada

Intersections with other interstates

Interstate 40 near Dandridge, Tennessee, northeast of Knoxville
Interstate 26 between the Tri-Cities, Tennessee
Interstate 77 in Wytheville, Virginia. They stay joined for about 10 miles (16 km), and go in opposite directions.
Interstate 64 in Lexington, Virginia. They stay joined until Staunton, Virginia.
Interstate 66 in Middletown, Virginia
Interstate 70 in Hagerstown, Maryland
Interstate 76 in Middlesex, Pennsylvania (near Carlisle, Pennsylvania)
Interstate 83 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Interstate 78 in Bordnersville, Pennsylvania (near Jonestown, Pennsylvania)
Interstate 80 in Saint Johns, Pennsylvania (near Hazleton, Pennsylvania)
Interstate 476 in Dupont, Pennsylvania (near Pittston, Pennsylvania)
Interstate 84 and Interstate 380 in Dunmore, Pennsylvania (near Scranton, Pennsylvania)
Interstate 476 (again) in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania
Interstate 88 and future Interstate 86 in Binghamton, New York
Interstate 690 in downtown Syracuse, New York
Interstate 90 in North Syracuse, New York

Image:Carlb-hwy401-i81.jpg|Interstate 81 starts at the Canadian border and continues to near Knoxville, TN. Image:I-81 south at I-76.jpg|Interstate 81 intersects I-76 indirectly near Middlesex, PA, in this case, US 11 is used to connect I-81 and I-76.

Spur routes

There are three current child routes either providing access to, or bypassing, various cities along Interstate 81's route.

Current

Past

I-181 - Kingsport, Tennessee: Deleted in August, 2005 when Interstate 26 took over I-181's entire length.

Notes

Virginia has proposed to widen its entire portion of I-81 to a minimum of three or four lanes in each direction to accommodate increased truck traffic and to toll non-passenger vehicles. Some sections of the new Virginia I-81 may completely separate car and truck traffic. For more comprehensive information on Virginia's plans for the I-81 corridor, see this site. A similar propsal in Pennsylvania has also been studied.^*

I-81 runs together with Interstate 77 in Wytheville, Virginia for about 10 miles (16 km), but the two go in opposite directions, creating a wrong-way concurrency. Motorists traveling northbound on I-81 are also traveling southbound on I-77, though they are actually going east. Likewise, motorists traveling southbound on I-81 are also traveling northbound on I-77, though they are actually going west.

There was an eastern branch, called I-81E, that was a spur from Scranton to The Poconos in Pennsylvania. That highway is now I-380.

I-481 around Syracuse, New York was planned as I-281, and the first portion of the bypass to be completed was briefly signed as I-281. However, the route number was changed to avoid confusion with nearby New York State Route 281.

Around I-81's northern terminus at the Canadian border, two toll bridges over the St. Lawrence River connect it to unsigned Ontario Highway 137, a short link to Highway 401 in Ontario. The bridges are on opposite sides of the border (southern bridge is I-81, northern bridge is ON 137). The southern bridge is one of the few remaining 2-lane Interstate stretches left on the system. The border itself is marked by a 90-foot bridge across International Rift between Wellesley Island, New York and Hill Island, Ontario. 38 miles to the east lies Highway 416 leading to Ottawa.

I-81 parallels U.S. Route 11 for most of its path.

I-81 connects indirectly with I-76 (Pennsylvania Turnpike) in Carlisle, PA (Carlisle Interchange) in order to connect you need to go 1 mile on US Route 11. This section of U.S. 11 has been dubbed by locals as the "Miracle Mile".

An alternate, all-freeway connection to I-76 is via I-83 to I-283 (Harrisburg East Interchange).

External links

Thousand Islands Bridge System, showing the bridges and connections at the northern terminus
I-81.org, I-81 Corridor in Virginia by VDOT
Interstate 81 at Exitlists.com

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