| State: | TX |
| Type: | I |
| Route: | 14 |
| Map Custom: | yes |
| Map Notes: | I-14 highlighted in red |
| Length Mi: | 25.1 |
| Length Ref: | [1] |
| Direction A: | West |
| Terminus A: | near Copperas Cove |
| Junction: |
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| Direction B: | East |
| Terminus B: | at Belton |
| Counties: | Coryell, Bell |
| Previous Type: | PR |
| Previous Route: | 13 |
| Next Type: | SH |
| Next Route: | 14 |
| Alternate Name: | 14th Amendment Highway Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Central Texas Corridor |
Interstate 14 (I-14), also known as the 14th Amendment Highway, the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway, and the Central Texas Corridor, is an Interstate Highway that is currently located entirely in Central Texas, following US Highway 190 (US 190). The portion of the route that has been constructed and signed to date, the Central Texas Corridor along US 190 west of I-35 was officially designated as I-14 by the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST Act), signed by President Barack Obama on December 14, 2015.
The proposal for the "14th Amendment Highway" has its origins in the 2005 transportation bill, the (SAFETEA-LU). The route was initially planned to have a western terminus at Natchez, Mississippi (later from I-49 near Alexandria, Louisiana), extending east through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, before ending at Augusta, Georgia, or North Augusta, South Carolina. Advocates of the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway subsequently proposed extending I-14 to I-10 near Fort Stockton and the junction of US 277 and I-10 near Sonora, Texas. The study and planning of I-14 has continued because of support and interest from both Congress and the associated state highway departments. The I-14 corridor, if ultimately constructed, would provide a national strategic link to numerous major military bases and major Gulf and Atlantic coasts ports used for overseas deployments in six states from Texas to South Carolina.
On November 15, 2021, President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which designated the components of the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway corridor between Brady, Texas (including forks to I-20 in Midland and I-10 in Pecos County, Texas), and Augusta, Georgia, as High Priority Corridors of the National Highway System, forming a future extension of I-14.
I-14 currently begins just east of Copperas Cove at the US 190 and Business US 190 interchange. From there, it continues eastward concurrently with US 190 for just over 25miles before terminating at I-35 in Belton. Between the termini, I-14/US 190 passes through the western part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood metropolitan area, passing just south of Fort Cavazos and through Killeen as well as Harker Heights and Nolanville. It currently has 25 interchanges (including at its termini), including State Highway 201 (SH 201) in Fort Cavazos, SH 195 in Killeen, and Loop 121 in Belton. It runs concurrently with US 190, and its exit numbers are based on that highway's mileage.
The highway was proposed in 2005 as the "14th Amendment Highway" without an official Interstate Highway designation, with a western terminus at Natchez, Mississippi, extending east through the states of Mississippi and Alabama, before ending at Augusta, Georgia. The highway was named in honor of the Fourteenth Amendment, as the route would traverse the southern "Black Belt" region that formed the heart of the slave-based plantation economy of the 19th century.
US Representative Charlie Norwood of Georgia suggested the highway could be extended to Austin, Texas, in the west and Grand Strand, South Carolina, in the east.[2] SAFETEA-LU was signed into law by President George W. Bush on August 10, 2005. Congressional advocacy for the legislation spiked following the post-Hurricane Katrina logistics controversies.[3] The act included the 14th Amendment Highway and the 3rd Infantry Division Highway (I-3). The legislation did not provide funding for either highway. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has no funding identified beyond the Phase II studies to support long-range planning, environmental review, or construction which must be initiated at the state or regional level with any further direction from Congress. The western terminus was later changed to I-49 near Alexandria, Louisiana.
The 14th Amendment Highway and the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway concepts continued through active studies to the present as local and state interest began to surface and support in Congress, the FHWA, and, most importantly, in the associated state highway departments, all the key ingredients necessary to successfully justify funding any proposed federal-aid highway project. The FHWA issued its report on the 14th Amendment Highway to Congress in 2011 and made recommendation for further environmental and feasibility substudies; however, little action to fund these studies advanced in Congress after 2011. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) also conducted the US 190/IH-10 Feasibility Study in 2011, which concluded that it was justified to upgrade US 190 to a divided four-lane arterial highway based on traffic projections to 2040, but that upgrading US 190 to a full freeway through Texas was only justified if the 14th Amendment Highway is actually constructed from Louisiana to Georgia.
The I-14 concept became a reality when House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure members Brian Babin and Blake Farenthold authored and introduced the amendment to the 2015 FAST Act that created I-14 that generally follows US 190 in Texas. US Senator John Cornyn of Texas sponsored the amendment in the US Senate. The official Future I-14 designation[4] was approved when the FAST Act was signed into law on December 4, 2015, by then President Barack Obama.[5]
TxDOT moved forward with designating I-14 along US 190 from Copperas Cove to I-35 in Belton.[6] The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) originally denied approval of TxDOT's request for the number at their May 24, 2016, meeting of the Special Committee on US Route Numbering, the body responsible for approving designations in the US Numbered and Interstate highway systems. The FHWA and AASHTO subsequently approved the I-14 designation.[7] The Texas Transportation Commission made the I-14 number official on January 26, 2017.[8] The official signage ceremony was held April 22, 2017, in Killeen, Texas, on the Central Texas College campus. More I-14 signs went up over the next few weeks.[9]
On April 11, 2019, US Representative Babin introduced the I-14 'Forts-to-Ports' bill—which could extend I-14 to Odessa—to the US House of Representatives.[10] [11] [12]
In August 2021, senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Raphael Warnock of Georgia introduced an amendment to the American Jobs Plan that would designate a corridor of I-14 to connect their respective states. The Interstate as envisioned would reach from the Midland–Odessa, Texas, metropolitan area in the west to Augusta, Georgia, in the east.[13] The bipartisan legislation aims to connect multiple military installations, including Fort Cavazos (previously Fort Hood) in Killeen, Texas (already connected); Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas; Fort Johnson (previously Fort Polk) in Leesville, Louisiana;[14] Louisiana National Guard Training Center Pineville (previously Camp Beauregard) in Pineville, Louisiana; Fort Moore (previously Fort Benning) in Columbus, Georgia; Robins Air Force Base in Warner Robins, Georgia; and Fort Eisenhower (previously Fort Gordon) west of Augusta, Georgia.[15] This amendment was included in the final bill approved by the House and Senate and signed by President Joe Biden on November 15, 2021.[16] [17]
Prior to being designated as I-14, US 190 was expanded from four to six lanes in Killeen, Texas, during a widening project that lasted from 2013 to late 2016. The project was estimated to be completed in 2014 but was delayed by other road expansion projects.[18] Plans to widen the existing route through Harker Heights to the I-35 intersection in Belton from four lanes to six lanes began in April 2018[19] [20] and was completed in June 2023.[21] A $140,000 project to put up two new welcome signs in Nolanville was started in May 2023.[22] [23] The two-lane expressway bypass of Copperas Cove opened on January 29, 2015.[24]
The IIJA designates an extended future I-14 corridor that would encompass the original "14th Amendment Highway" and "Gulf Coast Strategic Highway" concepts, including the following designated High Priority Corridors:[25] [26] [27]
TxDOT is currently in the planning stages of construction on the rest of the route in the state[30] and started requesting public feedback in July 2023 to identify issues and opportunities along the proposed route.[31] Work on I-14N and I-14S in the Permian Basin is expected to require approximately 260 roadway projects, which includes 32 bridges, two interchanges, 89miles of added capacity, 136miles rehabilitated or maintained, and 66miles of new location. Planning for this is currently ongoing and expected to end in February 2024 with the design and work on the system expected to continue for at least a decade. TxDOT's feasibility study on the rest of I-14 started in the Fall of 2021 and is expected to take seven years to complete. Construction in the Bryan–College Station metropolitan area is not expected to begin for another 15–20 years based on information provided by the Bryan/College Station Metropolitan Planning Organization in 2022.[32] Various public meetings are planned to be held.[33]
Construction on an extension of I-14 to Temple is expected to begin in 2027[34] [35] while a bypass is currently being built around Rogers.[36] A non-Interstate standard bypass was also built around Heidenheimer in the late 2000s. In July 2023, the Parsons Corporation (PSN) announced that it had been selected by TXDOT's Waco District to design the I-14 extension to Rogers as well as improve I-14/US 190/I-35 system interchange.[37] [38] A public meeting to discuss these plans was held in early-June 2024.[39]
On October 10, 2023, the Bryan division of TXDOT announced that they were launching a study for the I-14 corridor, which will generally follow US 190, from Rogers in Bell County eastward to Huntsville in Walker County. The study will also include the planned I-214 loop in the Bryan-College Station area. Several open houses for public input were announced as well.[40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] Public feedback was also requested by the Brazos County commissioner in November 2023.[46] Public meetings were also held or are going to be held across the Brazos Valley in June and July 2024.[47] A loop around Huntsville is also being planned.[48]
Currently, TxDOT and the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (LaDOTD) are working to replace the two-lane Burr's Ferry Bridge, which marks the eastern and western termini of Texas State Highway 63 (SH 63) and Louisiana Highway 8 (LA 8) respectively, over the Sabine River at the Texas-Louisiana state line. The new bridge will be built to interstate-highway standards about a quarter mile to the south of the existing bridge. The construction of the replacement bridge is expected to start in 2024.[49]
LaDOTD has included I-14 in the state's transportation plan, with the project as a whole estimated to cost $7 billion. The interstate has been seen as a way to spur growth in the currently declining populations across central Louisiana by providing a major east–west highway through the region. However, the project is unfunded and LaDOTD has made maintaining existing infrastructure a top priority for the time being as they also have a backlog of projects worth more than $18 billion.[50]
In May 2023, the Columbus city council announced that they had begun the process of collecting data and looking into the project that would bring I-14 through the city.[51]
In January 2024, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) concluded a study that deemed that the I-14 project would not have a good return on investment. The report indicated that truck traffic on the route would be significantly less than on other interstates in the state, making it less beneficial since the initial cost estimate for building the freeway is around $5 billion. However, the study was only referring to moving freight through the state and it did not completely rule out building I-14 since some benefits were found. GDOT plans to run corridor studies for the project to further evaluate its feasibility and cost.[52] [53]
Exit numbers follow US 190's mile markers.
I-14 in Texas is proposed to have one auxiliary route, Interstate 214 (I-214), which would serve as a loop for Bryan–College Station.[25]