Extending a total of 2,555.10 miles (4,112.03 km), Interstate 40 connects western Barstow, California to eastern Wilmington, North Carolina. It runs across California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina from west to east.
A significant portion of Route 66 was ultimately replaced by Interstate 40.
I-40 Rest Areas by State
Choose a state from the list below to get a list of rest areas located inside that state.
I-40 Rest Areas Map
From Wilmington, North Carolina, to Barstow, California, a distance of 2,555 miles is covered by the interstate highway known as Interstate 40. The states of Arizona, Arkansas, California, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas all have rest areas along Interstate 40.
The majority of the western portion, stretching from Oklahoma City to Barstow, either tracks or overlaps the historic route of Route 66 in the United States.
Find out where the rest areas are on Interstate 40, the third longest of the United States’ network of interstate highways, which runs from the middle of the Mojave Desert in Barstow, California, to the Atlantic coast in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Covering a total of eight states The Desert Southwest and the Southeastern United States are connected to each other by the large transcontinental freeway known as Interstate 40.
The route of Historic U.S. 66 is typically followed by the motorway as it travels from Barstow, California, through the Mojave Desert and into the high desert. The freeway begins in Barstow.
Once crossing the Colorado River to the west of Kingman and passing to the south of the Grand Canyon on its way to Flagstaff, Interstate 40 begins to climb in height after it passes over the river.
The I-40 highway traverses the entirety of New Mexico to the east, eventually meeting up with Interstate 25 in Albuquerque as it makes its way through the state.
Interstate 40 enters the Great Plains in eastern New Mexico, just before it reaches Amarillo. This is the beginning of the route that leads into the Texas Panhandle.
At Oklahoma City, the highway diverges from Historic U.S. 66 and continues in an usually eastward direction, whilst U.S. 66 continues in a northeasterly direction toward Tulsa, St. Louis, and Chicago.
Interstate 40 takes a southeasterly turn into Arkansas from Fort Smith, following the state line between Oklahoma and Arkansas all the way to Little Rock.
From the state capital, the freeway takes U.S. Highway 70 east all the way to West Memphis. Before entering the Hernando DeSoto Bridge, which carries Interstate 40 across the Mississippi River, there is a brief concurrency with Interstate 55.
I-40 parallels the northern arc of Memphis’ inner beltway; I-240 runs south. I-40 was originally designed to cross the city using Sam Cooper Boulevard, a half built freeway/boulevard spur to Overton Park.
I-40 leaves Memphis for Jackson and Nashville, where it overlaps I-65 and I-24. I-40 connects Nashville and Knoxville and overlaps I-75 near Farragut.
Interstate 40 enters North Carolina by winding through the Great Smoky Mountains along a path that heads in a southeasterly direction. I-40, sometimes known as the “Tar Heel Expressway,” is a highway that runs almost the entire length of the state of North Carolina and connects the Triad metropolitan area with western North Carolina cities such as Asheville, Hickory, and Statesville.