California Between its west terminus in Santa Monica, California, and the major
East Los Angeles Interchange, I-10 is known as the
Santa Monica Freeway. The Santa Monica Freeway is also called the Rosa Parks Freeway, named after
the civil rights activist, for the segment beginning at
I-405 (San Diego Freeway), and ending at
I-110/SR 110 (Harbor Freeway). The segment between the East Los Angeles Interchange, in
East Los Angeles, and the city of
San Bernardino, long, is called the
San Bernardino Freeway. Other names exist for I-10. For example, from 1976 to 2022, a sign near the western terminus of the highway in Santa Monica proclaimed the highway to be the
Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway. The state legislature authorized its removal in 2022 after years of lobbying by Native Americans. I-10 is known to a considerably lesser degree as the Veterans Memorial Highway, and it is listed as a
Blue Star Memorial Highway. In
Palm Springs, I-10 is also named the Sonny Bono Memorial Freeway, named after
the singer, actor, and politician, as a tribute to the late entertainer who served both as the mayor of Palm Springs, and as a U.S. representative. Another stretch a short distance east in
Indio is proclaimed the Doctor June McCarroll Memorial Freeway, named after
the nurse known for popularizing road lane striping.
Arizona In
Arizona, the highway is designated the Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway. The portion through
Phoenix is named the
Papago Freeway, and it is a vital piece of the
metropolitan Phoenix freeway system. This designation starts at
State Route 101 (SR 101; Loop 101), near 99th Avenue, and continues eastward to the interchange southeast of downtown, which is the terminus of
I-17. Near
Buckeye, the freeway has milemarkers posted every from 112.2 to 110.8 with the
Interstate shield and direction of travel posted on the westbound lanes. On the eastbound lanes, milemarkers from 110.8 to 112.2 do not include the I‑10 shield and direction of travel. From the southern terminus of I-17 to the southernmost junction with
SR 202 (Loop 202), the highway is signed as the Maricopa Freeway. This name holds true as well for I-17 from its southern terminus to the Durango Curve south of Buckeye Road. From Loop 202 south to the eastern terminus of
I-8 just southeast of
Casa Grande, the highway is declared the Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway. The
Arizona Department of Transportation also has maps that show it as the Maricopa Freeway, while the
American Automobile Association and other sources show it as the Pima Freeway. The latter's name is used on a stretch of Loop 101 from Loop 202 to I-17. Between I-17 in Phoenix and the
I-19 interchanges in
Tucson, I-10 is included in the federally designated
CANAMEX Corridor, extending from
Mexico City, Mexico, to
Edmonton, Alberta. In Tucson, between I-10 mileposts 259 and 260 are interchange ramps connecting I-10 with the northern terminus of I-19. The highest elevation along I-10 occurs just east of Tucson, west of
Willcox, at the milemarker 320 exit for the rest stop. The westbound lanes of I-10 briefly cross above above
sea level.
New Mexico In New Mexico, I-10 more or less follows the former path of
US Route 80 (US 80) across the state, although major portions of old US 80 were bypassed in the western
New Mexico Bootheel and in
Doña Ana County. I-10 passes through three southern New Mexico municipalities of regional significance before the junction with
I-25:
Lordsburg,
Deming, and
Las Cruces. Most of I-10 in New Mexico, between exit 24 and exit 135, is concurrent with
US 70. At Lordsburg is the western junction of US 70 and a
concurrency; the two highways are joined all the way to Las Cruces. Several exits between Lordsburg and Deming are either for former towns (including
Separ,
Quincy, and
Gage) or lack any town at all. At Deming is the western junction of
US 180, which also forms a concurrency with I-10 all the way to El Paso. north of Deming on US 180 is
State Road 26 (NM 26) which serves as a short cut to north I-25 and
Albuquerque. I-10/US 70/US 180 continue east to Las Cruces which is the southern end of I-25. US 70 leaves I-10 (prior to the junction with I-25), heading northeast to
Alamogordo and passing through the north side of Las Cruces. The junction with I-25 occurs just south of the
New Mexico State University campus, on the southern end of Las Cruces. I-10/US 180 becomes concurrent with
US 85 at the junction with I-25. I-10/US 85/US 180 then turns south to the Texas state line, crossing it at
Anthony.
Texas From the state line with New Mexico (at
Anthony) to
State Highway 20 (SH 20) in west
El Paso, I-10 is bordered by frontage roads South Desert for lanes along I-10 east (actually headed south) and North Desert for lanes along I-10 west (headed north). The Interstate then has no frontage roads for but regains them east of downtown and retains them to
Clint. In this stretch, the frontage roads are Gateway East for the eastbound lanes and Gateway West for the westbound lanes. All frontage roads are one-way streets. Gateway East and Gateway West are notable, in particular, for the
Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT)'s liberal usage of the
Texas U-turn at most underpasses of I-10 on this stretch. I-10 is the western terminus for
I-20, and the two highways intersect in
Reeves County, about southwest of
Pecos, at milemarker 186. A small portion of I-10 from
Loop 1604 to
Downtown San Antonio is known as the Northwest Expressway or the McDermott Freeway, while another portion from downtown to Loop 1604 east is called East Expressway or José López Freeway. In Downtown San Antonio, it has a concurrency with
I-35, and, throughout most of the northwest side of the city, it has a concurrency with
US 87, which begins in
Comfort, before turning off and heading east out of the city. Starting in San Antonio, it follows a more direct route of
US 90, with occasional small concurrences. In
Houston, from the western suburb of
Katy to downtown, I-10 is commonly known as the
Katy Freeway. This section has as many as 18 lanes (12 main lanes and 6 mid-freeway
high-occupancy toll [HOT]/
high-occupancy vehicle [HOV] lanes, not counting access road turning lanes) and is one of the widest freeways in the world. The space for the expansion was the
right-of-way of the old
Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad. The section east of
Downtown Houston is officially known as the East Freeway, although it is widely known by locals as the Baytown East Freeway due to a marketing push by
Baytown, one of the largest cities in
Greater Houston. In
Beaumont, it is known as I-10 south, south of Calder Avenue, and I-10 north, north of Calder Avenue. It is known as I-10 east from the I-10 curve to the
Neches River, which is Beaumont's and
Jefferson County's eastern boundary line. Continuing into
Orange County and passing through the city of
Orange at the easternmost end of Texas, and located at the base of the
Sabine River bridge is the last I-10 milemarker in Texas, number 880, before entering into Louisiana. Approximately 36 percent of I-10's entire route is located within Texas; the longest segment of any signed Interstate within one state.
Louisiana In
Lake Charles, a loop route signed as
I-210 branches off of I-10 and goes through the southern portion of the city. In
Lafayette, it serves as the southern terminus for
I-49. Shortly afterward, there is an stretch of elevated highway between Lafayette and Baton Rouge known as the
Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway, as it goes over the
Atchafalaya River, across the
Atchafalaya Basin Bridge, and the adjacent swamps. It crosses the
Mississippi River at the
Horace Wilkinson Bridge in
Baton Rouge, where the eastbound lanes are the only portion of I-10 that is essentially one lane. After crossing the Horace Wilkinson Bridge, two lanes from
I-110 south merge with two lanes I-10 east into three lanes with one of the eastbound lanes quickly becoming an exit only lane. After this, the highway is back to four lanes approaching the I-10/
I-12 split. I-12 links Baton Rouge to
Slidell and bypasses I-10's southward jog through New Orleans by remaining north of
Lake Pontchartrain. On this route, I-10 serves as the southern terminus for I-55 in
LaPlace and crosses over a portion of Lake Pontchartrain on the
I-10 Bonnet Carré Spillway Bridge. In
New Orleans, a stretch of I-10 from the I-10/I-610 Junction near the
Orleans–
Jefferson parish line to the
US 90/
US 90 Business (US 90 Bus.) junction is known as the
Pontchartrain Expressway. A dip near the I-10/I-610 junction to travel under a railroad track is one of the lowest points in
New Orleans and is highly susceptible to flooding. Buildups of rainwater dozens of feet deep (several meters) are commonplace during hurricanes. Near
Slidell, I-10 serves as the eastern terminus of I-12 and the southern terminus of I-59; turning east to the
Mississippi state line. The highway is known as the Stephen Ambrose Memorial Highway, named after
the historian and writer, until the state line.
I-310 and
I-510 are the built sections of what was slated to be
I-410, which would have acted as a southern bypass of New Orleans. They function as spur routes serving lower density or suburban areas west and east of New Orleans respectively.
I-610 is a shortcut from the eastern to western portion of New Orleans avoiding I-10's detour into the
New Orleans Central Business District.
Mississippi I-10 in Mississippi runs from the Louisiana state line to the Alabama state line through
Hancock,
Harrison, and
Jackson counties on the
Gulf Coast. It passes through the northern sections of
Gulfport and
Biloxi while passing just north of
Pascagoula and
Bay St. Louis. It also passes right south of the NASA
Stennis Space Center. The highway roughly parallels
US 90. The law defining the route of I-10 is Mississippi Code § 65-3-3.
Alabama I-10 crosses over the border from
Jackson County, Mississippi, and it goes through
Mobile County in southwestern Alabama. In
Mobile, I-10 is the southern terminus of
I-65. In downtown Mobile, I-10 goes through one of the few highway tunnels in Alabama, the
George Wallace Tunnel under the
Mobile River. The speed limit of the eastbound approach is posted at because of the sharp downward curve approaching the tunnel. The highway then crosses approximately of the upper part of
Mobile Bay on the
Jubilee Parkway, a bridge that local people call the "Bayway". The highway is next to
Battleship Parkway. On the other side of Mobile Bay, the highway goes through the suburban area of
Baldwin County before passing through
Malbis,
Loxley, and then on to the
Perdido River to cross over into
Florida.
Florida I-10 travels north of the cities of
Pensacola and
Tallahassee, serving the suburban areas within each respective city. In the former, a spur route serves the downtown area, signed as
I-110. Most of I-10 in Florida travels through some of the least-populated areas in the state, with large portions of I-10 west of
I-295 in
Jacksonville having only four lanes. In Jacksonville, as in Arizona, I-10 is designated as the Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway. The route officially ends at the I-10/I-95 interchange northwest of
Downtown Jacksonville. Throughout much of Florida, I-10 is also State Road 8 (SR 8), though it is not signed as such. (I-110 in Pensacola being known as SR 8A.) == History ==