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Intermodal Surface Transportation and Efficiency Act (ISTEA) of 1991
National Highway System Designation Act (NHS) of 1995
Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) of 1998
Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity
Act of 2005 – A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU)
The Congressional High Priority Corridors were authorized between 1991 and today through a series of major highway bills passed over the past two decades:
- Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA)
- National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 (NHS)
- Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21)
- Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2005 – A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU)
These four acts, along with several fiscal year appropriations bills, authorized a total of 80 "high-priority corridors" (click here to see the complete list). The first 23 were designated by ISTEA, the next 12 by NHS, 18 by TEA-21, one by the Fiscal Year 2002 Transportation Appropriations Bill, and the remainder (36) by SAFETEA-LU. These corridors were deemed by this legislation to be of national importance. In some cases, this meant the corridors were deserving of federal funding.
Of the 80 corridors, several are written into the legislation as potential new Interstate highways, including:
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Of these, Interstates 69, 99, and 376 have their actual designation written into law. Notably, Interstate 26 north of Interstate 81 is also written into law, as is the Creek Turnpike in Tulsa and portions of U.S. 69 in Oklahoma. Neither of the latter two routes have been assigned an Interstate designation. Many of the other corridors may someday become part of the Interstate highway system (U.S. 400, U.S. 412, Avenue of the Saints) or are upgrades to existing Interstate highway corridors (Interstate 15/40, El Camino Real, CANAMEX).
In the linked pages, there is a brief synopsis of the legislation for each corridor, an overview of what has happened with that corridor since then, and my opinions about the corridor. Corridors 1 and 37 because they are both part of the Interstate 49 Corridor, and Corridors 18 and 20 because they are both part of the proposed Interstate 69 "NAFTA Superhighway." TEA-21 has added two corridors that emphasize other High Priority Corridors: Corridor 40 is part of Corridor 17, and Corridor 42 cleans up the designation of Corridors 10 and 11. Corridor 45 is mostly the same as Corridor 10 and parts of Corridor 42, except that it inserts the future Interstate 22 designation. Corridors 44 and 73 (Louisiana 1) and Corridors 37 and 74 (Interstate 49 South) duplicate.
The actual legislation language that pertains to the high priority corridors is available on the Actual Language Used to Describe the ISTEA/NHS/TEA-21/SAFETEA-LU High Priority Corridors page. Also visit the Federal Highway Administration's High Priority Corridors List for still more information. We have prepared several pages on SAFETEA-LU, which is the most recently adopted law. Please CONTACT US to advise of any errors, omissions, or additional information.
Click here to see a list of every high priority corridor authorized since 1991, as amended from time to time.
For official information, visit the following governmental or organizational webpages:
For a complete list of source information, go to the High Priority Corridor Sources Page.
Page Updated August 18, 2005.
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