Mainlines Trivia Quiz

Interstate 10 is the southernmost transcontinental interstate in the United States. It spreads 2460 miles (just under 4000km) across eight states. Over a third of the highway's route is found within the state of Texas. At 881 miles, no other interstate has as much mileage in a single state. In some of the rural mileage in western Texas, speed limits can get as high as 75mph.

Interstate 81 runs for 855 miles from north-eastern Tennessee to the Canadian/US border. The route is primarily through rural regions and smaller cities. The largest city that I-81 passes through is Syracuse, NY. Much of the interstate lies on the eastern slopes of the Appalachian Valley and through an historical migration and Civil War logistics route.

At the western terminus of Interstate 40 in Barstow, California, an oft-stolen road sign proclaims that Wilmington, North Carolina is 2,554 miles down the highway. I-40 traverses much of the sparsely populated semi-arid Plains of New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma, along with the dense forests of Tennessee and North Carolina. CBS journalist Charles Kuralt once remarked that I-40 made it "possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything." in the 1980s.

The western half of Interstate 40 runs parallel with historic Route 66.

I-70 passes through many tunnels in its cross-country journey. The Eisenhower Tunnel in western Colorado is the highest point and the longest tunnel in the entire Interstate system. In central Pennsylvania sit both the active Allegheny Mountain Tunnel and the abandoned Laurel Hill Tunnel: the latter is privately leased for race-car testing.

In one of the few gaps in the Interstate system, I-70 is briefly routed on to surface streets in Breezewood, Pennsylvania. This stretch of road is littered with gas stations, chain restaurants, and hotels aimed at the traffic following the Interstate.

Interstate 5 is the only route in the Interstate system that reaches both of the United States' international borders. In Oregon and Washington, the route of I-5 mimics the path taken by fur traders as far back as the 1820s.

Interstate 90 is the longest interstate highway in the United States, and the only one to extend over 3,000 miles from end-to-end. The interstate crosses through 13 states and major cities such as Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, and Seattle. Through most of the eastern US the highway is tolled.

The length of the highway was extended by 3 miles in 2003 when Boston's "Big Dig" project completed an extension from the previous eastern terminus out to Boston's Logan International Airport.

Interstate 35 measures in at 1,568 miles long through the central United States but does not connect with either international border. The southern terminus ends at a stoplight in Laredo, Texas four blocks north of the tolled bridge to Mexico. The interstate connects to Minnesota State Route 61 at its northern terminus in Duluth, Minnesota which completes the 150 remaining miles to the Canadian border. I-35 splits into parallel routes (signed as I-35E and I-35W) through the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota and Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.

How much do you think it cost in the late 1960s and early 1970s to build an 1800 mile interstate from Michigan's Upper Peninsula to Miami, Florida? Only the paltry sum of $3.5 billion! The interstate is often used by Canadian travelers driving to and from Florida for holidays and/or escaping from the harsh Canadian winters. To aid drivers, author Dave Hunter published an "Along Interstate 75" companion with exit-by-exit details of restaurants and services.

Interstate 95 passes through more states than any other in the system - 15 in total. Until 2018, the highway was disjointed through northern New Jersey and New York City, with drivers having to exit the freeway or use connecting roads to cover the gaps in between.

While the north-eastern corridor of I-95 that connects Washington DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Providence, and Boston is some of the busiest stretches of interstate in the nation (over 150,000 cars per day along I-95 in NY according to state estimates), Maine's segment up to the New Brunswick border is some of the quietest in all of the US.

The routing of Interstate 80 follows much of the original Lincoln Highway - the first transcontinental road in the United States. The Lincoln Highway was built along historical regional travel corridors too such as the Oregon Trail and California Trail. Much of the Lincoln Highway is now signed as US Route 30. At 2900 miles long, it's the second longest interstate in the network.