Interstate 22 (I-22): Byhalia to Birmingham Route, Miles and Safety Data

How long is I-22?

FHWA's Route Log puts I-22 at 203.17 miles: 106.70 in Mississippi and 96.47 in Alabama. Wikipedia and Interstate Guide both give 202.22 miles, split 106.00 and 96.22, and Interstate Guide takes that total from the Route Log edition of December 31, 2021.

That leaves a 0.95-mile gap between two editions of the same FHWA table. I-22 has no miles booked to another Interstate in the current edition, and neither source explains the change.

Where I-22 starts and ends

The western end is a cloverleaf just west of Byhalia, in DeSoto County, Mississippi, where I-22 meets I-269 and US 78/MS 304. Interstate Guide says US 78 carries on northwest as a freeway for 11.4 miles to the Tennessee line. Mississippi's exit numbers follow US 78 mileage.

The eastern end is I-65 exit 265A, about five miles north of downtown Birmingham near Lewisburg, where Wikipedia lists I-22's last exits as 95A and 95B. Ramp stubs wait for an exit 95C to US 31. Wikipedia says construction is not expected before 2030, and Interstate Guide calls that extension unfunded.

Heading east, the road passes Holly Springs, the south side of New Albany, Tupelo and Fulton in Mississippi, then Hamilton, Guin, Winfield, Carbon Hill, Jasper and Graysville in Alabama. US 78 shares the pavement from the western end to exit 85 at Graysville and leaves there on a surface road toward Adamsville and Birmingham. Alabama State Route 4, the state's hidden number for US 78, runs with I-22 from the state line to Graysville (exit 85), per Wikipedia.

Interstate junctions along I-22

Only one main Interstate crosses I-22, and it comes at the very end: I-65 in Birmingham. The list below names main routes and leaves out three-digit ones, so I-269 at the western end, which Interstate Guide says connects to I-55 and I-69 at Hernando, does not appear. Along the way, I-22 meets US 45 near Tupelo, a freeway that runs south to Shannon and north to Saltillo.

Fatal crashes on I-22

FARS counts 64 fatal crashes on I-22 from 2020 to 2024, and they killed 70 people, 14 a year on average. Spread over the route, that is 6.9 deaths per 100 route miles each year against 9.5 for the Interstate network, which places I-22 32nd of 56 ranked routes (1st has the highest rate). None of I-22 is shared with another Interstate, so the rate's mileage is simply the Route Log's 203.17.

The two states come out almost even. Mississippi had 37 deaths at a rate of 6.9 and Alabama had 33 at 6.8. Mississippi's deaths bunch in Marshall County, home to Holly Springs, which had 20, more than half the state total. Union County had 6, and Lee County around Tupelo is not among the top five. Alabama's 33 deaths all fall in its three counties on the route: Walker with 14, Marion with 11 and Jefferson with 8. By year the count went 10, 17, 17, 14 and 12, and the 2024 figure is preliminary.

Counties with the most I-22 crash deaths

Bridges on I-22

In the 2025 National Bridge Inventory, the I-22 main line rides on 236 bridges, 125 in Mississippi and 111 in Alabama. Not one rates Poor in either state; 109 rate Good and 127 Fair. Half of them were built in 1991 or later.

At the Birmingham end, the multilevel I-22/I-65 interchange was built from 2010 to 2016 under a $168.6 million contract for the final segment and interchange, and Interstate Guide says its flyover from I-65 north to I-22 west stands 85 feet tall. The route also crosses the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway.

Tolls on I-22

FHWA's toll inventory for January 1, 2023, has nothing on I-22, and the Wikipedia and Interstate Guide pages mention no toll lane opening later. Driving from Byhalia to Birmingham costs nothing in tolls.

From Corridor X to I-22

The freeway began as Corridor X of the Appalachian Development Highway System. Interstate Guide says the letter comes from its place, 24th, in the Appalachian Regional Commission's alphabetical list of corridors. Wikipedia dates Congress's approval of Corridor X to 1978, and Interstate Guide says Alabama started building with its first appropriations in 1983. The 1991 ISTEA highway law listed Corridor X as High Priority Corridor 10.

Public Law 108-199, enacted January 23, 2004, wrote the I-22 number into federal law. Future Interstate 22 signs went up along US 78 that November, and Jasper got its signs on April 18, 2005. In Alabama, the Carbon Hill section from exit 34 to exit 52 opened on November 22, 2005, and a ribbon-cutting on November 22, 2007, opened the stretch from Jasper (exit 65) to exit 91.

AASHTO gave ALDOT conditional approval for the number on November 12, 2012, and the first I-22 shields appeared in Marion and Walker counties in April 2013. Mississippi held its signing ceremony in New Albany on October 23, 2015. The last gap, from Coalburg Road to I-65, was dedicated on June 20, 2016. Mississippi's designation carried a condition that I-22 connect to an existing Interstate within 25 years. Wikipedia says I-269's opening in December 2017 met it, and Interstate Guide dates the finished link to I-55 and I-69 at Hernando to October 26, 2018.

Two related Birmingham projects are unfinished. AASHTO approved I-222, a short connector from I-22 to the proposed I-422 Northern Beltline, on May 18, 2012, and no construction is scheduled. The beltline's first 1.88-mile segment, between SR 79 and SR 75, opened on September 29, 2026, and ALDOT plans to let contracts for the next eight miles west to US 31 in 2027.

I-22 traffic and road conditions

Mississippi's traveler site covers I-22 from Byhalia to the state line, and Alabama's picks it up from there to Birmingham. Ice can close the road: after a January 2026 storm stranded 18-wheelers in north Mississippi, MDOT announced on January 30 that all closed lanes of I-22/US 78 from Red Banks (exit 21) had reopened, WLBT reported.

I-22 questions