Previous I-22's:
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I-22: As part of the 1968 Federal Highway Act, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama requested an interstate from Memphis to Birmingham. The Tennessee length was 9 miles.
This interstate corridor was denied in its entirety. However, Mississippi and Alabama built their portions anyway. Mississippi's portion goes to the Tennessee line.
I-22 was assigned to the MS-AL portion in 2012, with its west end at I-269, while US 78 continued as a freeway to Tennessee. The Tennessee side has a few interchanges up to I-240 but in between has plenty of at-grade access points.
It was plausible to have made US 78 into an interstate up to I-240 had that occurred in 1968. Today there has been a ton of suburban growth and upgrading US 78 to I-22 now would be hideously expensive.
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