New Interstate Will Have Auburn Exit

Auburn may soon(-ish) have a new Interstate exit 10 miles south of the current city limits.

The $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill is working its way through congress and likely will be signed into law by President Joe Biden later this week. Included in the act is funding for construction of Interstate 14, a project that will build an extension of the 25 or so existing miles of Interstate highway near Killeen, Texas. The new highway will travel West to Odessa, Texas and east to Augusta, Georgia along the current US-80 corridor which passes through southern Lee County.

Depending on the exact route taken, somewhere around mile marker 175 there will be an exit in the Little Texas vicinity that will probably be the sole Auburn exit on I-14. Opelika may have exits where the new Interstate crosses AL-51 and AL-169, as well as the US-280 exit in Phenix City.

Although it may be a decade or more before the route supports traffic, the addition of the New Auburn exit will likely continue the southward growth of Auburn along US-29 (South College Street).

For Auburn motorists and shipping interests, the greatest benefit may be the stretch from Montgomery to Meridian, Mississippi, through Selma and Demopolis. Depending on the alternate routes, the new road could shave as much an hour or more from trips to Jackson, Shreveport, Dallas and all points west.