Interstate 77 (I-77) is a north–south

Interstate Highway The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. T ...

in the eastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It traverses diverse terrain, from the mountainous state of

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

to the rolling farmlands of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

and

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

. It largely supplants the old US Route 21 (US 21) between

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S ...

, and

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the cit ...

, as an important north–south corridor through the middle Appalachians. The southern terminus of I-77 is in Cayce, South Carolina, in Lexington County at the junction with

I-26 I26 may refer to: * Interstate 26, a road in the United States of America * {{Letter-NumberCombDisambig ...

. The northern terminus is in Cleveland at the junction with

I-90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, an ...

. Other major cities that I-77 connects to include

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...

;

Charleston, West Virginia Charleston is the capital and most populous city of West Virginia. Located at the confluence of the Elk and Kanawha rivers, the city had a population of 48,864 at the 2020 census and an estimated population of 48,018 in 2021. The Charlesto ...

; and

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city ...

. The

East River Mountain Tunnel The East River Mountain Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel that carries Interstate 77 (I-77) and U.S. Route 52 (US 52) through East River Mountain between the communities of Bluefield, West Virginia, and Rocky Gap, Virginia. History Ground ...

, connecting

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...

and West Virginia, is one of only two instances in the United States where a mountain road tunnel crosses a state line. The other is the Cumberland Gap Tunnel, connecting

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

and

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. I-77 is a snowbird route to the

Southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

for those traveling from the Great Lakes region.

Route description

, - , SC , , - , NC , , - , , VA , , - , WV , , - , OH , , - , Total ,

South Carolina

I-77 begins as an eight-lane highway at I-26 in the far southeastern part of the Columbia metropolitan area. In the Columbia area, I-77 offers access to Fort Jackson before meeting

I-20 Interstate 20 (I‑20) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. I-20 runs beginning at an interchange with I-10 in Scroggins Draw, Texas, and ending at an interchange with I-95 in Florence, South Carolina. Betwe ...

in the northeastern part of the city. This segment of I-77, combined with I-20 and I-26, form a beltway around Columbia, though it is not officially designated as such. After leaving the northern Columbia suburb of Blythewood, I-77 narrows to four lanes until it widens to eight lanes at Rock Hill from exit 77 to the North Carolina state line at I-485. The final section of the entire length of I-77 was completed in Columbia in 1995.

North Carolina

I-77-US21-Woodlawn-BillyGraham-OverheadSign

I-77 through North Carolina begins at the South Carolina state line at Pineville. It narrows to six lanes on the North Carolina side south of

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

and then widens to 8 and 10 lanes through downtown before entering the North Carolina

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

region. In Charlotte, it intersects

I-85 Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with I-95 in Petersburg, Virginia, n ...

as well as intersecting each of the loops of I-485 and I-277 (twice). North of Charlotte, it skirts Lake Norman where it narrows again to four lanes before passing through Huntersville, Cornelius,

Davidson Davidson may refer to: * Davidson (name) * Clan Davidson, a Highland Scottish clan * Davidson Media Group * Davidson Seamount, undersea mountain southwest of Monterey, California, USA * Tyler Davidson Fountain, monument in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA * ...

, and Mooresville. At Statesville, north of I-85, it intersects I-40 and US 70. Next, it crosses over US 421 in Yadkin County and continues on through Elkin. The final intersection in the state is with a discontinuous section of

I-74 } Interstate 74 (I-74) is an Interstate Highway in the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. Its western end is at an interchange with I-80 in Davenport, Iowa ( Quad Cities); the eastern end of its Midwest segment is at an interch ...

near Mount Airy. I-77 in Charlotte is also known as the Bill Lee Freeway; this designation stretches from exit 6 (South Tryon Street/Woodlawn Road) in Charlotte to exit 33 (US 21 north), near Mooresville. A portion south of the city is called the General Younts Expressway. When I-77 crosses over I-85 (which runs in an east–west direction through the interchange), the northbound lanes are to the west of the southbound lanes. North Carolina completed its section of I-77 in 1975.

Virginia

I-77 through Virginia passes through two tunnels: the

Big Walker Mountain Tunnel The Big Walker Mountain Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel in the Appalachian Mountains of Southwest Virginia that carries Interstate 77 through and under Big Walker Mountain. It is located a few miles south of the town of Bland in Bland County and a ...

and the

. For , I-77 and I-81 overlap near Wytheville. This is a

wrong-way concurrency A concurrency in a road network is an instance of one physical roadway bearing two or more different route numbers. When two roadways share the same right-of-way, it is sometimes called a common section or commons. Other terminology for a concur ...

, where two roads run concurrent with each other but are designated in opposite directions. On March 31, 2013, there was a nearly 100-car pileup on I-77 near Fancy Gap; as a result of that crash, electronic variable speed limit signs are now in place along that stretch of I-77. The speed limit can be adjusted according to driving conditions at a given time.

West Virginia

I-77 enters

through the

. At milepost 9, I-77 becomes cosigned with the

West Virginia Turnpike West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

for the next , a

toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or '' toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implement ...

between

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nin ...

and Charleston. It is concurrent with I-64 to Charleston at Beckley. The speed limit is for most of the length, with a limit for the section between Marmet and the toll plaza near Pax. It enters Charleston via the Yeager Bridge before splitting off at a four-level junction with I-64. north of the city center, it junctions with I-79, before proceeding north to

Ripley Ripley may refer to: People and characters * Ripley (name) * ''Ripley'', the test mannequin aboard the first International Space Station space station Dragon 2 space test flight Crew Dragon Demo-1 * Ellen Ripley, a fictional character from the Al ...

and Parkersburg. North of Charleston, I-77 is known as the Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway.

Ohio

Entering from

at Marietta, I-77 passes through rolling Appalachian terrain. The interchange with I-70 at Cambridge is (or at least at one time was) thought to be the largest interchange in the world, covering over . I-77 continues north through Canton and then Akron, where it connects with I-76. The interchange with I-80, the Ohio Turnpike, between Akron and Cleveland was completed in December 2001; previously, traffic had to exit at State Route 21 (SR 21) to access the Turnpike. I-77 ends at I-90 in Cleveland. I-77 is also known as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway in Ohio and the Willow Freeway in Greater Cleveland.Willow Freeway
from ''Encyclopedia of Cleveland History''

Junction list

;South Carolina : in Cayce : in Cayce : in

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

: on the Woodfield– Dentsville CDP line : in Dentsville : south of Blythewood : on the Lesslie– Rock Hill line : in Rock Hill : north of

Fort Mill Fort Mill, also known as Fort Mill Township, is a town in York County, South Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of Charlotte, North Carolina. As of 2020 census, 24,521 people live inside the town's corporate limits. Some businesses and resid ...

. The highways travel concurrently to

. ;North Carolina : in Charlotte : in Charlotte : in Charlotte : in Charlotte : in Charlotte : in Huntersville : in Cornelius. The highways travel concurrently to Mooresville. : southeast of Troutman : in Statesville : in Statesville : north of Statesville : west-northwest of Hamptonville : south-southeast of Jonesville. The highways travel concurrently to Elkin. : west-southwest of Pine Ridge. The highways travel concurrently to the

state line north-northwest of Pine Ridge. ;Virginia : in Woodlawn : in Fort Chiswell. The highways travel concurrently to Wytheville. : in Fort Chiswell. The highways travel concurrently to Wytheville. : west of Bland : in Rocky Gap : north-northwest of Rocky Gap. The highways travel concurrently to Bluefield, West Virginia. ;West Virginia : east-southeast of

: south-southeast of Camp Creek : southeast of Crab Orchard. The highways travel concurrently to Charleston. : southeast of Snow Hill. The highways travel concurrently to Charleston. : northeast of Charleston : in

. The highways travel concurrently to Silverton. : east of Parkersburg ;Ohio : in Marietta : south-southeast of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

: east of Cambridge : northeast of Cambridge : in

Newcomerstown Newcomerstown is a village in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, United States, east-northeast of Columbus. In the late 1770s, this was the largest Delaware Indian village on the Tuscarawas River, with 700 residents. Chief Newcomer (''Netawatwes'') was ...

: in New Philadelphia. The highways travel concurrently to south-southeast of Strasburg. : in

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

. I-77/US 62 travels concurrently through Canton. : south of Akron : in Akron. I-76 and I-77 travel concurrently through Akron. : West of Akron : in Richfield : on the Richfield–

Brecksville Brecksville is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States, and a suburb in the Greater Cleveland area. The city's population was 13,635 at the United States 2020 Census. History Brecksville was founded in 1811, four years after several men ...

line : on the

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...

– Brooklyn Heights line : in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

: in Cleveland : in Cleveland

Auxiliary routes

* I-277 – Charlotte * I-277 – Akron

References

External links

* {{Authority control 77