Interstate 77 (I-77) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It traverses diverse terrain, from the mountainous state of West Virginia to the rolling farmlands of North Carolina and Ohio. It largely supplants the old U.S. Route 21 between Cleveland, Ohio, and Columbia, South Carolina, as an important north–south corridor through the middle Appalachians. The southern terminus of Interstate 77 is in Columbia at the junction with Interstate 26. The northern terminus is in Cleveland at the junction with Interstate 90. Other major cities that I-77 connects to include Charlotte; Charleston, West Virginia and Akron, Ohio. The East River Mountain Tunnel, connecting Virginia and West Virginia, is one of only two instances in the United States where a mountain road tunnel crosses a state line. The other is the Cumberland Gap Tunnel, connecting Tennessee and Kentucky. I-77 is a route to the southern United States for those traveling from the Great Lakes region.
