Interstate 10
Photo: steve lyon from yosemite, ca, usa, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Interstate 10 (I-10) is a United States interstate highway that starts at the Pacific Coast in Santa Monica, California and runs east through the states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida to the Atlantic Coast in Jacksonville, Florida. It serves as an important southern tier transcontinental highway across the Southwest and southeastern U.S. connecting the major cities of Los Angeles, Phoenix, Tucson, Las Cruces, El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Gulfport/Biloxi; Mobile, Pensacola and Jacksonville; and the three state capitals of Arizona (Phoenix), Florida (Tallahassee), and Louisiana (Baton Rouge). It is the third longest transcontinental interstate highway behind Interstate 90 (Seattle to Boston on the northern tier) and Interstate 80 (San Francisco to New York City on the middle tier); and the fourth longest east to west interstate after Interstate 40 (Barstow, California to Wilmington, North Carolina).
UnderstandInterstates 8 and 10 carry much of the Old Spanish Auto Trail (OST) between San Diego, California and Jacksonville, Florida which is also overlapped by the Dixie Overland Highway between the I-20 junction in West Texas…
PrepareIn the southwestern deserts between San Antonio, El Paso, Tucson, Phoenix and Indio/Palm Springs, or going off of the I-10 corridor, there are few, if any, services as they are further apart!
Get inInterstate 10 begins/ends at its junction with Pacific Hwy (CA-1) on the Pacific Coast in Santa Monica. Going west the freeway simply goes through a tunnel and curves north as Pacific Highway (CA-1).
GoAmtrak operates trains "more or less" along the Interstate 10 corridor serving the major cities in Southern California, the Southwest, Texas and the Southeastern part of the country.
Drive, CA-60 means California State Highway 60, MS-15 means Mississippi State Highway 15, etc. Attractions and cities are listed in bold are linked to their respective Wikivoyage articles for further reading and discussion.
Alternative routes
Stay safeBeing in warm climates rattlesnakes, cottonmouth snakes and other poisonous snakes can be found hiding in the shade and in/under vegetation. They can even by inside the restroom buildings or under parked vehicles too!
Go next
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Interstate 10" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: steve lyon from yosemite, ca, usa, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons