Official diagrams of unbuilt interchanges

[kurumi]

In this thread, post images from public hearings, environmental impact reports, etc. of interchanges that were proposed but never constructed (or only partially constructed). Include the full source if you have it. To start off, here's I-91/I-291 in Windsor, CT, from "ENVIRONMENTAL/SECTION 4(f) STATEMENT / The Reconstruction of Interstate Route 91 and the Construction of Interstate Route 291 and Weston Street Connector in the City of Hartford and Town of Windsor", Dated Jan. 31, 1972, by ConnDOT Bureau of Highways.

[Bruce]

Bay Freeway in Seattle, cancelled in 1972. Full write-up here


Bay Freeway Possible Design, 1970 by SounderBruce, on Flickr

[silverback1065]

nice pictures does anyone have any from california?

[TheStranger]

nice pictures does anyone have any from california?

Eric Fischer on Flickr has tons of older Bay Area freeway planning maps, including the proposed 380 west extension, the unbuilt portions of 101, 80 and 480 in SF, the Southern Crossing proposal that would have incorporated an extension of what is now 980 (and a Route 61 freeway) and things like the 1950s San Jose freeway plan (where today's 280 and the south portion of 85 were considered to be one corridor).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/

[silverback1065]

nice pictures does anyone have any from california?

Eric Fischer on Flickr has tons of older Bay Area freeway planning maps, including the proposed 380 west extension, the unbuilt portions of 101, 80 and 480 in SF, the Southern Crossing proposal that would have incorporated an extension of what is now 980 (and a Route 61 freeway) and things like the 1950s San Jose freeway plan (where today's 280 and the south portion of 85 were considered to be one corridor).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/

Wow really good resource, I'm glad they didn't build more in SF, although completing 101 would have been nice. I had no idea they were going to put a bridge just south of i-80. 

[silverback1065]

anyone have any of indianapolis?

[kurumi]

books.google.com has some EIS/public hearing docs online, scanned by volunteers? Unfortunately, they often don't bother to fold out maps, and sometimes stuff like this happens (nice ink, bro):


Anyway, here's CA 252 at I-5 and CA 15:

[TheStranger]

Wow really good resource, I'm glad they didn't build more in SF, although completing 101 would have been nice. I had no idea they were going to put a bridge just south of i-80. 

While San Francisco's highway history has been discussed at length at forum, certain bits of info come to mind
(as someone who drives 60% of the time in SF, mass transit 40% of the time) -

- 19th Avenue/Route 1 corridor (which would have been supplanted by the pre-1968 I-280) is still a major interregional connector that backs up badly at stoplights (Junipero Serra Boulevard, Sloat Boulevard). Lombard and Van Ness portions of 101 continue to have heavy traffic, though most of that likely is for destinations in SF such as the Chestnut Street shopping district and the opera house area near Civic Center.  In the afternoon rush hour, Gough Street between Turk and Duboce (which approximately covers the portion of the Central Freeway that was demolished in the early 1990s) barely moves.

- Some of the north Financial District buildings (Transamerica Pyramid, Alcoa Building/Maritime Plaza, Embarcadero Center) were designed with access to 480 in mind, and in the post-Embarcadero Freeway world do seem isolated from the rest of the urban core (the Transbay area's development, while transit-oriented, is as close to I-80 as the Maritime Plaza area was to 480), not being particularly close to BART, the cable car, or Muni Metro.  Chinatown of course is the neighborhood that was most vocally against the 480 removal, and only now with the Central Subway extension of Muni Metro are they getting improved access into that district, a full 25+ years after the viaduct was demolished.  The Central Subway's opening is still a year or two away though.

- The Central Freeway has become busier to some extent in part due to how it was reconfigured post-earthquake and post-2005 - while some of the old right of way has been taken over by new businesses (particularly Smitten Ice Cream), the added access to the nascent Hayes Valley boutiques via Octavia Boulevard has increased the westbound traffic volume.

- In the early 2000s, some ideas for a new Southern Crossing connecting 238/380 were floated, though that is the longest part of the bay.  The 1960s Southern Crossing proposal is the one that would have connected today's I-980 with the 280/Cesar Chavez Street (Army Street) interchange.  Until the mid-1960s, the 280/Cesar Chavez junction was planned to incorporate the waterfront portion of Route 87 extending north from San Jose, which was eventually canceled.  As it stands, SF was once proposed to have four bridge crossings (Golden Gate Bridge, Tiburon bridge - which IIRC is why Route 131 is in the state highway system, Bay Bridge, and the Southern Crossing) but remains at the same total it has had since 1937.

- The Western Freeway, which would have taken over the right of way of the Panhandle park, was the most contentious for locals (and would have run only blocks away from the Haight Ashbury neighborhood).  To some degree that corridor's importance lessened once the 49ers moved out of Golden Gate Park ca. 1971, three years after the cancellation of that project.

- The Laguna Honda area that 7th Avenue passes through would have been part of the original I-280 corridor, while the Glen Canyon section of O'Shaughnessy Boulevard was slated to be incorporated in a proposed Crosstown Freeway connecting today's 280/Southern Freeway with the Junipero Serra north extension.  As it stands, the northernmost extent of what would have been the original I-280 in SF is the Route 1 freeway/expressway between Daly City and Font Boulevard.

- The Route 1/US 101 junction in the Presidio at one point was to have been also the 280/480 terminus, with 280 following the short Route 1 freeway from Lake Street to US 101, and 480 using the Doyle Drive corridor between 1 and Marina Boulevard.  the Presidio Parkway that opened a year ago to replace the old elevated Doyle is pretty much the newest section of Interstate-standard dual carriageway construction in SF, and involved a mild modernization of the 1/101 split.

[silverback1065]

Wow really good resource, I'm glad they didn't build more in SF, although completing 101 would have been nice. I had no idea they were going to put a bridge just south of i-80. 

While San Francisco's highway history has been discussed at length at forum, certain bits of info come to mind
(as someone who drives 60% of the time in SF, mass transit 40% of the time) -

- 19th Avenue/Route 1 corridor (which would have been supplanted by the pre-1968 I-280) is still a major interregional connector that backs up badly at stoplights (Junipero Serra Boulevard, Sloat Boulevard). Lombard and Van Ness portions of 101 continue to have heavy traffic, though most of that likely is for destinations in SF such as the Chestnut Street shopping district and the opera house area near Civic Center.  In the afternoon rush hour, Gough Street between Turk and Duboce (which approximately covers the portion of the Central Freeway that was demolished in the early 1990s) barely moves.

- Some of the north Financial District buildings (Transamerica Pyramid, Alcoa Building/Maritime Plaza, Embarcadero Center) were designed with access to 480 in mind, and in the post-Embarcadero Freeway world do seem isolated from the rest of the urban core (the Transbay area's development, while transit-oriented, is as close to I-80 as the Maritime Plaza area was to 480), not being particularly close to BART, the cable car, or Muni Metro.  Chinatown of course is the neighborhood that was most vocally against the 480 removal, and only now with the Central Subway extension of Muni Metro are they getting improved access into that district, a full 25+ years after the viaduct was demolished.  The Central Subway's opening is still a year or two away though.

- The Central Freeway has become busier to some extent in part due to how it was reconfigured post-earthquake and post-2005 - while some of the old right of way has been taken over by new businesses (particularly Smitten Ice Cream), the added access to the nascent Hayes Valley boutiques via Octavia Boulevard has increased the westbound traffic volume.

- In the early 2000s, some ideas for a new Southern Crossing connecting 238/380 were floated, though that is the longest part of the bay.  The 1960s Southern Crossing proposal is the one that would have connected today's I-980 with the 280/Cesar Chavez Street (Army Street) interchange.  Until the mid-1960s, the 280/Cesar Chavez junction was planned to incorporate the waterfront portion of Route 87 extending north from San Jose, which was eventually canceled.  As it stands, SF was once proposed to have four bridge crossings (Golden Gate Bridge, Tiburon bridge - which IIRC is why Route 131 is in the state highway system, Bay Bridge, and the Southern Crossing) but remains at the same total it has had since 1937.

- The Western Freeway, which would have taken over the right of way of the Panhandle park, was the most contentious for locals (and would have run only blocks away from the Haight Ashbury neighborhood).  To some degree that corridor's importance lessened once the 49ers moved out of Golden Gate Park ca. 1971, three years after the cancellation of that project.

- The Laguna Honda area that 7th Avenue passes through would have been part of the original I-280 corridor, while the Glen Canyon section of O'Shaughnessy Boulevard was slated to be incorporated in a proposed Crosstown Freeway connecting today's 280/Southern Freeway with the Junipero Serra north extension.  As it stands, the northernmost extent of what would have been the original I-280 in SF is the Route 1 freeway/expressway between Daly City and Font Boulevard.

- The Route 1/US 101 junction in the Presidio at one point was to have been also the 280/480 terminus, with 280 following the short Route 1 freeway from Lake Street to US 101, and 480 using the Doyle Drive corridor between 1 and Marina Boulevard.  the Presidio Parkway that opened a year ago to replace the old elevated Doyle is pretty much the newest section of Interstate-standard dual carriageway construction in SF, and involved a mild modernization of the 1/101 split.

can you provide sources on sf highway history? i'd like to read them

[TheStranger]

can you provide sources on sf highway history? i'd like to read them

http://www.kurumi.com/roads/3di/sanfran.html
http://www.cahighways.org/maps-sf-fwy.html

[triplemultiplex]

A two-fer from Milwaukee's cancelled Park West Freeway (it's rotated 90 degrees).



There's the original vision for the now downgraded Hillside Interchange and the system interchange with the equally unbuilt Stadium North Freeway.

[froggie]

I have several official variations of the proposed-but-cancelled I-335 in Minneapolis on this page.

[zzyzx]

I live near the terminus of Route 11 in CT, and have been following the progress, or lack thereof, for the past several years. Anyway, I found this on Google Archives from The New London Day from 1986.  It's the first I've seen anything that resembles Alt. "C" on the map, which looks like a combined interchange with Exit 82 on I-95.

The full article and better image resolution is in the link:

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=rZZGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=k_gMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2796%2C1751692

[froggie]

One of my favorites.  It's from the 1969 Northern Virginia Major Thoroughfare Plan and shows the then-proposed configuration for an interchange in Arlington County between US 50 (Arlington Blvd), the Four Mile Run Expressway, and Bluemont Dr.  The latter two routes were later cancelled, and US 50 was never upgraded to a freeway:

[froggie]

Here's another one.  This shows the 1963 city plan for downtown St. Paul, MN.



Three freeway-related things of note on this one:

- It shows the original configuration for the I-94/I-35E, I-94/US 52, and I-94/Marion/5th St interchanges.  The interchanges at I-35E and Marion/5th were reconstructed and reconfigured in the early 1990s, with a slight revision then to the I-94/US 52 interchange (mostly adding a direct ramp from SB I-35E to SB US 52).  The I-94/US 52 interchange was further refined a couple years ago by replacing the old loop ramp from NB US 52 to WB I-94 to a longer but wider-radius flyunder ramp.  Direct NB US 52 access to 7th St was also removed, replaced by a ramp looping under both I-94 and 7th St.

- In addition to the old 5th St ramp access to I-94, the map shows what was then-proposed as a direct connection from I-94 via 5th St to Shepard Rd along the river, which would have been a full freeway with the freeway facility extending to today's US 61/Warner Rd intersection.  Warner Rd being limited-access and the interchange on Warner Rd at Pigs Eye are the only remaining vestiges of this freeway proposal.

- Also note the proposed but never built river bridge in the vicinity of Chestnut St/Eagle Pkwy (bottom of the map).  Though limited-access, it did not have a direct freeway connection to either the above-mentioned 5th St/Shepard Rd proposal or to I-35E.  South of the river, it only would have connected to Plato Blvd.

[mgk920]

Here's another one.  This shows the 1963 city plan for downtown St. Paul, MN.



Three freeway-related things of note on this one:

- It shows the original configuration for the I-94/I-35E, I-94/US 52, and I-94/Marion/5th St interchanges.  The interchanges at I-35E and Marion/5th were reconstructed and reconfigured in the early 1990s, with a slight revision then to the I-94/US 52 interchange (mostly adding a direct ramp from SB I-35E to SB US 52).  The I-94/US 52 interchange was further refined a couple years ago by replacing the old loop ramp from NB US 52 to WB I-94 to a longer but wider-radius flyunder ramp.  Direct NB US 52 access to 7th St was also removed, replaced by a ramp looping under both I-94 and 7th St.

- In addition to the old 5th St ramp access to I-94, the map shows what was then-proposed as a direct connection from I-94 via 5th St to Shepard Rd along the river, which would have been a full freeway with the freeway facility extending to today's US 61/Warner Rd intersection.  Warner Rd being limited-access and the interchange on Warner Rd at Pigs Eye are the only remaining vestiges of this freeway proposal.

- Also note the proposed but never built river bridge in the vicinity of Chestnut St/Eagle Pkwy (bottom of the map).  Though limited-access, it did not have a direct freeway connection to either the above-mentioned 5th St/Shepard Rd proposal or to I-35E.  South of the river, it only would have connected to Plato Blvd.

Interesting, indeed.

I was always under the impression that that freeway feed to I-94 west on the west edge of downtown Saint Paul was ultimately planned to be a 'complete the interchange' connection between I-35E to the southwest and I-94 to the west, not a crossover between I-94 west and Shepard Rd/Warner Rd.

Mike

[froggie]

I was always under the impression that that freeway feed to I-94 west on the west edge of downtown Saint Paul was ultimately planned to be a 'complete the interchange' connection between I-35E to the southwest and I-94 to the west, not a crossover between I-94 west and Shepard Rd/Warner Rd.

Nope.  As best as I can tell from my research, there was never a direct connection considered in or near downtown.  What was intended was to use the former Short Line Rd (today's Ayd Mill Rd) for that connection.  Ayd Mill Rd was intended in the 1960s to be upgraded to a freeway and connect to I-94 at MN 51/Snelling Ave.

[Walleye2013]

There is a collection of Cleveland freeway plans on the website for the Cleveland State library. http://www.clevelandmemory.org/freeways/ is the website where you can access all 18 reports.

[Truvelo]

books.google.com has some EIS/public hearing docs online, scanned by volunteers? Unfortunately, they often don't bother to fold out maps, and sometimes stuff like this happens (nice ink, bro):

I must have missed this thread when it was first posted. Anyway, visiting archives to look at plans of unbuilt freeways is something I've been doing a lot of lately. Regarding the comment about folds and creases in maps I use weights to place on maps to stretch them out on tables. Every archive I've visited has these weights.

This map shows part of a 1960s downtown loop for Liverpool. None of it was ever built. These maps were often accompanied by models. Although photos of the models are nice it would be even nicer if the models still exist although it's highly unlikely 50 years on.

[sbeaver44]

(Full size image at https://flic.kr/p/ej8a8X)

Here is East Pennsboro Twp (just west of Harrisburg, PA)'s plan showing the proposed and unbuilt West Shore Expressway.  Eventually, a road connecting I-81 and I-83 would be bit, a few miles to the west, as PA 581.

Nexus 6P

[Beltway]

In this thread, post images from public hearings, environmental impact reports, etc. of interchanges that were proposed but never constructed (or only partially constructed). Include the full source if you have it.

This map shows I-95 in West Baltimore. The interchanges, from left to right, are Caton Avenue, I-70, Washington Boulevard, MD-295/Russell Street, and I-395. This is almost identical to the design as it was ultimately built, except for the unbuilt I-70. The depicted proposal to fill in much of the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River, with earthen fill for urban development, was never built.

Source for all above material: Final Joint Development, Baltimore Interstate Highway System 3-A, by Urban Design Concept Associates (a joint corporate venture of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; J.E. Greiner Company, Inc., Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade & Douglas; Wilber Smith & Associates), December 1970. This document was prepared for the Interstate Division for Baltimore City (a joint city/state agency) on behalf of the City of Baltimore and the State Roads Commission of Maryland in cooperation with the United States Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration.