Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley joined other state and local officials recently in Birmingham to mark the completion of the final section of Interstate 22, a 213-mile highway linking that city with Memphis, Tenn., along the US 78 corridor.
The governor and officials cut a ribbon for the I-22 Interchange at I-65, which completed a 98-mile segment in Alabama on what was called "Corridor X" until it garnered the I-22 designation in 2004.
In Alabama, I-22 runs from the Mississippi state line through Marion, Walker and Jefferson counties to I-65 just north of downtown Birmingham. Just in Alabama, the I-22 segment includes 15 bridges and 14 ramps and cost slightly more than $1 billion to build.
The final Alabama project, connecting I-22 to I-65, began in 2010 at a cost of $168 million.