Last original Interstate built?

[Bruce]

Looks like there was some serious Evel Knievel rampage at I-5 prior to the road being finished!

Here's a view from Beacon Hill in 1982:



(Source [very large image]: Washington State Secretary of State Archives)

[Scott5114]

I doubt it was truly the last, but I've heard I-235 OK came in toward the end.

[bugo]

I doubt it was truly the last, but I've heard I-235 OK came in toward the end.

Was it signed simply as US 77 before it was completed? Why wasn't the I-235 extension sent northward? (Disregard the "even = loop odd = spur" argument.)

[cpzilliacus]

A point of disagreement with your OP:  depending on how you define I-95/PA Tpk, one could argue that I-95 still isn't completed yet.

I was about to ask that question myself.

[NE2]

I doubt it was truly the last, but I've heard I-235 OK came in toward the end.

It wasn't part of the system until 1976.

[golden eagle]

I-22, when it's finished!  😎

[Kacie Jane]

I-22, when it's finished!  😎

Last original interstate built.  Obviously interstates proposed decades later would be completed decades later.

A point of disagreement with your OP:  depending on how you define I-95/PA Tpk, one could argue that I-95 still isn't completed yet.

I was about to ask that question myself.

I see both sides of the argument, and I guess it depends on your definition of  "original" in NE2's question and how specific you want to be.  An interstate up from Philadelphia to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, then east across the river, then north via the New Jersey Turnpike wasn't part of the original plan; the Somerset Freeway was.  So in that sense, I-95 through PA/NJ as we know it today isn't an "original interstate".  That said, obviously in a more general sense, I-95 from Wilmington through Philadelphia to New York City was an original interstate....

But regardless, the answer to the question "What was the last Interstate from the original Yellow Book plan to be built?" has to be something that has been built, not something we're still waiting on.  So regardless of your interpretation of original, I-95 would still lose at least on a technicality.

[mgk920]

Wasn't the last part of I-76 in the NE Denver metro area completed in about 1992, a year or two before I-70 was completed through Glenwood Canyon?

Mike

[golden eagle]

I-22, when it's finished!  😎

Last original interstate built.  Obviously interstates proposed decades later would be completed decades later.



I was being smarmy.

A point of disagreement with your OP:  depending on how you define I-95/PA Tpk, one could argue that I-95 still isn't completed yet.

I was about to ask that question myself.

I see both sides of the argument, and I guess it depends on your definition of  "original" in NE2's question and how specific you want to be.  An interstate up from Philadelphia to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, then east across the river, then north via the New Jersey Turnpike wasn't part of the original plan; the Somerset Freeway was.  So in that sense, I-95 through PA/NJ as we know it today isn't an "original interstate".  That said, obviously in a more general sense, I-95 from Wilmington through Philadelphia to New York City was an original interstate....

But regardless, the answer to the question "What was the last Interstate from the original Yellow Book plan to be built?" has to be something that has been built, not something we're still waiting on.  So regardless of your interpretation of original, I-95 would still lose at least on a technicality.

[jecht]

I-90 in Wallace is often cited as the last traffic signal to be removed, which is true, because I-90 was properly routed onto surface streets.  This does not take into account that much of the Interstate Mileage was not built in such a manner, so there were miles on some others that could count, but the Interstate Number was not applied to them until they were completed.


Unfortunately I-69 doesn't count (not in the 1950 or 1957 plan), because then you could say 1992 for the final segments in Pt. Huron.

I have an old Rand McNally with I-69 in Michigan--but there is a parallel road that presumably people used while it was built. However, the road is grey (no US or local route number attached to it).

[thenetwork]

Wasn't the last part of I-76 in the NE Denver metro area completed in about 1992, a year or two before I-70 was completed through Glenwood Canyon?

Mike

I believe the original plan was to have I-76 terminate at I-25.  The extension to I-70 was a logical afterthought that was actually completed.  I guess the answer lies in how the exits and mile markers were numbered on I-76 in the late 70's/early 80s prior to the extension. If I-25 was the original Mile Marker 0, then you have the answer.

[GaryV]

I have an old Rand McNally with I-69 in Michigan--but there is a parallel road that presumably people used while it was built. However, the road is grey (no US or local route number attached to it).

Are you talking about near Port Huron?  That would probably be Lapeer Road which used to be M-21.

Northeast of Lansing is Lansing Road which used to be M-78.  There is also a Lansing Road southwest of Lansing toward Charlotte which used to be US-27.  Both of these served as TEMP I-69 for several years. 

Some of these may remain as unsigned state routes; Michigan sometimes does that when a freeway replaces an old road that gets decommissioned.

[jecht]

I have an old Rand McNally with I-69 in Michigan--but there is a parallel road that presumably people used while it was built. However, the road is grey (no US or local route number attached to it).

Are you talking about near Port Huron?  That would probably be Lapeer Road which used to be M-21.

Northeast of Lansing is Lansing Road which used to be M-78.  There is also a Lansing Road southwest of Lansing toward Charlotte which used to be US-27.  Both of these served as TEMP I-69 for several years. 

Some of these may remain as unsigned state routes; Michigan sometimes does that when a freeway replaces an old road that gets decommissioned.

I think those were them--on the '80 Rand McNally I have it shows the "grey" routes. Also, random question: Do state routes have to end at another state route or can they just end randomly? OH-174 starts in Willoughby but ends at Old Mill Road in Gates Mills--rather than another US or OH route.

[Rick Powell]

Also, random question: Do state routes have to end at another state route or can they just end randomly? OH-174 starts in Willoughby but ends at Old Mill Road in Gates Mills--rather than another US or OH route.

Right by my house, IL-178 ends randomly in Lowell, IL, connecting at its southern end to 2 county highways.  I think one of them was a former state route, though.  I am sure there are hundreds of examples out there, including a few state highways in AK that dead end into pretty much nothing. 

[mgk920]

Wasn't the last part of I-76 in the NE Denver metro area completed in about 1992, a year or two before I-70 was completed through Glenwood Canyon?

Mike

I believe the original plan was to have I-76 terminate at I-25.  The extension to I-70 was a logical afterthought that was actually completed.  I guess the answer lies in how the exits and mile markers were numbered on I-76 in the late 70's/early 80s prior to the extension. If I-25 was the original Mile Marker 0, then you have the answer.

The part of I-76 between I-25 and I-70 was completed well before the last part of the previous surface four-lane US 6 was upgraded to interstate standards through the Brighton/Commerce City area.

Mike

[thenetwork]

Also, random question: Do state routes have to end at another state route or can they just end randomly? OH-174 starts in Willoughby but ends at Old Mill Road in Gates Mills--rather than another US or OH route.

Not at all. Ohio, like may other states, has many routes that end at non-intersecting routes:  SR-53 ends at the Put-In-Bay Ferry, SR-163 ends abruptly just past Marblehead, and there are a handful of state routes in Ohio that end at state parks.

In both Colorado and Utah, there are/were state routes that ended in the middle of a town, sort of as a spur route from a more traversed highway.

[hbelkins]

Do state routes have to end at another state route or can they just end randomly?

They can end pretty randomly in Kentucky.

[Sykotyk]

Do state routes have to end at another state route or can they just end randomly?

They can end pretty randomly in Kentucky.

Had a 4-digit KY route end at a boat ramp. Boy was that a surprise at 50mph at night. Luckily I stopped in time.

[hbelkins]

Do state routes have to end at another state route or can they just end randomly?

They can end pretty randomly in Kentucky.

Had a 4-digit KY route end at a boat ramp. Boy was that a surprise at 50mph at night. Luckily I stopped in time.

In most of those instances, the Corps of Engineers puts up multiple signs saying "Road Ends In Water XXX Feet." The signs must have been missing.

[NE2]

Right, but it was exactly the same with I-90 in Seattle.  You went through the last interchange at Rainier Avenue, and then were funneled onto city streets (the old US 10 alignment, just like Wallace) to continue to I-5.  The problem was the hillside and trying to fit in a freeway without destroying the residential neighborhoods.

This argument is moot, since a 1990 aerial shows I-90 already open to I-5: http://historicaerials.com/?layer=1990&zoom=16&lat=47.595&lon=-122.315

[jecht]

1991 Rand McNally still shows the following incomplete:
*I-90 Wallace: September 1991
*I-70 Glenwood Springs (1957 addition): October 1992
*I-476 Philadelphia: December 1992
*I-287 Boonton-Suffern: November 1993
*I-295 Trenton: December 1994

So (unless Rand McNally was crappier than usual) I-90 was in fact the last original two-digit. I-70 was the last 1950s two-digit, and I-295 was the last period.

I saw somewhere I-480 was still not even completed until August '87! That was the section between Brook Park Road (Exit 17) and westward to W. 150th. You had to get off at the eastbound W. 150th/W. 130th (a slight bend to the right) and take a left on Brook Park, go five miles, and then get on 480 at that point (bridges for the Jennings Freeway were not completed until '98).

[thenetwork]

1991 Rand McNally still shows the following incomplete:
*I-90 Wallace: September 1991
*I-70 Glenwood Springs (1957 addition): October 1992
*I-476 Philadelphia: December 1992
*I-287 Boonton-Suffern: November 1993
*I-295 Trenton: December 1994

So (unless Rand McNally was crappier than usual) I-90 was in fact the last original two-digit. I-70 was the last 1950s two-digit, and I-295 was the last period.

I saw somewhere I-480 was still not even completed until August '87! That was the section between Brook Park Road (Exit 17) and westward to W. 150th. You had to get off at the eastbound W. 150th/W. 130th (a slight bend to the right) and take a left on Brook Park, go five miles, and then get on 480 at that point (bridges for the Jennings Freeway were not completed until '98).

And believe me, them were the longest 5 miles of your life!!!  Expect at least an hour to go the 5 miles down Brookpark Road on a Friday evening rush hour back then.  Why they never attempted to synchronize the lights is beyond me.

Meanwhile, what became just a 2-mile stub called I-490 in Cleveland was completed in 1989 or 1990.

[jecht]

1991 Rand McNally still shows the following incomplete:
*I-90 Wallace: September 1991
*I-70 Glenwood Springs (1957 addition): October 1992
*I-476 Philadelphia: December 1992
*I-287 Boonton-Suffern: November 1993
*I-295 Trenton: December 1994

So (unless Rand McNally was crappier than usual) I-90 was in fact the last original two-digit. I-70 was the last 1950s two-digit, and I-295 was the last period.

I saw somewhere I-480 was still not even completed until August '87! That was the section between Brook Park Road (Exit 17) and westward to W. 150th. You had to get off at the eastbound W. 150th/W. 130th (a slight bend to the right) and take a left on Brook Park, go five miles, and then get on 480 at that point (bridges for the Jennings Freeway were not completed until '98).

And believe me, them were the longest 5 miles of your life!!!  Expect at least an hour to go the 5 miles down Brookpark Road on a Friday evening rush hour back then.  Why they never attempted to synchronize the lights is beyond me.

Meanwhile, what became just a 2-mile stub called I-490 in Cleveland was completed in 1989 or 1990.

#redlightdistrict
#awkward

[GeauxLSU]

Does I-90 still have a super-4 like segment in Montana?

Nope. The segment in question, near the Idaho line, has a jersey barrier now:
https://www.google.com/maps/@47.45101,-115.693849,3a,49.9y,176.99h,76.87t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1senvJsUYMMt6bDBp4RvoCAg!2e0

My understanding is that this barrier dates back to the early 2000s, basically not long after the IHOZ site (which had documented this irregularity) last updated.

Is this an old United States Route?

[froggie]

US 10.  Hard to say if it was 4-laned before conversion to Interstate, though.  My (incomplete) collection of MT state maps suggests the Interstate conversion happened in the early 1970s.