An example of what I am talking about is MA 27. It wraps around Boston at a distance of about 20 miles away. It's not that great of an example, but it's the best I can find.
Man O'War Boulevard in Lexington, Ky.
Ross Clark Circle (AL-210) in Dothan, AL.
Belt Line Road in Dallas
Loop 12 in Dallas (some freeway portions)
Semoran Blvd (SR-436) in Orlando
Coliseum Blvd (SR-930) in Fort Wayne, IN
US-52 in Lafayette, IN
The upcoming Palm Bay Parkway here in Palm Bay, FL http://parkwaypatriots.weebly.com/maps.html
Nevada State Route 659
I know Wyoming has a few: WY 258 in Casper, WY 212 in Cheyenne, and WY 376 in Rock Springs.
To SD...
If it doesn't have to go all the way around the city, Elk Vale Road/Catron Boulevard (SD 79 and Truck US 16) would count for Rapid City.
They are also planning to have a bypass around Sioux Falls (SD 100), but I don't know when they'll get to it.
North/East/South Blvd., Montgomery AL
US 202, everything from Wilmington to Portland
Pittsburgh's colored belts
SR 155 Nashville TN
Tons in TX:
examples:
LOOP 288 Denton. Partial Arterial, Partial Expy
LOOP 323 Tyler. Arterial.
Sprawlmoran Boulevard (SR 436).
In London:
The A406 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Circular_Road) and the A205 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Circular_Road).
SR 20 in Georgia probably qualifies, although it's only about a 1/2 beltway of Atlanta. The aborted Northern Arc was supposed to at least build a freeway from I-75 to I-85; there's a stopgap set of improvements planned instead, but eventually a freeway (almost certainly a toll road) is probably inevitable.
San Antonio has Loop 1604, which is eventually planned to be a full freeway but is about 70% non-freeway today. As pointed out above, TxDOT has a lot of loops in a similar boat.
Dayton, OH has a string of several roads that make a partial loop around the city. The roads have different names, but collectively they have the designation "Wright Brothers Parkway".
Madison, WI has W. Beltline Highway, but a glance at Google Maps suggests it was upgraded to full freeway. Not sure when this upgrade took place. Abandonment of at least 2 at-grade RR crossings might have helped.
In Nashville, TN, Briley Parkway (TN-155) is full freeway north of I-40. South of there, TN-155 becomes an arterial and changes names at least 3 times before returning to freeway form on the other end.
In Lexington, KY, New Circle Rd (KY-4) is about 1/3 non-freeway, specifically in the arc closest to I-75.
The Rxx series in Belgium. Only those with two digits, the Rx are all freeway-like.
Tallahassee, FL has the Capital Circle, FL 263 on the west side, US 319 on the east side. But it's only a 3/4 loop; the northern piece is missing.
- VA 262 (the northern half)
- VA 286/Fairfax County Pkwy
- Originally, Military Hwy in the Norfolk/South Hampton Roads area (now US 13 and VA 165) performed a similar function.
–Herndon Parkway around Herndon, Virginia (forms a full ring)
–The unpaved road around the Goshen Scout Camps (reservation east of the town of Goshen owned by the Boy Scouts of America's National Capital Area Council) is called "the beltway" with a lowercase "b." Or at least it was in the 1980s and 1990s.
San Antonio used to have Loop 13. Some of the northern loop was upgraded into I-410; it is still signed and exists as surface streets to the south circling maybe 3/5 of the city.
TX Rte. 6 in Houston
Columbia, MO: MO-740 (Stadium Blvd.) circles Columbia to the west and south (connecting I-70 to US-63) with future plans to connect back to I-70 in the east.
St. Louis Metro: MO-141 acts as an outer belt starting at MO-370 northwest of St. Louis and ending just past I-55 south of St. Louis.
The Gallatin County Montana outerbelt- starting from I-90, US 89 south to the North Loop Rd in Yellowstone, the North Loop Rd west to US 20, US 20 west to US 287, US 287 north to US 12, US 12 east to US 89, US 89 south to I-90
http://goo.gl/maps/t95Dc
http://goo.gl/maps/3A7BA
In the Milwaukee area, WI 100 was the original beltway. Probably 75% of it is now one big long commercial strip.
This probably doesn't count because it's too far away from the city, but NY 28 forms a semicircle around Albany with something like a 50-mile radius.
Quote from: tchafe1978 on January 05, 2014, 11:14:09 AM
In the Milwaukee area, WI 100 was the original beltway. Probably 75% of it is now one big long commercial strip.
I was in the area around 1980 and it was building up rapidly then. Hiways can be an engine of economic development.
I recall enjoying driving on the southern strip of 100 and playing Devo's Snowball there on my after market cassette, LOL.
Winnipeg: TCH 100/MB 101 (although the addition of more and more interchanges is creating short freeway segments)
The circa-1960 plan for the Santa Clara Valley included an expressway loop around San Jose. About 21 miles of the 31-mile loop is constructed as expressway (the Montague, San Tomas and Capitol Expressways); the rest is urban arterials (Camden, Hillsdale and Capitol Avenues).
South Carolina has:
Chester bypasses form a near-complete loop (a spiral, really)
SC 16 runs more than halfway around Columbia
SC 118 Aiken is a full loop
Mapmikey
TX 183 around Ft. Worth (sm freeway segment)
M-185.
A108 around Moscow, Russia. It is 560 kilometers long (350 miles).
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FXvPgtPG.png&hash=3952d565001d4431ea7ab89ec54385addcd21ee9)
NJ 439 and North Ave. form a 3/4 beltway around Elizabeth, NJ. NJ 81 and the Turnpike complete the loop.
Moscow: those other two beltways appear to be non-freeway as well.
A108 appears to be the largest beltway so far discussed. any larger ones?
McCarran Boulevard (NV 659) in Reno is one notable example out west.
Too small to really be a beltway, but there is Grand Boulevard in Corona, CA (which actually inspired the city's name).
Shore Road and Fairview Road serve as a half-beltway of Hollister, CA (bypassing Route 25).
Helsinki, Finland: Ring I (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_I) and Ring III (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_III) (Ring II (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keh%C3%A4_II) is not complete).
EDIT: Ring I is the busiest highway in Finland, AADT exceeding 110,000. In the U.S. it would be functionally classified as an urban expressway. Much of Ring III is full motorway, but there are some expressway segments and the westernmost segment is Super-2.
Ring I:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.toward.com%2Fcpz%2Fringi.jpg&hash=56b064b10394228bb8432b94f0f45710ba4ee3ca)
Ring III:
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.toward.com%2Fcpz%2Fringiii.jpg&hash=d2319e81e1b692dbbaed7fba90951a5b9bd1744e)
Quote from: lepidopteran on January 05, 2014, 02:30:24 AM
Madison, WI has W. Beltline Highway, but a glance at Google Maps suggests it was upgraded to full freeway. Not sure when this upgrade took place. Abandonment of at least 2 at-grade RR crossings might have helped.
The Beltline has been upgraded in bits and pieces since it opened in the 1950's. The railroad crossing just west of Fish Hatchery Rd was removed in 2007, though this was the only at-grade intersection on the highway east of Middleton since the late 1980's.
CSAH 22 makes 3/4 of a beltway around Rochester, MN. It's a divided highway with no interchanges and speed limits of 45-55.
Quote from: US 41 on January 05, 2014, 10:12:43 AM
TX Rte. 6 in Houston
Its longer if you include F.M. 1960.
Add Loop 336 in Conroe to the list as well.
In Bucks County, PA; the Newtown Bypass (which carrys segments of PA 332, 413 & 532). Those who were at last year's Doylestown Meet ventured on this road.
Newtown Bypass (http://goo.gl/maps/nD3uc)
Boll Weevil Circle - Enterprise, AL
TX 335 in Amarillo
Lansing, MI's Capitol Loop
Tramway Rd/Blvd in Albuquerque, NM. Other roads in the metro area might also qualify (like Coors or Paseo Del Norte), but Tramway, which covers the northeast quadrant, is the most obvious.
Quote from: Steve on January 06, 2014, 07:06:05 PM
Lansing, MI's Capitol Loop
More of a business route than a beltway.
Providence's Downtown Ring Roads. Pawtucket's Downtown Circulator.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on January 05, 2014, 03:36:20 PM
Moscow: those other two beltways appear to be non-freeway as well.
A108 appears to be the largest beltway so far discussed. any larger ones?
Moscow actually has 5 coincentric beltways, with the center at the Kremlin.
I had a dream last night that someone answered my question about beltways larger than Moscow's with "the asteroid belt".
alas, this appears not to have come to pass.
the asteroid belt is, indeed, larger than Moscow's ring road, and is also not a freeway. just thought I'd throw that out there because I seriously checked this topic this morning wondering if it was something I vaguely remembered.
Quote from: Steve on January 06, 2014, 07:06:05 PM
Lansing, MI's Capitol Loop
It's not really a beltway. It's a business loop (BL-496).
Now, Outer Drive and Grand Boulevard in Detroit are examples of older non-freeway beltways.
Some may not look at it as such but Illinois 83 does act as that kind of a bypass around Chicago.
US 151 around Fond du Lac at this time is an at grade bypass.
According to the anal road "geeks" the Creek Turnpike isn't a freeway, so it would count under their rules.
The Creek Turnpike is neither a creek nor a turnpike. Discuss.
If you use a loose definition of Creek that excludes the whole water part and is just a pathway that has the capacity to transport things and can overflow and that has the potential to subtly reshape surrounding topography, then yes, it is a creek.
London's inner Ring Road. Although it's really a collection of existing roads, it's consistently signed Ring Road on guide signs.
Monument Circle in Indianapolis. It's not a freeway and it fully circles the center of the city.
Shreveport has La. 526 - Bert Kouns Industrial Loop Expy. - around the south side of town.
Natchitoches has a partial beltway around the north, west and south sides - La. 1/La. 6 bypass.
MacArthur Drive in Alexandria (partial).
Lafayette - Ambassador Caffery Parkway on the west side.
Gonzales - you can form a 3/4 loop with La. 42 from La. 44 to La. 73, 73 from La. 42 to La. 30, then La. 30 from 73 to Airline Hwy/US 61 and finally, La. 431 from Airline to La. 931.
Mobile - Henry Aaron Loop (Broad/Canal/Water Streets)
Bowling Green, KY has Campbell Ln/Veterans Memorial Ln/Lovers Ln which makes up the inner belt to I-65/Natcher Pkwy(I-66?)'s Outer Belt
Hartford has CT 218 which functions as sort of a NW beltway and was widened in the 1980's to 4 lanes in most spots instead of building the I-291 segment from I-84/CT 9 to the present I-291.
Indianapolis once had SR-100. I don't think it ever made a complete loop, though it was close.
Quote from: NE2 on January 07, 2014, 12:36:10 PM
The Creek Turnpike is neither a creek nor a turnpike. Discuss.
Duh; it's named after the Creek (aka Muscogee) Native American tribe, originally native to the fall line area of Alabama and Georgia. Who (edging back on-topic) also have a lovely casino off I-65 between Montgomery and Mobile near Atmore, which does not appear to have a beltway (freeway or otherwise).
Even more on-topic, Montgomery does have the West/South/East/North Boulevard almost-beltway abomination, along with AL 271, which bypasses the worst of East Boulevard although probably will be just as bad within the next decade. ALDOT may yet get it right with nu-I-85, sometime after we're all dead.
You can make a long beltway around San Antonio with (clockwise from 12:00) parts of TX 46, TX 123, US 87, TX 197, TX 16, TX 173 and TX 16 again.
The North and South circular(s) around in outer London, England.
The North Circular is mostly freeway. The South Circular is mostly something to avoid. You are also looking at 2 half belts that meet head end to end, rather than a whole one. No Londoner would ever treat it as one route.
TX (LOOP) 12 in the Dallas area (http://goo.gl/maps/WO9Nk) is rather a mixed-bag of sorts in terms of boulevard, road and freeway segments.
http://neroute2.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-creation-of-semoran-boulevard.html
FL 434 could now be along with FL 423 as you can go between two points on FL 50. With the John Young Extension completed you can go from the John Young/ SR 50 intersection to the Alafaya Trail/ SR 50 intersection in one half a circle around the city of Orlando.
Manila's circumferential roads? Of course they don't go completely around because the city faces water. All five C- roads are non-freeway. I'm not sure but C-4 might also be freeway in some sections. (C-6, currently under planning, is going to be a full freeway.)
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2Fyc6hL57.png&hash=91f32df5f4eafd2bc34d3daf2b20fb0a481e6db3)
The north-south road in the image is R-1/R-10.
Boundary Boulevard in Rotunda West, FL. Though its incomplete it does form a circle around a bunch of subdivisions with a water tower being its epicenter. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Rotonda+West,+FL&hl=en&ll=26.883646,-82.290173&spn=0.033301,0.054073&sll=28.11408,-81.617775&sspn=0.032931,0.054073&oq=rotunda,+fl&t=h&hnear=Rotonda+West,+Charlotte+County,+Florida&z=14
Also Waterbridge Circle in Sky Lakes South in Orlando, Florida. This is a complete circle and makes a full 360.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Pepper+Mill+Boulevard,+Orlando,+FL&hl=en&ll=28.402764,-81.411674&spn=0.008211,0.013518&sll=37.6,-95.665&sspn=30.135852,55.371094&oq=pepp&t=h&hnear=Pepper+Mill+Blvd,+Orlando,+Florida+32837&z=16
These are rare cases not only non freeway, but residential street grades.
Grand Blvd. and Outer Drive In Detroit. both not a full circle due to both roads ending at the Detroit River at both ends.
OKC used to have a full one, but major parts have been replaced by Interstates.
The original US 71 Bypass at Fayetteville, AR: 2 Lanes, 5 at-grade intersections, 2 railroad crossings. Now mostly part of I-540.
* The Lindbergh Boulevard/Kirkwood Road corridor almost forms a half loop around St. Louis.
* Chesterfield Parkway in Chesterfield, MO, is kind of an arterial beltway/inner loop for the mall area. Map (https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=38.656494,-90.554509&spn=0.029793,0.066047&t=m&z=15)
* MO 47 kind of forms a large half beltway around St. Louis
The Downtown Loop in Durham, North Carolina, forms sort of a beltway around downtown. I always found it to be a nuisance because it was one-way anti-clockwise and intersected a bunch of one-way streets, yet North Carolina doesn't allow left on red (not that I let that stop me 20 years ago.....). The loop also interrupted the logical routing of a lot of other streets. There was never all that much in the immediate downtown area other than a notable bookstore, but there was often reason to pass through.
Pittsburgh has its color belt system.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegheny_County_belt_system
And Corona, CA has its own Grand Blvd. and its a perfect circle.
The loop around Bitonto, Italy, is perhaps the most perfect circle for a rural road.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FlzBR21v.png&hash=e71a85fcb1d9ab4d570a1091d192b76edbafeff9)
It's not entirely complete, there is a short section missing on the eastern side and the western side has a divided highway crossing through, so you can't follow the entire loop there. I don't know what the history behind this loop is.
Canberra, Australia
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi.imgur.com%2FcM5JXFB.jpg&hash=c991b36e955a0b4450dce528f7d26094d939a29e)
QuoteI don't know what the history behind this loop is.
My first guess would depend on the age of it....wondering if it dates back to Roman times.
Quote from: froggie on March 03, 2014, 09:47:23 PM
QuoteI don't know what the history behind this loop is.
My first guess would depend on the age of it....wondering if it dates back to Roman times.
According to Italian Wikipedia:
QuoteLa "strada poligonale" costituisce l'anulare della città : un cerchio perfetto di tre chilometri circa di raggio. Venne ideata e realizzata tra il 1946 e il 1948 dal presidente del consorzio delle strade vicinali Giuseppe Cazzolla con lo scopo di facilitare l'arrivo in città dalla campagna ma, nel tempo, è diventata un anello di congiunzione dei vari assi stradali che raggiungono la città .
Which means, per the Goog:
QuoteThe "road polygon" is the ring of the city: a perfect circle with a radius of two miles. It was designed and built between 1946 and 1948 by the President of the consortium of local roads Joseph Cazzolla with the aim of facilitating the arrival in town of the country, but, over time, has become a link of the different roads to reach the city .