Interstate 26

Interstate 26 Main route of the Interstate Highway System
Length:	349 mi[1] (561.66 km)
West end:	US-11W / US-23 / SR-1 / SR-137 in Kingsport, TN
Major junctions:	I-81 in Kingsport, TN I-40 in Asheville, NC US 25 near Hendersonville, NC US 74 in Columbus, NC I-85 near Spartanburg, SC I-385 near Laurens, SC I-20 near Columbia, SC I-77 near Columbia, SC I-95 near Rosinville SC
East end:	US 17 in Charleston, SC

Interstate 26 (I-26) is a nominally east-west (but physically more northwest-southeast) main route of the Interstate Highway System in the Southeastern United States. I-26 runs from the junction of U.S. Route 11W and U.S. Route 23 in Kingsport, Tennessee, generally southeastward to U.S. Route 17 in Charleston, South Carolina.^[2] The portion from Mars Hill, North Carolina, east (compass south) to Interstate 240 in Asheville, North Carolina, has signs indicating FUTURE I-26 because the highway does not yet meet all of the Interstate Highway standards. A short realignment as an improvement in the expressway is also planned in Asheville.

Prior to August 5, 2003, the highway's northwestern terminus was at Interstate 40 on the southwestern side of Asheville, where the highway continued on to make a loop around downtown as Interstate 240. In 2003, it was decided to extend the expressway northwest of Asheville into Tennessee. Next, the final section of the freeway in North Carolina, from Mars Hill north to the Tennessee state line, replaced the old two-lane highway U.S. Route-23. I-26 was extended into Tennessee via the US 23 freeway, taking over approximately one-half of the former Interstate 181 from U.S. Route 321 in Johnson City, to the Interstate 81 interchange southeast of Kingsport, Tennessee. The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) initially ruled against an extension of Interstate 26 (as the number) along the remainder of I-181 to Kingsport, since that would give a main route Interstate Highway (I-26) a so-called "stub end", not connecting to any other Interstate highway, to an international border, or to a seacoast. The numerical extension was in 2005 enacted by the effect of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users, signed into law on August 10, 2005. Thus, the I-26 designation extends to Kingsport, and it ends about to two miles (three kilometers) south of the Virginia state line, while the freeway itself continues to the state line as US 23.

Northwards from Kingsport, US-23 continues north to Portsmouth, Ohio, as the Corridor B of the Appalachian Development Highway System, and beyond to Columbus, as the Corridor C. In conjunction with the Columbus-Toledo, Ohio corridor formed by Interstate 75, U.S. 23, and State Route 15, I-26 forms part of a mostly high-speed four-or-more-lane highway from the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Coast at Charleston, South Carolina. There are no plans for further official Interstate 26 extensions into Virginia, Kentucky, or beyond.

Route description

I-26 is a diagonal Interstate Highway, which runs northwest/southeast. Most of the other highway routes in this area are odd-numbered and run northeast/southwest. The extension past Asheville is mostly north-south. Where I-26 crosses the French Broad River in Asheville at the Smoky Park Bridge, the highway runs in opposite directions from its designations. (I-26 West actually goes east. I-26 is coterminous with I-240, so that I-240 East and I-26 West are the same route.) When the extension was made in 2003, the exit numbers in North Carolina were increased by 31 to reflect the new mileage. The part that it shares with I-240 has not had its numbers changed yet, although most of the road signs now indicate I-26 instead of I-240.

I-26 has signs with an extra FUTURE sign above (and in the same style as) the EAST and WEST signs from Asheville north to Mars Hill, North Carolina, because the older U.S. Route 23 freeway does not yet meet all of the Interstate Highway standards. The road shoulders remain substandard or nonexistent along short sections of the route, and also, a rebuilding is planned in Asheville to avoid some tight interchanges.

The exit numbers in Tennessee were formerly numbered "backwards" - increasing from "east" (physically south) to "west" (physically north), because this highway was formerly the Interstate 181 & U.S. Route 23, two north/south roads. Although this is consistent with the south-to-north numbering that drivers expect, this exit numbering was changed to be consistent with the rest of the east-to-west-numbered highway in March 2007 on all 284 signs along the I-26 route. The remaining I-181 signs north of I-81 were also replaced with I-26 signs at that time. The old exit numbers will be displayed on signs along with the new ones until March 2009.

South I-26 in South Carolina, about 27 miles beyond the I-385 interchange (to the north).

Beginning in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, I-26 travels northwestwardly over flat plains with little urbanization past North Charleston. After the junction with Interstate 95 just inside of Orangeburg County, the terrain becomes somewhat hilly. Despite the rural surroundings, this section of I-26 is often quite crowded, since this highway is frequently heavily-traveled, and there are only two lanes in each direction. Orangeburg is the first major stop outside Charleston with several exits bearing this name. Between Orangeburg and the junction with Interstate 77 just outside of Cayce the highwat goes up and down a few very long hills averaging about 100 feet (30 m) or 30 meters high. Beyond Interstate 77 is the Columbia, S.C metropolitan area to which I-26 offers lodging, dining, and shopping possibilities. This metropolitan area ends mostly after exit 101, past which the terrain becomes somewhat hilly once again. The next city is Spartanburg, where I-26 has a junction with the Interstate 85 corridor, which has a significant amount of international business and manufacturing. The 9-mile (14 km) section of I-26 from Interstate 126 in Columbia to US-176 at Exit 97 was the first section of this Interstate Highway to open up to traffic (on Sept. 7, 1960).

I-26 in Polk County, NC

About 20 miles (32 km) after Spartanburg one reaches the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. After crossing the border into Polk County, North Carolina, I-26 intersects with U.S. Route 74, a limited-access freeway near Columbus, N.C., and it heads up a 6% grade for the next three miles through the Howard Gap. Then it passes over the highest bridge in North Carolina, the Peter Guice Memorial Bridge, 225 feet (69 m) above Green River between Saluda and Flat Rock in Henderson County, North Carolina, and it crosses the Eastern Continental Divide at an elevation of 2,130 feet (650 m), having climbed from an elevation of around 1,100 feet (340 m) at the U.S. 74 interchange. The land flattens substantially after entering the French Broad River drainage basin from Flat Rock, N.C. to Hendersonville, N.C., Fletcher, N.C., and Arden, N.C..

I-26 has major interchanges with Interstate 40 in Asheville, North Carolina (before going over the Appalachians) and with Interstate 81 in the Tri-Cities, Tennessee area. Interstate 26 ends at U.S. Route 23 in Kingsport, Tennessee.

Exit list

Tennessee

County	Location	Mile	Exit #		Destinations	Notes
			Old	New
Sullivan	Kingsport				US 23 north – Gate City	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
			57		SR-36 south (Lynn Garden Drive)	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
			55	1	US-11W (West Stone Drive, SR-1)	West end of I-26; south end of SR-137
		Bridge over the Holston River
			52	3	Meadowview Parkway
			51	4	SR-93 (Wilcox Drive, SR-126)	Signed as exits 4A (south) and 4B (north) eastbound
			49	6	SR-347 (Rock Springs Road)
			46	8	I-81 – Knoxville, Bristol	Signed as exits 8A (south) and 8B (north)
			45	10	Eastern Star Road
Washington	Johnson City		42	13	SR-75 (Suncrest Drive, Bobby Hicks Highway) – Gray
			38	17	SR-354 (Boones Creek Road) – Jonesborough
			36	19	SR-381 (State of Franklin Road) – Bristol
			35	20	US-11E / US-19W north (Roan Street, SR-34/SR-36 north)	West end of US-19W/SR-36 overlap; signed as exits 20A (south) and 20B (north) westbound
			33	22	SR-400 (Unaka Avenue, Watauga Avenue)
			32	23	SR-91 (Market Street, Main Street)
			31	24	US-321 / SR-67 – Elizabethton
Carter			28	27	SR-359 north (Okolona Road)
Unicoi	Unicoi		23	32	SR-173 (Unicoi Road)
			21	34	Tinker Road
	Erwin		19	36	Main Street - Erwin
			18	37	SR-81 / SR-107 – Erwin, Jonesborough
			15	40	Jackson-Love Highway - Erwin
			12	43	US-19W south (Temple Hill Road, SR-36 south) to SR-352	East end of US-19W/SR-36 overlap
			9	46	Clear Branch Road
			5	50	Flag Pond Road

North Carolina

County	Location	Exit #		Destinations	Notes
		Old	New
Madison			3	US 23 Alt. – Wolf Laurel
			9	US 19 north – Burnsville, Spruce Pine	West end of US 19 overlap
	Mars Hill		11	NC 213 – Mars Hill, Marshall
Temporary east end of I-26 at NC 213
Buncombe			13	Forks of Ivy
			14	NC 197 – Jupiter, Barnardsville
			15	Flat Creek
	Weaverville		16	US 19 Bus. south / Monticello Road – Weaverville
			17	US 25 north / US 70 west – Marshall, Weaverville	West end of US 25/US 70 overlap; signed as exits 25A (north/west) and 25B (Weaverville) westbound
			18	New Stock Road - Weaverville
	Woodfin		19	US 25 (Merrimon Avenue) south - North Asheville, New Bridge	East end of US 25 overlap
			20	Elk Mountain Road - Woodfin
	Asheville		21	NC 251 – University of North Carolina-Asheville
			22	Hill Street	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
			23	I-240 east / US 70 east ( US 74 Alt. east)	East end of US 70 overlap; west end of I-240/US 74 Alt. overlap
		Temporary west end of I-26; west end of I-240 overlap
		4B	24	Patton Avenue - Downtown Asheville
		3B	25	Westgate, Holiday Inn Drive
		3A	27	US 19 south / US 23 south ( US 74 Alt. west)	East end of US 19/US 23/US 74 Alt. overlap; west end of US 19 Bus./US 23 Bus. overlap
		2	28	US 19 Bus. south / US 23 Bus. south – West Asheville	U.S. 19 Business and U.S. 23 Business join westbound and leave eastbound.
		1C	29	Amboy Road	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		1B	30	NC 191 (Brevard Road) to I-40 east
		East end of I-240 overlap at I-40
		1B	31B	I-40 west / US 74 – Canton, Knoxville	West end of US 74 overlap; signed as exit 1A eastbound
		1A	31A	I-40 east – Hickory	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		2	33	NC 191 / Blue Ridge Parkway
		6	37	NC 146 – Skyland
		9	40	NC 280 – Asheville Regional Airport, Arden
Henderson		13	44	US 25 north / US 25 Bus. south – Fletcher, Mountain Home	West end of US 25 overlap
	Hendersonville	18	49	US 64 – Hendersonville, Bat Cave	Signed as exits 49A (east) and 49B (west)
		22	53	Upward Road - Hendersonville
		23	54	US 25 south to US 176 / NC 225 - Greenville	East end of US 25 overlap
	Peter Guice Memorial Bridge over the Green River
Polk		28	59	Saluda
	Columbus	36	67	US 74 east / NC 108 – Columbus, Rutherfordton, Tryon	East end of US 74 overlap

South Carolina

County	Location	#	Destinations	Notes
Spartanburg		1	SC 14 - South Landrum
		5	SC 11 (Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway) – Campobello, Chesnee	To Cowpens Battlefield
		10	SC 292 – Inman, New Prospect
		15	US 176 to I-585 – Inman, Spartanburg
		16	John Dodd Road - Wellford Spartanburg
		17	New Cut Road - Sigsbee Cunningham Spartanburg
		18	I-85 Greenville Gaffney	Signed as exits 18A (south) and 18B (north)
		19	I-85 Bus. – Spartanburg, Wellford	Signed as exits 19A (south) and 19B (north)
		21	US 29 – Greer, Spartanburg	Signed as exits 21A (south) and 21B (north)
		22	SC 296 (Reidville Road) – Roebuck, Spartanburg, Reidville
		28	US 221 – Spartanburg, Moore, Woodruff, Roebuck
		35	Road 50 - Woodruff
		38	SC 146 – Cross Anchor, Woodruff
		41	SC 92 – Enoree
		44	SC 49 – Laurens, Cross Anchor, Union
	Bridge over the Enoree River
Laurens
		51	I-385 north – Laurens, Greenville	Access from Interstate 26 westbound only
		52	SC 56 – Cross Anchor, Clinton
		54	SC 72 – Clinton, Whitmire
		60	SC 66 – Joanna, Whitmire
Newberry		66	Road 32 - Jalapa
		72	SC 121 – Newberry, Whitmire, Union
		74	SC 34 – Newberry, Winnsboro
		76	SC 219 – Newberry, Pomaria
		82	SC 773 – Prosperity, Pomaria
		85	SC 202 – Pomaria, Little Mountain
Lexington		91	Columbia Avenue - Chapin
Richland		97	US 176 – Ballentine, White Rock, Peak
	Irmo	101 A-B	US 76 west / US 176 (Broad River Road) – Ballentine, White Rock
		102	SC 60 (Lake Murray Boulevard) – Irmo
		103	Harbison Boulevard
Lexington		104	Piney Grove Road
		106	St. Andrews Road
Richland		107 A-B	I-20 – Aiken, Florence
	Columbia	108A	Bush River Road
		108B	I-126 / US 76 Downtown Columbia	East end of US 76 overlap
	Bridge over the Saluda River
Lexington
		110	US 378 – Lexington, West Columbia
		111	US 1 to SC 12 – Lexington, West Columbia	Signed as exits 111A (south) and 111B (north)
	Springdale	113	SC 302 – Columbia Airport, Cayce
	Cayce	115	US 21 / US 176 / US 321 – Gaston, Cayce, Columbia
		116	I-77 north - Charlotte
		119	US 21 / US 176 – St. Matthews, Dixiana
Calhoun		125	Old Sandy Run Road (Road 31) - Gaston Sandy Run
Lexington		129	US 21
Calhoun		136	SC 6 – North, St. Matthews, Swansea
Orangeburg		139	Burke Road — Road 22 St. Matthews
		145	US 601 – Orangeburg, St. Matthews	Signed as exits 145A (south) and 145B (north)
		149	SC 33 – Orangeburg, Cameron
		154	US 301 – Orangeburg, Santee, Elloree	Signed as exits 154A (south) and 154B (north)
		159	Homestead Road - Bowman
		165	SC 210 – Bowman, Vance
		169	I-95 - Savannah, Florence	Signed as exits 169A (south) and 169B (north)
Dorchester		172	US 15 – St. George, Holly Hill, Santee	Signed as exits 172A (south) and 172B (north)
		177	SC 453 – Harleyville, Holly Hill
		187	SC 27 – Ridgeville, St. George
	Bridge over the Ashley River (Wassamassaw Swamp)
Berkeley		194	Road 16 - Jedburg, Pinopolis
		199	US 17 Alt. – Summerville, Moncks Corner	Signed as exits 199A (south) and 199B (north)
Charleston	Ladson	203	College Park Road - Goose Creek, Ladson
	North Charleston	205	US 78 to US 52 – Goose Creek	Signed as exits 205A (west) and 205B (east)
		209A	US 52 (US 78) – Goose Creek, Moncks Corner	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		209B	Ashley Phosphate Road	Signed as exit 209A eastbound
		211	West Aviation Avenue - Charleston AFB	Signed as exits 211A (west) and 211B (east)
		212A	Remount Road	Eastbound exit is via exit 211B
		212	I-526 - Johns Island, Charleston International Airport, Mt. Pleasant	Signed as exits 212B (west) and 212C (east)
		213	Montague Avenue, Mall Drive	Signed as exits 213A (west) and 213B (east) eastbound
		215	SC 642 (Dorchester Road)
		216	SC 7 (Cosgrove Avenue) to US 17 south – Charleston Naval Base	Signed as exits 216A (south) and 216B (north)
		217	US 52 (North Meeting Street)	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
	Charleston	218	Spruill Avenue - Charleston Naval Base	Westbound exit and eastbound entrance
		219A	Rutledge Avenue - The Citadel	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		219B	Morrison Drive, East Bay Street (US 52 Spur)	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		220A	Romney Street	Westbound exit only
		220B	US 17 north – Mount Pleasant, Awendaw	Signed as exit 220 eastbound
		221A	US 17 south – St. Andrews, Jacksonboro	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance
		221B	US 52 (Meeting Street)	Eastbound exit and westbound entrance;Eastern Terminus of Interstate 26

Auxiliary routes

v • d • e Auxiliary routes of Interstate 26 South Carolina: 126 • 326 (former) • 526

• Interstate 126 is a spur into Columbia, South Carolina from the northwest.
• Interstate 526 is a partial beltway of Charleston, South Carolina, running from U.S. Route 17 west of the city north to I-26 and back east and south to US-17 east of Charleston.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Interstate 26

• FHWA Route Log and Finder List
• Political History of I-26
• News article listing new I-26 exit numbers published March 2, 2007

References

edit Main Interstate Highways (major interstates highlighted)
4	5	8	10	12	15	16	17	19	20	22	24	25	26	27	29	30
35	37	39	40	43	44	45	49	55	57	59	64	65	66	68	69
70	71	72	73	74	75	76 (W)		76 (E)		77	78	79	80	81	82
83	84 (W)		84 (E)		85	86 (W)		86 (E)		87	88 (W)		88 (E)		89	90
91	93	94	95	96	97	99	(238)		H-1		H-2		H-3
Unsigned			A-1		A-2		A-3		A-4		PRI-1		PRI-2		PRI-3
Lists		Primary			Main - Intrastate - Suffixed - Future - Gaps
		Auxiliary			Main - Future - Unsigned
		Other			Standards - Business - Bypassed

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