The first two-and-a-half-mile (4.0 km) southbound segment was opened on August 16, 2017, near Boulder City, Nevada.[1] It is tentatively planned to run from Nogales, Arizona, to Reno, Nevada, along the current routes of I-19, I-10, US 93 and US 95.[2]

As originally proposed in the 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, the highway would only run from Casa Grande, Arizona, to Las Vegas, Nevada via Kingman and Buckeye, Arizona.[3] This was to provide a direct Interstate link between the Las Vegas and Phoenix metropolitan areas, which are currently the two largest adjacent American cities lacking a direct freeway link.

The Interstate is congressionally enacted as cited above and signs marking the "Future I-11 Corridor" are now posted in Arizona. There are two signs on the southbound side, at mile marker 2 and on US 93 just south of I-40; and two northbound signs north of Phoenix and Kingman on US 93.[4] The involvement of American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)—the agencies normally charged with Interstate Highway numbering and planning—has yet to occur.