Interstate 22 I is a Designated in , I follows the route of older U. Route 78 US 78 and is concurrent with the route for all but its eastern most 11 miles 18 km. The freeway mainly spans rural areas and passes numerous small towns along its route, including Fulton , Tupelo , New Albany , and Holly Springs in Mississippi and Jasper , Winfield , and Hamilton in Alabama.
I was upgraded to Interstate Highway standards to close a gap in the Interstate Highway System, allowing for more direct connections between cities in the southeast with cities in the central part of the country. I serves as a connection between Birmingham and suburban Memphis, filling in a gap in the Interstate Highway System. It also fills a gap that provides freeway passage between Atlanta and Oklahoma City.
I begins at a cloverleaf interchange with I just west of Byhalia in DeSoto County in northwestern Mississippi in the far southeastern suburbs of Memphis.
It is concurrent with US 78 , which is a four-lane freeway through its entire length in Mississippi and the exit numbers for its overlap with I remain based on its mileage. The first major community the freeway passes is Holly Springs , the county seat of Marshall County. Continuing southeastward, the freeway than passes through the Holly Springs National Forest and into Benton County passing near several small towns that are accessible through interchanges with or connecting to MS Exit 73 is a six-ramp partial cloverleaf interchange , the first non-diamond interchange on the freeway since its starting point at I, a distance of about The freeway then turns eastward and has an interchange with MS north of Mooreville before crossing into Itawamba County.
A weigh station is also just beyond the exit. One exit later , MS 25 and Corridor V branch off and head northward. Its first interchange exit 3 is located just east of town at County Route 33 CR The freeway curls around the southwest side of the city.
