Interstate 55 (I-55) in the US state of

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

runs from the

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

state line to the Poplar Street Bridge over the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Route description

I-55 enters Missouri at the

border near Cooter. It runs northward through mostly flat land in the Bootheel, where it has an interchange with U.S. Route 412 (US 412) and I-155. The highway continues over bumpy land through or near the towns of Hayti, Portageville, and New Madrid before reaching an interchange with US 60 and I-57 just south of Sikeston. The next interchange, US 62, provides access into the city of Sikeston and one of its most popular attractions, Lambert's Cafe, the "Home of the Throwed Rolls". North of Sikeston, I-55 begins to traverse rolling terrain on its way to Cape Girardeau. Exit 95, Route 74 east, provides direct access to the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge into southern Illinois. The heart of the city of Cape Girardeau as well as

Southeast Missouri State University Southeast Missouri State University (Southeast or SEMO) is a public university in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In addition to the main campus, the university has four regional campuses offering full degree programs and a secondary campus housing t ...

can be reached by taking either exit 96 or exit 99. I-55 then goes through rural areas again as it makes a north-northwesterly run through the towns of Perryville and Ste. Genevieve before entering the southern reaches of the St. Louis metro area at the interchange with US 67 and the Twin Cities of Festus and Crystal City. US 61 and US 67 run concurrently immediately east of I-55 nearly due north through the Jefferson County towns of

Herculaneum Herculaneum is an ancient Rome, ancient Roman town located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under a massive pyroclastic flow in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. Like the nearby city of ...

, Pevely (where the Interstate expands from four lanes to six), Barnhart (and then to eight), Imperial, and finally Arnold before crossing the

Meramec River The Meramec River (), sometimes spelled Maramec River (the original US mapping spelled it Maramec but later changed it to Meramec), is one of the longest free-flowing waterways in the U.S. state of Missouri, draining Blanc, Caldwell, and Hawk. ...

into St. Louis County. From Richardson Road in Arnold to I-270, I-55 is 10 lanes wide. The Interstate narrows back down to eight lanes past I-270, through southern St. Louis County, and into the city of

. In the last few miles of I-55 in the state of Missouri, there is an interchange and brief overlap with I-44 before reaching the Poplar Street Bridge crossing into Illinois.

History

Sponsorship controversy

The white supremacy group

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...

began fighting several court battles with the state of Missouri after the state disputed its right to sponsor a stretch of freeway in Saint Louis County and Jefferson County, near

. In March 2001, after a US District Court judge found that blocking the Klan's sponsorship was unconstitutional, the Court of Appeals ruled that the state must erect signs announcing the group's sponsorship. However, the Missouri Legislature later voted to rename the stretch of I-55 the "

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American civil rights activist. She is best known for her refusal to move from her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama, bus, in defiance of Jim Crow laws, which sparke ...

Freeway" in honor of the Montgomery civil rights hero who began the

Montgomery bus boycott The Montgomery bus boycott was a political and social boycott, protest campaign against the policy of racial segregation on the public transit system of Montgomery, Alabama. It was a foundational event in the civil rights movement in the United ...

. When asked how she felt about this honor, she is reported to have commented, "It is always nice to be thought of." The Klan were eventually dropped from the scheme on April 4, 2001, on the grounds that, for the duration of their sponsorship, they had not once cleaned the freeway.

Exit list

Auxiliary routes

*: A spur running from I-55 in Hayti, Missouri, to US 51 in Dyersburg, Tennessee; overlaps with US 412 for its entire length. of this highway will be absorbed into the newly extended I-69 in the future. *: The eastern third of the beltway around the St. Louis Metro Area (with I-270 forming the remaining two-thirds) *: I-55 has three business loops in Missouri.

References

External links

The Name Game
at Snopes.com. {{state detail page browse, type=I, route=55, state=Missouri, statebefore=Arkansas, stateafter=Illinois 55 Missouri Roads in Greater St. Louis Transportation in Pemiscot County, Missouri Transportation in New Madrid County, Missouri Transportation in Scott County, Missouri Transportation in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri Transportation in Perry County, Missouri Transportation in Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri Transportation in Jefferson County, Missouri Transportation in St. Louis County, Missouri