I-59 is a four-lane freeway along its entire route, other than a short stretch from Tuscaloosa, Alabama to the southern terminus of I-459 and in Birmingham, where it widens to six lanes or more. Aside from the metropolitan areas it passes through, the I-59 corridor is mainly rural in nature, although the Georgia segment is near Chattanooga, Tennessee.
I-59 spans 11.48 miles (18.48km) in Louisiana, the shortest distance in the four states through which it travels. The route begins at a partial cloverleaf interchange with I-10 (exit267) and I-12 (exit85) at the northeastern corner of Slidell, a city in St. Tammany Parish. From this interchange, connections are made to New Orleans and Hammond, as well as Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Heading north, I-59 has two exits serving the town of Pearl River, where it begins a concurrency with US11. Immediately afterward, the highway crosses the West Pearl River and passes through an interchange with Old US11, a portion of the pre-Interstate alignment serving the Pearl River Wildlife Management Area. I-59 then travels through the Honey Island Swamp for six miles (9.7km) before crossing the main branch of the Pearl River into Mississippi.
For its length in Mississippi, I-59 either runs concurrently with, or runs close to, US11. Between the towns of Pearl River and Picayune, US11 travels concurrent with I-59. The highway also has concurrencies with US98 in Hattiesburg; Mississippi Highway 42 (MS42) just north of Hattiesburg; US84 and MS15 in Laurel; and US80, US11, and MS19 in the Meridian area.
Just west of Meridian, I-20 joins I-59 and these two highways continue together for 153 miles (246km), across the border with Alabama to and through Birmingham. The exit numbers are given as those of I-59.
I-59 and I-20 travel together for about 40percent of their route through Alabama, passing northeast through Tuscaloosa before finally parting ways in eastern Birmingham. A little over half of I-59's entire length is in Alabama.
I-59/20 enter Alabama near Cuba, Alabama, passing through a rural area consisting of mostly woodlands. The first major city they meet is Tuscaloosa, where they turn eastward and have a short spur, I-359. The routes then shift northeast once again to enter the Birmingham metropolitan area, where they first pass through several suburbs of Birmingham. Here, I-59 has an auxiliary route, I-459, which serves as a bypass around Birmingham. In downtown Birmingham, the routes meet I-65 at a crossover interchange commonly known as "Malfunction Junction". Several miles later, I-20 splits off to the west near Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport. Leaving Birmingham, I-59 continues northeast into the Cumberland Plateau region of the state. Access to Gadsden is provided via another spur, I-759. For the remainder of its length in Alabama, I-59 travels through rural areas in a mountain valley before entering Georgia.
I-59 has a short trek through the northwest corner of Georgia, with only three exits before ending at I-24 several miles west of Chattanooga, Tennessee, in Wildwood. The entire route of I-59 in Georgia is named Korean War Veterans Memorial Highway. I-59's southbound control city is marked Birmingham instead of Gadsden in Georgia. For services, I-59 has no direct access to a welcome center or rest area; instead, I-59's Georgia Welcome Center is in Trenton, accessible via an interchange. Within Georgia, I-59 carries the unsigned designated State Route406 (SR406) for internal Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) purposes.
History
The full length of the freeway that became I-59 was first proposed in a preliminary plan for the Interstate Highway System in 1947. It was first authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, which created the Interstate system. Early concepts had the freeway continue a short distance from Georgia into Tennessee to terminate in Chattanooga with the freeway between this city and Nashville, Tennessee. Due to the mountainous terrain in the area, the decision was made by early 1957 for the Chattanooga-Nashville freeway, which became I-24, to briefly dip into northwest Georgia and for I-59 to end here. The numbering was approved on August 14, 1957, along with most of the rest of the system.
Within Louisiana, I-59 was first constructed across the Pearl River as the replacement route for US11 at St. Rose starting in 1958. The stretch southward into Slidell along with I-10 south to the Twin Bridges opened in 1965-66. I-59 in Mississippi opened initially from the Louisiana state line toward Picayune and from Hattiesburg to Laurel in 1963. The last segment in Mississippi opened on August 29, 1968. In Georgia, I-59 was completed in 1971. The last section of I-59, located in the Birmingham area, opened on June 2, 1980.
The stretch of I-59/20 running through downtown Birmingham was completed in 1973. This stretch was completely reconstructed starting in January 2019 and ending in early-2020, and was closed to all traffic during this project.
I-10 / I-12 in Slidell, LA
I-24 near Wildwood, GA
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