Interstate 59 in Mississippi

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Interstate 59 Main route of the Interstate Highway System
Length:	182.716 mi[1] (294 km)
Formed:	1957 (received official route number; MS section proposed as early as 1939)
South end:	I-59 at Louisiana state line
Major junctions:	US 98 in Hattiesburg, MS US 49 in Hattiesburg US 84/MS 15 in Laurel, MS I-20/US 80 near Meridian, MS US 45 in Meridian, MS
North end:	I-59/I-20 at the Alabama line

In the U.S. state of Mississippi, Interstate 59 traverses mainly rural areas, but does go through or bypass Picayune, Hattiesburg, Laurel and Meridian.

Between the towns of Pearl River and Picayune, U.S. Route 11 overlaps I-59. The highway sees several more concurrencies: with U.S. Route 98 in Hattiesburg, U.S. Route 84 and Mississippi Highway 15 in Laurel, and U.S. Route 80, U.S. 11 and Mississippi Highway 19 in the Meridian area.

Also in the Meridian area, I-59 is joined by Interstate 20 and the two are conjoined until they reach Birmingham, Alabama. The exit numbers default to I-59's.

Contents 1 Major cities 2 The Laurel S-Curve 3 Exit list 4 References

[edit] Major cities

Bolded cities are the officially-designated control cities:

• Picayune
  • Though not an official control city, it was once posted on a sign at exit 67A-B on I-59 south. Mississippi is one of a few states that practice placing smaller cities on signs as control cities.
• Hattiesburg
• Laurel
• Meridian
• Tuscaloosa, Alabama
  • Signed from Meridian northward.

[edit] The Laurel S-Curve

Just south of downtown Laurel between 16th and 4th avenues is a feature rarely seen on an Interstate highway. Planned in 1955 as a relocation of U.S. Route 11 and completed in 1961, Interstate 59 has a very sharp curve to the left, then to the right.

Approaching the S-shaped curve, the speed limit in the Laurel area drops from 70 miles per hour to 60 miles per hour (110 to 100 km/h) just outside of the city limits. Just north of exit 93 and just south of exit 97, respectively, the speed limit drops again to 50 mph (80 km/h). At the curves themselves, the speed limit drops to 40 mph (60 km/h), one of the lowest speed limits posted on an Interstate highway in the country. The reason for the low speed limit is the design of the highway, which includes no shoulders, tight entrance and exit ramps and the narrow overpasses.

Beginning in 1986, the Federal Highway Administration and the Mississippi Department of Transportation began an environmental assessment of the curve's replacement. An agreement was reached between the Housing Authority of Laurel, the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, the FHWA and MDOT in 1992 that calls for the relocation of some of the city's public housing units and allowing for the relocation of I-59.^[2]

After a minor update earlier this decade, a $27 million contract was awarded to Tanner Construction on June 27, 2006. The project includes a 4,000-foot (1.21 km) wider overpass, shoulders and new entrance and exit ramps. Construction is scheduled to be completed by August 2009.^[3]

[edit] Exit list

County	Location	#	Destinations	Notes
Pearl River		1	US 11 north / MS 607 south – Nicholson, NASA-John C. Stennis Space Center
	End concurrency
	Picayune	4	MS 43 south – South Picayune, Kiln	MS 43 joins northbound and exits southbound.
		6	MS 43 – North Picayune	MS 43 leaves northbound and joins southbound.
		10	Carreire
		15	McNeill
		19	Millard
		27	MS 53 – Necaise, Poplarville
		29	MS 26 – Wiggins, Poplarville
		35	Hillsdale Road
		41	MS 13 – Lumberton
Lamar	Purvis	51	MS 589 – Purvis
Forrest		59	US 98 east – Lucedale, Mobile
	Begin concurrency
	Hattiesburg	60	US 11 south – South Hattiesburg
Lamar		65	US 98 west / Hardy Street – Columbia
		End concurrency
Forrest		67A	US 49 south – Hattiesburg
		67B	US 49 north / MS 42 west – Jackson
	Petal	69	MS 42 east / Evelyn Gandy Parkway – Petal
		73	Monroe Road
Jones		76	Hattiesburg-Laurel Regional Airport
		78	Sanford Road
		80	Moselle
		85	MS 590 – Ellisville, State School
	Ellisville	88	MS 28 / MS 588 – Ellisville	Exit to reach Jones County Junior College.
		90	US 11 (Ellisville Boulevard)
	Laurel	93	US 11 – South Laurel
		95A	South 16th Avenue
		95B	US 84 west / MS 15 west (N. 16th Avenue)	U.S. 84 and MS 15 joins northbound and exits southbound.
		95C	Beacon Street	Location of the "Laurel Curve" and 40 mph speed limit. The curve is in the process of being straightened.
		96A	4th Avenue, Masonite Road
		96B	MS 15 south (Cook Avenue)	Exit to reach Richton.
		97	US 84 east (Chantilly Street) – Waynesboro	U.S. 84 leaves northbound and joins southbound.
		99	US 11 – North Laurel
		104	Sharon, Sandersville
Jasper	Heidelburg	113	MS 528 – Heidelburg, Bay Springs
		118	Vossburg, Paulding
Clarke		126	MS 18 – Pachuta, Quitman
		134	MS 513 – South Enterprise, Rose Hill
		137	North Enterprise, Stonewall
Lauderdale		142	Savoy
		149	I-20 west / US 80 west – Jackson	U.S. 80 is unsigned.
	Begin concurrency
	Meridian	150	US 11 south / MS 19 north – Philadelphia, Meridian Airport
		Begin concurrency
		151	Valley Road, 49th Avenue
		152	29th Avenue, Martin Luther King Jr. Drive
		153	MS 145 south (22nd Avenue) – Downtown Meridian	Exit to access Roebuck Drive.
		154A	MS 19 south – Butler, AL
		154B	US 11 north / US 80 east / MS 39 north – DeKalb
		End concurrency
		157A	US 45 south – Quitman
		157B	US 45 north – Macon
		160	Russell
		165	Toomsumba
		169	US 11 / US 80 – Kewanee	U.S. 11 and U.S. 80 are not marked on exit signs.
Lauderdale County, Mississippi-Sumter County, Alabama border continues northeastward into Alabama

[edit] References

Browse numbered routes
< MS 57	MS		US 61 >

Interstate 59
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