Mid-South Madness!

[CoreySamson]

I noticed that in the Great Interstate Bracket challenge held a few months back, the winners were all routes from the north and east (90, 80, 75, and 95). In the spirit of March Madness, I decided to create a small tournament to give the Mid-South's main interstates a chance at glory. As always, choose the winner of each matchup and the Interstate with more votes moves on to the next round. Results and the next round will come out every Sunday afternoon. I added an extra rule to keep it about the Mid-South:

- When voting for a route, only take into account the part of the route in the Mid-South states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee west of Nashville). For example, don't vote for I-10 just for its scenic looks out in Arizona or California.
The exception to this rule is if you are ranking an interstate based on connectivity to non Mid-South states (for example, you could vote for I-10 because it connects the Mid-South with LA and JAX)

Now I present the field, and the opening round:

I-10 (1232.61 mi) vs. I-45 (284.91 mi)
In the battle of Houston, the longest interstate in the Mid-South takes on the only intrastate interstate in the bracket.

I-35 (503.96 mi) vs. I-55 (440.72 mi)
The two most important north-south interstates in the Mid-South go head-to-head in the opening round.

I-40* (637.72 mi) vs. I-30 (366.76 mi)
It's a fight for the ages for Little Rock and the 3x3 treatment.

I-20 (980.56 mi) vs. I-49 (349.30 mi)
It's a Shreveport special between possibly the most overlooked x0 and the rising upstart who has sights set on KC.

*(side note: I-40's mileage includes Texas, Arkansas, and Tennessee west of I-840, FYI)

[cjk374]

10, 20, 30, 55.

[I-55]

10,55,40,20

[Echostatic]

10, 20, 30, 35

[GreenLanternCorps]

45,55,30.49

[ski-man]

10, 35, 40, 49

[hotdogPi]

I'm going to write in I-93 for all of them as a protest vote. (By the way, if neither reaches 50%, it goes to a top two runoff.)

[JayhawkCO]

10,55,40,20

I concur. 

Chris

[aboges26]

I'm going to write in I-93 for all of them as a protest vote. (By the way, if neither reaches 50%, it goes to a top two runoff.)

I was thinking I-27.  Very disappointed that the best and least congested interstate in the region did not make the list.  Tsk tsk.

[SkyPesos]

I don't know those interstates that well except 35 and 55, which goes into the Twin Cities/Chicago respectively and my old home state of Missouri, but I'll pitch in:

10
The New Orleans bridge...

35
Dallas, Austin and San Antonio are better cities than what's on I-55, except Chicago.

40
Nashville takes the W on I-40 for me

20
49 is an incomplete mess like 69, and best city on its route is KC, which is in the midwest.

[CoreySamson]

The first round is over, and here are the results:

I-10 beats I-45 handily, 6-1.

I-55 wins a close one against I-35, 4-3.

I-40 makes a comeback after being down 3-1 to beat I-30 4-3.

Finally, I-20 gets an easy win over I-49, 5-2.

This sets up the next round and consolation:

FINAL FOUR
I-10 vs. I-55
Who will win the battle of Laplace?

I-20 vs. I-40
Two fairly different x0s face off for a chance to compete in the title game.

CONSOLATION
I-35 vs. I-45
Two Texan interstates spar in the battle of Dallas to avoid the last place game.

I-30 vs. I-49
Texarkana is the site of this game between possibly the most controversial interstates in the bracket.

[Road Hog]

It's hard under the OP rules to include I-40 across the TX Panhandle without also including the 331 miles within Markwayne Mullin territory. So I propose either all are included or none of it.

[JayhawkCO]

FINAL FOUR
I-10 vs. I-55
Hits more states if nothing else

I-20 vs. I-40
Hits more important cities

CONSOLATION
I-35 vs. I-45
San Antonio + Waco + Austin + Laredo > Houston + Galveston

I-30 vs. I-49
Based on when it's complete

Chris

[cjk374]

10, 20, 30, 35

[MikieTimT]

FINAL FOUR
I-10 vs. I-55
Hits more states if nothing else

I-20 vs. I-40
Hits more important cities

CONSOLATION
I-35 vs. I-45
San Antonio + Waco + Austin + Laredo > Houston + Galveston

I-30 vs. I-49
Based on when it's complete

Chris

Agree, except for I-20 over I-40.  I-40 passes through more meaningful locations and makes more cross-country traffic possible than I-20 in the Mid-South, a fact confirmed by the AADT of pretty much all of the segments of each in the Mid-South.  Besides, I-30 has more traffic east of Dallas than I-20 does, despite its much shorter length.

[CoreySamson]

Figured I'd wait another week to see if there would be more votes, but I guess not, so here's the results of the last round:

I-10 blanks I-55 3-0.

I-20 pulls out a win over I-40, 2-1.

I-35 beats the crap out of I-45, 3-0.

Finally, I-49 wins over I-30 2-1.

That sets up the final round:

Final:
I-10 vs. I-20
The 1 and 2 seeds prepare to duke it out for the title.

Third Place Game:
I-40 vs. I-55
This Memphis-hosted matchup involves the most northerly and most easterly interstates in the bracket.

Fifth Place Game:
I-35 vs. I-49
Can I-35's disappointing showing be at least partially remedied against I-49?

Last Place Game:
I-45 vs. I-30
The two shortest major interstates show down to avoid being crowned the worst of the bracket.

I'll bring out the final results next Saturday.

[JayhawkCO]

Final:
I-10 vs. I-20
I-20 hits an important metro area in every state it's in.  It wins by a nose.

Third Place Game:
I-40 vs. I-55
It hits more important cities in the region.

Fifth Place Game:
Can I-35's disappointing showing be at least partially remedied against I-49?
I-35 more important now, I-49 in the future (for this region)

Last Place Game:
I-45 vs. I-30
Houston > Little Rock

Chris