Interstate 66 (west)
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| Existed: | 1991 – late 2015 |
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Interstate 66 (I-66) was a proposed Interstate Highway designated in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991 as the East–West TransAmerica Corridor and High Priority Corridor 3. The United States Department of Transportation originally planned to extend the current I-66 from its western terminus at Middletown, Virginia, across the country to California. The route west of Kansas was not favored by any of the related state highway departments, and as a result I-66 west of Wichita, Kansas, through New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California was cancelled. Among the reasons for this were lack of interest from any of the state highway departments, and the insufficient projected traffic did not justify an Interstate, especially since many segments had no pre-existing highway. The National Park Service was strongly opposed to building I-66 across the Death Valley National Park. The choice for the number I-66 was a hope to capitalize on the decommissioned U.S. Route 66 (US 66). The case for westward expansion of I-66 was started by businesspeople in Wichita. Furthermore, there were no plans to build I-66 across the West Virginia–Virginia state line, leaving it as a non-contiguous highway. The I-66 concept was supported in Kentucky mainly because of the efforts of Congressman Hal Rogers, however the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet completed its feasibility study in 2005 and concluded that building I-66 was too costly and of little traffic benefit with high potential environmental impact and cancelled the project in that state. The only remaining study of I-66 was conducted by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) under the 66 Corridor Study, a Tier 1 environmental impact study (EIS). This study was cancelled August 6, 2015, by IDOT, and subsequently the FHWA announced the cancellation of the EIS in the Federal Register, ending the last I-66 project and therefore officially cancelling the I-66 Trans America Highway.
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