Interstate 14

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Interstate 14 marker

Interstate 14
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I-14 highlighted in red
Route information
Maintained by TxDOT
Length: 24.80 mi[2] (39.91 km)
Existed: January 26, 2017 (2017-01-26)[1] – present
Major junctions
West end: US 190 / SH 9 in Copperas Cove
East end: I-35 / US 190 near Belton
Location
Counties: Coryell, Bell
Highway system
PR 13 SH 14

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 that is currently located entirely in Central Texas, following U.S. Route 190 (US 190). The portion of the route that has been constructed and signed to date, the Central Texas Corridor along US 190 west of Interstate 35 was officially designated as I-14 by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST) Act, signed by President Barack Obama on December 14, 2015.

The proposal for the "14th Amendment Highway" has its origins in the 2005 transportation bill, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The route was initially 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 subsequently proposed extending I-14 to I-10 near Fort Stockton and the junction of US 277 and I-10 near Sonora, Texas. 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, if ultimately constructed, would provide 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.

On November 15, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which designated the components of the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway corridor between Brady, Texas (including forks to Interstate 20 in Midland and Interstate 10 in Pecos County, Texas), and Augusta, Georgia as High Priority Corridors of the National Highway System, forming a future extension of Interstate 14.

History

The highway was proposed in 2005 as the "14th Amendment Highway" without an official Interstate highway designation, with a western terminus at Natchez, Mississippi, extending east through the states of Mississippi and Alabama, before ending at Augusta, Georgia. The highway was named in honor of the 14th Amendment, as the route would traverse the southern "black belt" region that formed the heart of the slave-based plantation economy of the 19th century.

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 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. representative Babin introduced the 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; Fort Polk in Leesville, Louisiana;[16] Camp Beauregard in Pineville, Louisiana; Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia; Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Georgia; and Fort Gordon west of Augusta, Georgia.[17] This amendment was included in the final bill approved by the House and Senate and signed by President Joe Biden on November 15, 2021.[18][19]

Future

Existing route

I-14 has been expanded from four to six lanes in Killeen, Texas, during a widening project that lasted from 2013 to late 2016. The project was estimated to be completed in 2014 but was delayed by other road expansion projects.[20] Plans to widen the existing route through Harker Heights to the I-35 intersection in Belton from four lanes to six lanes began in April 2018 and are ongoing.[21][22]

Proposed extension

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act designates an extended future Interstate 14 corridor that would encompass the original "14th Amendment Highway" and "Gulf Coast Strategic Highway" concepts, including the following designated High Priority Corridors:[23][24]

  • High Priority Corridor 84, the Central Texas Corridor, including:
  • High Priority Corridor 99, the Central Louisiana Corridor, commencing at the Sabine River Bridge where SH 63 becomes LA 8 before following portions of LA 8 to Leesville, Louisiana, then eastward on LA 28, passing near Alexandria, Pineville, Walters, and Archie, to US 84 and US 425 at the Natchez–Vidalia Bridge at Vidalia, Louisiana.
  • High Priority Corridor 100, the Central Mississippi Corridor, including:
    • 100(A): Commencing at the Natchez–Vidalia Bridge at the Mississippi River and then generally following portions of US 84 passing in the vicinity of Natchez, Brookhaven, Monticello, Prentiss, and Collins, to I-59 near Laurel, Mississippi, and continuing on I-59 north to I-20 before joining I-59 and I-20 to the Alabama state line;
    • 100(B): Commencing near Laurel, Mississippi, running south on I-59 to US Route 98 near Hattiesburg, connecting to US 49 south then following US 49 south to I-10 in the vicinity of Gulfport and following MS 601 south until the Mississippi State Port at Gulfport.
  • High Priority Corridor 101, the Middle Alabama Corridor, including:
  • High Priority Corridor 102, the Middle Georgia Corridor, including:

In popular culture

Killeen, Texas, recording artist Qzu YG released a song in 2020 called "I-14" 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 US 190 west – Lampasas Continuation beyond western terminus

Bus. US 190 west – Copperas Cove
Fort Hood 0.4 0.64 277 Clarke Road
CoryellBell
county line
1.8 2.9 278 Bell Tower Drive
2.3 3.7 280A SH 201 south (Clear Creek Road)
Bell 3.1 5.0 280B Clear Creek Road north Westbound access via exit 280A
Killeen 4.1 6.6 281
Bus. US 190 east / Invalid type: road
4.8 7.7 282 Willow Springs Road
5.3 8.5 283 SH 195 (Fort Hood Street)
7.2 11.6 284 Trimmier Road
7.8 12.6 285 W.S. Young Drive
8.8 14.2 286 FM 3470 (Stan Schlueter Loop) No direct westbound exit (Signed at exit 287)
10.1 16.3 287 Rosewood Drive
Harker Heights 10.8 17.4 288 FM 2410 (Knight's Way)
12.0 19.3 289 FM 3423 (Indian Trail)
13.3 21.4 290
Bus. US 190 west / Invalid type: road
No westbound entrance
Nolanville 15.4 24.8 292 FM Spur 439 (Main Street) – Nolanville
16.6 26.7 294 Paddy Hamilton Road
18.4 29.6 295 Frontage Road No eastbound entrance
19.1 30.7 296 FM 2410 (Simmons Road)
20.2 32.5 297 George Wilson Road
Belton 21.8 35.1 299 FM 1670 (Stillhouse Hollow Dam Road)
23.1 37.2 300 Loop 121
23.9 38.5 301 I-35 south / SH 317 (Main Street) / FM 436 (Holland Road) / Invalid type: road Eastbound exit and entrance; I-35 exit 293B northbound
24.8 39.9 I-35 north (US 190 east) Eastern terminus; eastern end of US 190 concurrency; I-35 exit 293A
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

Auxiliary route

I-14 in Texas is proposed to have one auxiliary route, Interstate 214, which would serve as a loop for Bryan–College Station metropolitan area.[24]

See also

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "TEXT OF AMENDMENTS; Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 137 (Senate - August 02, 2021)".

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External links

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