Interstate 2 (I-2): Rio Grande Valley Route, Length and Safety Data

How long is I-2?

I-2's entry in the FHWA Route Log, current to January 2026, is 46.31 miles, all of them in Texas, and Interstate Guide prints the same number. Wikipedia lists 46.80 miles. Interstate Guide's own overview also says I-2 overlays US 83 for 46.8 miles, so the two figures show up side by side even on one page.

An overlap with another Interstate can't account for the half-mile difference, because the Route Log books no part of I-2 to any other route. The road I-2 shares is US 83, which rides along for the full length, and US highways play no part in the Route Log's mileage. Neither reference explains where the extra 0.49 mile comes from.

The exit numbers look odd for such a short road. They run from 130 at Palmview to 176 at Harlingen because the mileposts, added through the Valley by January 2016, count from Laredo, the planned far western end.

Where I-2 starts and ends

I-2 starts in the west at the Showers Road interchange, exit 130, in Palmview. West of there US 83 stays a freeway on the La Joya relief route, which bypasses Peñitas, La Joya and Sullivan City. Wikipedia says that bypass was built to Interstate standards but is not part of I-2, and its last phase opened in early 2024. The eastern end is exit 176 in Harlingen, the interchange with I-69E and US 77, where US 83 turns south with both of them toward Brownsville.

Going east from Palmview, I-2 passes through Mission, McAllen, Pharr, San Juan, Alamo, Donna, Weslaco, Mercedes and La Feria before reaching Harlingen. It runs near McAllen Miller International Airport and Valley International Airport, and it crosses only two counties, Hidalgo and Cameron.

Interstate junctions along I-2

From west to east, I-2 crosses just two Interstates, and both are branches of I-69. At exit 146B in Pharr it meets I-69C, which begins there and heads north with US 281 toward Edinburg. At Harlingen it runs into I-69E, the interchange that ends I-2 at exit 176 and that I-69E numbers as exit 26B (26B/C in Interstate Guide).

The state highway exits in between are SH 364 at exit 133, SH 107 in Mission at exit 136, SH 336 (10th Street) in McAllen at exit 142 and SH 68 in Donna at exit 151.

Fatal crashes on I-2

FARS lists 20 fatal crashes on I-2's main line from 2020 to 2024, and they took 21 lives, about 4 a year. Routes under 100 miles get no death rate and no place in our ranking of 56 longer Interstates, so the rate and rank boxes for I-2 read n/a. The yearly count barely moved: 5 deaths in 2020, 4 in 2021, 4 in 2022, 3 in 2023 and 5 in 2024, the last year taken from NHTSA's preliminary file.

Hidalgo County, the western of the two counties and home to McAllen and Pharr, had 20 of the 21 deaths. Cameron County, where the road ends at Harlingen, had 1.

Counties with the most I-2 crash deaths

Bridges on I-2

The bridge figures for I-2 come up empty. The 2025 National Bridge Inventory file we match against has no Texas bridges filed under Interstate 2, so the counts here read zero. The freeway does have bridges, starting with the direct connectors at the Pharr interchange.

Most likely the inventory files those structures under US 83, which shares every mile of I-2. We have not yet confirmed that, so so treat the zero bridge counts and the n/a median on this page as missing data, not as a road without bridges.

Tolls on I-2

A trip on I-2 from Palmview to Harlingen costs nothing in tolls. The route has no entry in FHWA's toll inventory dated January 1, 2023, and Wikipedia and Interstate Guide describe no toll or express lanes opened on it after that.

I-2 history: a 1970s US 83 freeway renumbered in 2013

The freeway is about four decades older than its Interstate number. Interstate Guide says US 83 moved onto a new bypass between Mission and Harlingen from 1963 to 1966, and the bypass was upgraded to a freeway in 1971 and 1972. The US 77 freeway from Harlingen to San Benito was built in those same years.

The I-2 number grew out of the I-69 effort. The Alliance for I-69 Texas and Lower Rio Grande Valley leaders proposed a link between the two I-69 branches, and the MAP-21 law passed in 2012 made it possible to sign the road. TxDOT applied on April 1, 2013. AASHTO approved the number in May 2013 (Interstate Guide dates the committee meeting May 5), FHWA signed off on May 24, and TxDOT gave its final approval on May 30. That same round of approvals created I-69E from Brownsville to Raymondville, I-69C from Pharr toward Edinburg and I-369. I-2 shields were unveiled at ceremonies in Pharr and Harlingen on July 15, 2013.

Work to rebuild the I-2 and I-69C interchange in Pharr began in September 2020. Interstate Guide puts the upgrades at $320 million for I-2 from 2nd Street in McAllen to Stewart Road in San Juan, plus I-69C north to Nolana Loop. TxDOT's project page lists two-lane direct connectors, rebuilt ramps and removal of the Sugar Road/Polk Road overpass. MyRGV reported the Harlingen to Edinburg connector opening on December 30, 2023, and quoted TxDOT on delays that pushed the work past its first target date. TxDOT scheduled the new westbound I-2 main lanes and three ramps to open in September 2024; we found no report confirming final completion.

TxDOT's US 83 Regional Corridor Study, finished in August 2023, covered the stretch from the I-2 junction in Palmview to US 59 and Loop 20 in Laredo. Wikipedia says an extended I-2 would end at the future I-69W there, and Interstate Guide calls Laredo the long-range western terminus. For now I-2, I-69C and I-69E form an island of Interstates with no connection to the national network. Finishing I-69E along US 77 between Raymondville and Kingsville is part of the plan to close that gap.

I-2 traffic and road conditions

DriveTexas, linked below, is where TxDOT posts crashes, lane reductions and closures for I-2 and the rest of the Valley. Check it before a trip through the Pharr interchange or anywhere else on the route. The death counts above cover 2020 to 2024 and can't tell you what the road looks like this morning.

I-2 questions