Interstate 14
![]() | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
I-14 highlighted in red | ||||
Route information | ||||
Maintained by TxDOT | ||||
Length | 24.80 mi[1] (39.91 km) | |||
Existed | January 26, 2017[2]–present | |||
Major junctions | ||||
West end | ![]() ![]() | |||
East end | ![]() ![]() | |||
Location | ||||
Counties | Coryell, Bell | |||
Highway system | ||||
|
Interstate 14 (I-14), also known as the "14th Amendment Highway", the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway and the Central Texas Corridor, is an Interstate Highway located entirely in Central Texas that follows U.S. Highway 190 (US 190). The highway was named for the 14th Amendment. In 2005, I-14 was planned to have a western terminus at Natchez, Mississippi (later from I-49 near Alexandria, Louisiana), extending east through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, before ending at Augusta, Georgia, or North Augusta, South Carolina. Advocates of the Gulf-Coast Strategic Highway proposed extending I-14 to I-10 near Fort Stockton and the junction of US 277 and I-10 near Sonora, Texas.
The proposal for 14th Amendment Highway has its origins in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The study and planning of I-14 has continued because of support and interest from both the Congress and the associated state highway departments. The I-14 corridor provides a national strategic link to numerous major military bases and major Gulf Coast and Atlantic ports used for overseas deployments in six states from Texas to South Carolina.
The Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST) Act, signed by President Barack Obama on December 14, 2015, officially assigned the Future I-14 designation to the US 190 Central Texas Corridor.
History[]
The highway was proposed in 2005 with a western terminus at Natchez, Mississippi, extending east through the states of Mississippi and Alabama, before ending at Augusta, Georgia. U.S. Representative Charlie Norwood of Georgia suggested the highway could be extended to Austin, Texas in the west and Grand Strand, South Carolina in the east.[3] The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) was signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 10, 2005. Congressional advocacy for the legislation spiked following the post-Hurricane Katrina logistics controversies.[4] The act included the 14th Amendment Highway and the 3rd Infantry Division Highway (I-3). The legislation did not provide funding for either highway. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has no funding identified beyond the Phase II studies to support long-range planning, environmental review or construction which must be initiated at the state or regional level with any further direction from the Congress. The western terminus was later changed to I-49 near Alexandria, Louisiana.
The 14th Amendment Highway and the Gulf-Coast Strategic Highway concepts continued through active studies to the present as local and state interest began to surface and support in the Congress, FHWA and, most importantly, in the associated state highway departments, all the key ingredients necessary to successfully justify funding any proposed Federal-Aid Highway project. The FHWA issued its report on the 14th Amendment Highway to the Congress in 2011 and made recommendation for further environmental and feasibility sub-studies, however little action to fund these studies advanced in Congress after 2011. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) also conducted the US 190/IH-10 Feasibility Study in 2011, which concluded that it was justified to upgrade US 190 to a divided four-lane arterial highway based on current traffic projections to 2040, but that upgrading US 190 to a full freeway through Texas was only justified if the 14th Amendment Highway is actually constructed from Louisiana to Georgia.
The I-14 concept became a reality when House Transportation Committee members Brian Babin and Blake Farenthold authored and introduced the amendment to the 2015 Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST) Act that created the I-14 Central Texas Corridor that generally follows US 190 in Texas. U.S. Senator John Cornyn of Texas sponsored the amendment in the United States Senate. The official Future I-14 designation[5] was approved when the FAST Act was signed into law on December 4, 2015 by President Obama.[6]
TxDOT is moving forward with designating I-14 along US 190 from Copperas Cove to I-35 in Belton.[7] The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) originally denied approval of TxDOT's request for the number at their May 24, 2016, meeting of the Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbering, the body responsible for approving designations in the United States Numbered Highway System and Interstate Highway System.[8] The FHWA and AASHTO subsequently approved the I-14 designation.[9] The Texas Transportation Commission made the I-14 number official on January 26, 2017.[10] The official signage ceremony was held April 22, 2017 in Killeen, Texas on the Central Texas College campus. More I-14 signs went up over the next few weeks.[11]
On April 11, 2019, U.S. Rep. Babin introduced I-14 'Forts-to-Ports' bill—which could extend I-14 to Odessa—to the United States House of Representatives.[12][13][14]
In August 2021, Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Raphael Warnock of Georgia introduced an amendment to the American Jobs Plan that would designate a corridor of I-14 to connect their respective states. The interstate as envisioned would reach from the Midland-Odessa, Texas, metropolitan area in the west to Augusta, Georgia in the east.[15] The bipartisan legislation aims to connect multiple military installations, including Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas (already connected), Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas, Camp Beauregard in Pineville, Louisiana, and Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia.[16]
Future[]
I-14 has been expanded from four to six lanes in Killeen, Texas, and there are some plans to expand to six lanes to I-35 in Belton.[citation needed] Rep. Brian Babin has proposed that I-14 be split between I-14 North and I-14 South. The northern portion would be routed towards Odessa using a portion of Loop 338 to terminate at I-20. I-14 South would be routed on US-190 to I-10 and split off I-14 North at SH 349. I-14 was proposed to be extended from west Texas to Augusta, Georgia or to North Augusta, South Carolina.[17]
In popular culture[]
Killeen, Texas recording artist Qzu YG released a song in 2020 called "I-14"[18] as an homage to the highway running through Central Texas.[citation needed]
Exit list[]
Exit numbers follow US 190's mile markers.
County | Location | mi | km | Exit | Destinations | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Coryell | Copperas Cove | 0.00 | 0.00 | ![]() | Continuation beyond western terminus | |
— | ![]() ![]() | |||||
Fort Hood | 0.4 | 0.64 | 277 | Clarke Road | ||
Coryell–Bell county line | 1.8 | 2.9 | 278 | Bell Tower Drive | ||
2.3 | 3.7 | 280A | ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||
Bell | 3.1 | 5.0 | 280B | Clear Creek Road north | Westbound access via exit 280A | |
Killeen | 4.1 | 6.6 | 281 | ![]() ![]() | ||
4.8 | 7.7 | 282 | Willow Springs Road | |||
5.3 | 8.5 | 283 | ![]() | |||
7.2 | 11.6 | 284 | Trimmier Road | |||
7.8 | 12.6 | 285 | W.S. Young Drive | |||
8.8 | 14.2 | 286 | ![]() | |||
10.1 | 16.3 | 287 | Rosewood Drive | |||
Harker Heights | 10.8 | 17.4 | 288 | ![]() | ||
12.0 | 19.3 | 289 | ![]() | |||
13.3 | 21.4 | 290 | ![]() ![]() | No westbound entrance | ||
Nolanville | 15.4 | 24.8 | 292 | ![]() | ||
16.6 | 26.7 | 294 | Paddy Hamilton Road | |||
| 18.4 | 29.6 | 295 | Frontage Road | No eastbound entrance | |
| 19.1 | 30.7 | 296 | ![]() | ||
| 20.2 | 32.5 | 297 | George Wilson Road | ||
Belton | 21.8 | 35.1 | 299 | ![]() | ||
23.1 | 37.2 | 300 | ![]() | |||
23.9 | 38.5 | 301 | ![]() ![]() ![]() | Eastbound exit and entrance; I-35 north exit 293B | ||
24.8 | 39.9 | ![]() | Eastern terminus; eastern end of US 190 concurrency; I-35 exit 293A | |||
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi
|
See also[]
Texas portal
U.S. roads portal
- Fall Line Freeway, a highway proposed to be the Georgia portion of I-14
References[]
- ^ Google (May 17, 2017). "Overview Map of I-14" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved May 17, 2017.
- ^ Transportation Planning and Programming Division (n.d.). "Interstate Highway No. 14". Highway Designation Files. Texas Department of Transportation. Retrieved June 29, 2018.
- ^ Office of Senator Johnny Isakson (April 28, 2005). "Chambliss, Isakson Seek to Include Study of Two Proposed New Interstates in National Highway Funding Bill" (Press release). Office of Senator Johnny Isakson. Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
- ^ "Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition: Project Overview". Archived from the original on February 25, 2012. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
- ^ "Interstate 14 Designation by Congress in FAST Act". Ports-to-Plains Blog. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
- ^ Hill, Chris (December 31, 2015). "FAST Act creates future I-14 from Central Texas Corridor, US 190". Equipment World's Better Roads News. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
- ^ Texas Transportation Commission (April 28, 2016). "Agenda" (PDF). Texas Department of Transportation. p. 2. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
- ^ Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbering (May 24, 2016). "Special Committee on U.S. Route Numbering" (PDF) (Report). Washington, DC: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2016.
- ^ Texas Transportation Commission (January 26, 2017). "Minute Order" (PDF). Texas Department of Transportation. p. 1. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
- ^ Bryant, David (January 26, 2017). "Highway 190 is officially Interstate Highway 14 from Cove to Belton". Killeen Daily Herald.
- ^ Dowland, Jacqueline. "Interstate through Killeen: Officials celebrate the new I-14". Killeen Daily Herald. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
- ^ http://www.landlinemag.com/story.aspx?storyid=74056#.XP21Y4hKjIU[dead link]
- ^ writer, David A. Bryant | Herald staff. "'Forts to Ports' bill reintroduced in House of Representatives". The Killeen Daily Herald.
- ^ "Bill could extend I-14 to Odessa". Odessa American.
- ^ Koplowitz, Howard (August 5, 2021). "Plans for Alabama's newest interstate, I-14, progress in US Senate". AL.com. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
- ^ "I-14 through San Angelo? Amendment to infrastructure bill brings it closer to reality". Concho Valley Homepage. August 5, 2021. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
- ^ Koplowitz, Howard (August 5, 2021). "Plans for Alabama's newest interstate, I-14, progress in US Senate". al.com. Retrieved August 6, 2021.
- ^ "QZU YG on Apple Music". Apple Music. September 18, 2020. Retrieved August 9, 2021.
External links[]
Route map:
( • help)
|
![]() |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Interstate 14. |
- Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
- Interstate Highways in Texas
- Transportation in Coryell County, Texas
- Transportation in Bell County, Texas
- Interstate Highway System