Interstate 94

Infobox road
type=I
route=94

---

length_mi=1604
length_round=2
length_ref=Fact|date=July 2008
established=
direction_a=West
terminus_a=Jct|state=MT|I|90 near Billings, MT
junction=Jct|state=ND|I|29 in Fargo, ND
Jct|state=MN|I|35W in Minneapolis, MN
Jct|state=MN|I|35E in St. Paul, MN
Jct|state=WI|I|39 in Madison, WI
Jct|state=WI|I|43 in Milwaukee, WI
Jct|state=IL|I|55 in Chicago, IL
Jct|state=IL|I|80 in South Holland, IL
Jct|state=IN|I|65 in Gary, IN
Jct|state=MI|I|75 in Detroit, MI
direction_b=East
terminus_b=Jct|state=ON|Hwy|402 at Canadian border on Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, MI
commons=category

Interstate 94 (I-94) is the northernmost east-west interstate highway, connecting the Great Lakes and Intermountain regions of the United States. Its western terminus is in Billings, Montana at a junction with Interstate 90; its eastern terminus is the U.S. side of the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, Michigan, at the Sarnia, Ontario, Canada border, where together with Interstate 69 it meets Highway 402. I-94 is the longest interstate highway that does not end in a '0' or '5'; even a few interstates that do end with '0' or '5' are shorter.

Route description

-
MT
249
401
-
ND
352
567
-
MN
259
418
-

WI
348
560
-
IL
77
124
-
IN
46
74
-
MI
275
443
-
Total [http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/reports/routefinder/table1.htm Route Log- Main Routes of the Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways - Table 1 ] ]
1604
2581

Interstate 94 is the only purely east-west interstate to form a direct connection into a foreign country (Canada). No such interstate currently ends at the U.S.-Mexico border, although I-905 in California will become such when upgrades are completed. At Port Huron, I-94 crosses the Blue Water Bridge into Sarnia, Ontario and becomes Highway 402, which can be used by motorists going to Toronto. I-94's concurrency at that crossing, I-69, is posted east-west in eastern Michigan, but changes to north-south near Lansing and remains north-south in the remainder of Michigan and throughout its run in Indiana.

Montana

I-94 begins at Billings and travels northeastward towards Glendive before exiting the state to the east.

North Dakota

The route enters at Beach, passes through some beautiful scenery in the Badlands near Medora (near the Theodore Roosevelt National Park (South Unit)). A public rest area about seven miles (11 km) east of Medora provides a scenic view and the Painted Canyon Trail that provides the opportunity to hike through some of the scenery. I-94 then travels east past Bismarck on the way to Fargo where it leaves the state and crosses into Minnesota.

Minnesota

I-94 travels in a northwest-southeast trajectory passing Moorhead and St Cloud prior to traveling through the Twin Cities and heading east out of the state. Leaving Fargo, ND and entering Moorhead, MN, I-94 crosses the Red River. In Minneapolis it crosses the Mississippi River, and leaving Minnesota between Lakeland, MN and Hudson, WI, I-94 crosses the St. Croix River.Between northbound I-35W and MN-280 in the Twin Cities, the highway is not up to interstate standards because the Minnesota Department of Transportation (Mn/DOT) added a temporary extra lane to help relieve traffic congestion caused by the collapse of the I-35W Mississippi River bridge.

Wisconsin

Interstate 94 enters Wisconsin east of the Twin Cities at the town of Hudson. It passes Eau Claire before turning southeastward and joining with Interstate 90 in Tomah and Interstate 39 in Portage. I-94 branches off eastward in Madison and travels east to Milwaukee before turning south and heading to Chicago, entering Illinois at Pleasant Prairie.

Illinois

In the state of Illinois, I-94 runs south from Wisconsin to Indiana via downtown Chicago. It is tolled on the Tri-State Tollway to the I-94/I-294 split; it then runs east to the Skokie Highway, where it turns south through the city of Chicago. At Interstate 80, I-94 runs east to Indiana on the Kingery Expressway.

Indiana

In the state of Indiana, I-94 runs east from Illinois concurrent with I-80. It crosses Interstate 90 (Indiana Toll Road), where I-80 joins I-90 east towards Ohio. I-94 continues northeast, paralleling the Lake Michigan shoreline into Michigan.

Michigan

I-94 runs north along Lake Michigan to St. Joseph before heading east on the long road to Detroit. It turns northeast to Port Huron where it meets I-69 and ends at ON Hwy 402 on the Blue Water Bridge.

History

North of Chicago, I-94 is being widened from six to eight lanes from Illinois Route 22 (Half Day Road) to just south of the Wisconsin state line at Illinois Route 173 and 95th Street to 159th Street.

In 2005, the I-94 bridge over the Crow River near St. Michael, Minnesota, about convert|35|mi|km northwest of Minneapolis, is being rebuilt. In 2006, a project to widen I-94 east of downtown St. Paul between Minnesota State Highway 120 and McKnight Road from four to six lanes was completed.

The new Marquette Interchange, in downtown Milwaukee, will be completed in 2008 at a cost of $810 million.

The interchange at 95th Ave. N in Maple Grove, Minnesota is also being rebuilt. A new, wider bridge will replace the two-lane bridge there, which was demolished in July, 2006.

In Detroit, Interstate 94 was routed over the existing Edsel Ford Freeway, and remained signed as such until the late 1980s when Michigan deemphasized proper names on Interstate guide signs. Its interchange with the Lodge Freeway, built in 1953, is significant as the first full-speed freeway-to-freeway interchange built in the United States.cite web|url=http://www.environment.fhwa.dot.gov/histpres/highways_list.asp|title=Preliminary List of Nationally and Exceptionally Significant Features of the Interstate Highway System|accessdate=2006-07-06]

Intersections with other interstates

*Interstate 90 in Billings, Montana
*Interstate 29 in Fargo, North Dakota
*Interstate 35W in Minneapolis, Minnesota; concurrent for less than one mile (1.6 km)
*Interstate 35E in St. Paul, Minnesota
*Interstate 90 in Tomah, Wisconsin
*Interstate 39 at Portage, Wisconsin
*Interstate 43 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
*Interstate 90 in Chicago, Illinois
*Interstate 55 in Chicago, Illinois
*Interstate 57 in Chicago, Illinois
*Interstate 80 in South Holland, Illinois
*Interstate 65 in Gary, Indiana
*Interstate 90 in Lake Station, Indiana
*Interstate 196 near Benton Harbor, Michigan
*Interstate 194 in Battle Creek, Michigan
*Interstate 69 in Marshall, Michigan
*Interstate 275 in Romulus, Michigan
*Interstate 96 in Detroit, Michigan
*Interstate 75 in Detroit, Michigan
*Interstate 696 in Roseville, Michigan
*Interstate 69 in Port Huron, Michigan

pur routes

*Bismarck, North Dakota - I-194 (unsigned)
*Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota - I-394, I-494, I-694
*Milwaukee, Wisconsin - I-794, I-894
*Chicago, Illinois - I-294 (Tri-State Tollway)
*Battle Creek, Michigan - I-194

References

External links

* [http://www.michiganhighways.org/listings/MichHwys90-99.html#I-094 Interstate 94] at Michigan Highways
* [http://www.wisconsinhighways.org/listings/WiscHwys90-99.html#I-094 Interstate 94] at Wisconsin Highways
* [http://illi-indi.com/il_EndsPage.php?id=3094&section=1 Illinois Highway Ends: I-94]
* [http://illi-indi.com/EndsPage.php?id=3094&section=1 Indiana Highway Ends: I-94]
* [http://www.prairiepublic.org/features/redtrail/index.html The Old Red Trail documentary about the history of I-94 in North Dakota]

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