Interstate 220 Louisiana

Routing

Interstate 220 in Louisiana is the 17-mile, northern loop of Shreveport. The western terminus is a stack interchange at the junction of Interstate 20 and Louisiana 3132 (otherwise known as the Inner Loop). The last section of Interstate 220 to open was the nearly three-mile long bridge over Cross Lake in the 1980s.

History

Originally, Interstate 220 and Louisiana 3123/Inner Loop Expressway were planned to be united as one beltway. According to Anthony Kennerson, the belt route was to be "a full loop with the eastern quadrant slicing through property of Barksdale Air Force Base and crossing the Red River about a mile south of the existing Jimmie Davis (LA 518) Bridge. More than likely, both lack of cash and the difficulties with negotiating with the US Air Force regarding using ROW from Barksdale contributed to cutting the full loop short."

Future Aspirations

It is possible that Interstate 220 may extend south of the current eastern terminus to unite with the Louisiana 3132/Inner Loop Expressway. At the present time this concept is still in the debate stages. An alternative to this would be to connect the Inner Loop expressway and Interstate 20 with the proposed Interstate 69. The connection between Interstate 69 and Interstate 220 would be afforded via Interstate 20. Interstate 69 would connect to Interstate 20 east of Shreveport at a location near Haughton. Under this scenario, the existing Louisiana 3132/Inner Loop Expressway would travel southeastward to connect with Interstate 69 near the Port of Shreveport, thus making a complete loop (although the loop would not interchange cleanly with Interstate 220 at the east end).³

As for the western terminus, Interstate 220 was shown in some American Automobile Association (AAA) maps from the 1980s extending south and then east to meet then-proposed Interstate 49 via the Inner Loop Expressway (Louisiana 3132). Louisiana 3132 was never upgraded to Interstate 220 as shown on those AAA maps, and it is still being extended east, with the present planned terminus currently at Louisiana 523, Flournoy Lucas. The City, municipal planning organization (MPO), and the availability of funding will control the extension of the Inner Loop beyond this point, and it may be extended northeast to rejoin Interstate 220 at its eastern terminus. Construction of Louisiana 3132 is underway to extend the highway to Louisiana 1/Youree Drive at this time.²

Presently Interstate 49 terminates at Interstate 20 near downtown Shreveport. Interstate 49 is proposed to shift onto Louisiana 3132/Inner Loop Expressway or follow its existing alignment through the city. If Interstate 49 is routed onto Louisiana 3132 and Interstate 220, the western portion of Interstate 220 would become part of the Interstate 49 corridor between Shreveport and Arkansas. Under this scenario, the existing segment of Interstate 49 between the symmetrical stack interchange at Louisiana 3132 to Interstate 20 will have to be renumbered. It is possible that this may become Interstate 149. Interstate 49 would depart Interstate 220 from a new interchange one mile to the west of the current U.S. 71/Louisiana 1 interchange (Exit 7).¹ Another possibility has Interstate 49 continuing north from its Interstate 220 northern terminus and traveling into Arkansas.

Highway Guides

• Interstate 220 Louisiana

Mileage

State	Mileage	Cities	Junctions
Louisiana	17.62	Shreveport, Bossier City	Interstate 20, Future Interstate 49, Interstate 20
Source: October 31, 2002 Interstate Route Log and Finders List

Interstate 220 Louisiana Annual Average Daily Traffic