Back Interstate 81 German Interestatal 81 Spanish Interstate 81 Basque بزرگراه میانایالتی ۸۱ Persian Interstate 81 French Interestatal 81 Galician Interstate 81 Italian 州間高速道路81号線 Japanese 주간고속도로 제81호선 Korean Interstatal 81 LMO
 Interstate 81 | |
|---|---|
 I-81 highlighted in red | |
| Route information | |
| Length | 855.02 mi[1] (1,376.02 km) |
| Existed | 1957–present |
| NHS | Entire route |
| Major junctions | |
| South end |  I-40 in Dandridge, TN |
| |
| North end |  Highway 137 at the Canadian border |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| States | Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York |
| Highway system | |
Interstate 81 (I-81) is a north–south (physically northeast–southwest) Interstate Highway in the eastern part of the United States. Its southern terminus is at I-40 in Dandridge, Tennessee; its northern terminus is on Wellesley Island, New York at the Canadian border, where the Thousand Islands Bridge connects it to Highway 137 and ultimately to Highway 401, the main Ontario freeway connecting Detroit via Toronto to Montreal. The major metropolitan areas along the route of I-81 include the Tri-Cities of Tennessee; Roanoke in Virginia; Hagerstown in Maryland; Harrisburg and the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania; and Binghamton and Syracuse in New York.
I-81 largely traces the paths created down the length of the Appalachian Mountains through the Great Appalachian Valley by migrating animals, indigenous peoples, and early settlers. It also follows a major corridor for troop movements during the Civil War.[2] These trails and roadways gradually evolved into US Route 11 (US 11); I-81 parallels much of the older US 11.[3] Being mostly rural in nature, I-81 is heavily used as a trucking corridor and is often used as a bypass of busier and more congested Interstates to the east such as I-95; for this reason, it is also used heavily by drug and human traffickers, as it is less monitored by law enforcement than I-95. This led to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) forming a taskforce to combat the issue in 2017.[4][5]
The I-81 Corridor Coalition, a six-state coalition, was organized to handle issues along I-81, such as truck traffic and air pollution; the commission meets annually.[6] I-81 is part of the fastest route between the capital of the US (Washington, D.C.) and the capital of Canada (Ottawa) and Mexico (Mexico City).[7][8]
- ^ "Table 1: Main Routes of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways". FHWA Route Log and Finder List. Federal Highway Administration. December 31, 2021. Retrieved July 14, 2022.
- ^ "Roads". Miller's House Museum. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
- ^ Perrier, Dianne (2010). Interstate 81: The Great Warriors Trace. Gainesville: University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-3481-2. OCLC 502304332.[page needed]
- ^ Zuckerman, Jake (January 26, 2017). "FBI forms human trafficking task force along I-81". North Virginia Daily. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
- ^ Rossi, Isabella (February 12, 2019). "Sex trafficking closer to home than most Virginians would think". Collegiate Times. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
- ^ "Corridor Coalition". I-81coalition.org. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
- ^ "I-81 Safety Conference". Harrisburg, PA: WHP-TV. Retrieved October 4, 2014.[permanent dead link]
- ^ I-81 Corridor group[dead link]