Interactive timeline of the Interstate system

[roadfro]

Interesting how this map shows both I-15 and I-80 in Nevada seem to have been completed across the state immediately upon passage of the Interstate highway authorization in 1956... In reality, I-15 construction was completed circa 1974 and construction on I-80's last gap (bypassing Lovelock) started in 1981.

[kurumi]

It's tempting to do our own. Would take some time, but could look like this:
* collaborative project in Github or similar. Each change has a source and an author; allows for tracking and correction
* individual segments of roadway defined with date and event (construction, designation change, removal)
* draw segments on Javascript canvas (US state outline backdrop)
* timeline slider
* zoom in and out

[D-Dey65]

I-95 shows as complete in Florida in 1957. Proposed, maybe.

Jacksonville was the only section completed in 1960, much of it wasn't completed until 1968-1978, with the big gap not finished for another 30 years.

They also show it being completed in South Carolina in 1968, when in reality I still remember gaps from the Carolinas to Georgia in the early-1970's. I still remember crying because I-95 ended once again at US 17 before my family got to Florida.

What a piece of shit.

You can say that again!

[J N Winkler]

It's tempting to do our own. Would take some time, but could look like this:
* collaborative project in Github or similar. Each change has a source and an author; allows for tracking and correction
* individual segments of roadway defined with date and event (construction, designation change, removal)
* draw segments on Javascript canvas (US state outline backdrop)
* timeline slider
* zoom in and out

I have considered something along the same lines, but covering all freeways (not just Interstates), and with the ability to force display of system state at each date that a segment opened somewhere in the country.  I have even gone so far as to try to compile a listing of opening years for freeway segments in Kansas (with considerable help from Route56).

To make things uniform, we would have to agree on a standard of completion for each stage (e.g., opening to general public traffic as a full freeway) and take account of edge cases, such as situations where the up and down carriageways of a freeway are completely built out to or even beyond a flat intersection that is later scheduled for grade separation.  It would also be helpful if each completed segment could link to metadata giving source information.

[Life in Paradise]

There are errors & glaring omissions in Indiana as well. The NE portion of I-465 was the LAST section of Indy's beltway to open, not the first as depicted. I-164 (now replaced by I-69) is nowhere to be seen, as is the majority of the southern extension of I-69 (Sections 1-4 between Evansville & Bloomington) which have been open for a few years now.

While I give the creators of this interactive map a B+ for the idea and for putting it together, I have to give them an F for accuracy. Fact checking seems to be a lost art these days, unfortunately.

In addition, I-64 is shown to be completed in Southern Indiana in the late 50s.  I know that the first section of the road did not open until the late 60s (with the exception of the New Albany area) with the rest of it being done in the early 70s.

Oh, and I do remember traveling through Colorado (all the way) on I-70 in the early 70s instead of not seeing I-70 completed in the 1990s as it said. 

Good idea, terrible execution.  I would say that it was not a truly devoted road geek that prepared that presentation.

[davewiecking]

Oh, and I do remember traveling through Colorado (all the way) on I-70 in the early 70s instead of not seeing I-70 completed in the 1990s as it said.

The Glenwood Canyon section was opened to traffic in 1992.

If Alaska's I-1 and I-4 are shown, I want to see the Puerto Rican ones included.

[D-Dey65]

I just checked I-40 in the Texas Panhandle which that site claims was completed in 1959, even though I saw Historic Aerial and topographical maps this morning indicating that it wasn't complete in places like Groom or Shamrock until at least the late-1980's.

[capt.ron]

I-40 is TOTALLY WRONG!! As others have said, it's absolute rubbish. smh

[J N Winkler]

We could easily have over 100 posts saying "This is wrong for the state(s) I know well" or variations thereof, so I would like to ask a question.  Is there even one state for which it is close to accurate?

I wondered how this interactive display came to be made, so I did a little Googling and ran across this press release:

https://www.geotab.com/press-release/evolution-of-interstate/

Geotab is apparently a Canadian company (based in Toronto) that specializes in GPS-based vehicle tracking equipment that plugs into the OBD II port.  (Applications I can think of range from auto DIYers running diagnostics on their own driving, to nosy parents spying on teen drivers, to logistics companies keeping tabs on their fleets.)  The Interactive Interstate Timeline has been created strictly for promotional purposes.  Casual inspection of the company's website turns up no reason to believe it has special expertise in the history of Interstate development.

There is a PIO email on the press release.  I frankly think any communication to the company about the errors in the timeline is more likely to result in its being taken down than in any effort being invested in fixing the mistakes.

[Bruce]

I've been slowly piecing together my own map for the Pacific Northwest, but progress has stalled due to the lack of good newspaper archives available to me online or at various local libraries. A collaborative, national map would be neat.

[CYoder]

I wonder if segment data from the Travel Mapping database could be used in a home-brew (or community-brewed) project?  With permission, I'd assume.

[jeffandnicole]

It's so bad, it's guaranteed to become part of a clickbait website article soon that the media will quickly swallow up as accurate.

[Alex]

If more states produced maps showing the completion dates by segment of their respective Interstate systems, it would be an easier task to compile a master list. Iowa did for the 50th Interstate Anniversary in 2006. I saved a copy for reference purposes on interstate-guide:

[jon daly]

That Iowa map is great! Thanks for posting it.

[J N Winkler]

If more states produced maps showing the completion dates by segment of their respective Interstate systems, it would be an easier task to compile a master list. Iowa did for the 50th Interstate Anniversary in 2006.

I wonder if all states were required to compile completion maps at some point.  The Iowa map is dated January 1, 1982, so I suspect it was compiled in the first instance not for the Interstate fiftieth anniversary, but rather for a stock-taking of the Interstate program as a whole that occurred in Reagan's first term when creation of the Interstate Maintenance fund was under discussion.

[Thunderbyrd316]

Really?  I-5 completed in CA in '74?  It emptied out onto the original US 99 expressway (4-lane with no median barrier but double striped lines) between Vollmers and Castle Crags in the upper Sacramento River canyon until 1992, when the freeway was finally completed.  These folks should go back to Square One, get their facts straight, and redo the whole presentation; it's an inaccurate depiction as is!

That segment of I-5 was posted as I-5 though. (Not "Temporary" either.) And for a long time it seemed as though Cal Trans was going to be content to just leave it that way. That segment was actually pretty cool in a lot of ways too. As for the map, it is full of errors sadly.

[noelbotevera]

I'm sorry if this comes across as condescending, but how are some Interstate opening dates a mystery? Since members on the forum have old map collections, wouldn't it be possible to compile those - state by state, and year by year from 1956 onward - then list each year a segment of Interstate opens (i.e. each segment of Interstate to appear on a map)?

[pianocello]

I'm sorry if this comes across as condescending, but how are some Interstate opening dates a mystery? Since members on the forum have old map collections, wouldn't it be possible to compile those - state by state, and year by year from 1956 onward - then list each year a segment of Interstate opens (i.e. each segment of Interstate to appear on a map)?

I think at least a part of the reason is that paper maps can come with a margin of error. A modern example: I-680 in Iowa is being renumbered to I-880 as we speak, but that change won't be reflected in Rand McNally road atlases until at least the 2021 edition.

[formulanone]

I'm sorry if this comes across as condescending, but how are some Interstate opening dates a mystery? Since members on the forum have old map collections, wouldn't it be possible to compile those - state by state, and year by year from 1956 onward - then list each year a segment of Interstate opens (i.e. each segment of Interstate to appear on a map)?

I think at least a part of the reason is that paper maps can come with a margin of error.

Paper maps have always been unreliable when it came to unfinished / incomplete / projected routes; it's based on some guesses, inconsistent fieldwork, and vague promises. Even a lot of new routes in more recent times are not completed in the same order, even though we would like them to be constructed that way.

Doing all that research might have taken a long time, just to get every little point and date correct, so a lot of assumptions were made, small gaps in the system were ignored for the sake of brevity, though some were not even close to end-to-end completion.

[J N Winkler]

Paper maps (even official state maps) are unreliable for other reasons as well.  In the early days of Interstate construction, many states did not have symbology to indicate exits.  Often map features are generalized to the extent that temporary termini are difficult to locate in respect of nearby towns, let alone down to the nearest exit or mile.

And when compiling completion maps, you have to be transparent about choosing your criteria, since there are multiple options that arguably have equal validity.  For example, you could argue I-335 in Kansas was completed in 1956 (as part of the original Kansas Turnpike) or in 1988 (when the designation was created to allow an increase in speed limit from 55 to 65).  In many states you have situations where the road was open to traffic days, weeks, or even months before the official opening ceremony, temporary signing was in place for years before the final permanent signing was installed, etc.

[Life in Paradise]

Among the Indiana errors
I-69 in SW Indiana was not open to Bloomington in 1995.
I-64 in Southern Indiana was not open in 1960.  That was before I was born, and I remember that work being done in the late 60s and early 70s in SW Indiana, and it took a few more years to get over to New Albany.  Now the bridge across the Ohio and perhaps the road out to Georgetown was open that early, but nothing else.

[Beltway]

Paper maps (even official state maps) are unreliable for other reasons as well.  In the early days of Interstate construction, many states did not have symbology to indicate exits.  Often map features are generalized to the extent that temporary termini are difficult to locate in respect of nearby towns, let alone down to the nearest exit or mile.

Those maps are reasonably accurate, but in a number of cases the opening year can be one or two years off from what can be gleaned from the maps.  Some few cases more than that. 

They are a reasonable guide but are not always accurate to the year which is what I would want.

Then what happens if you don't have every single year of that map?  Missing a year or few?

[J N Winkler]

Then what happens if you don't have every single year of that map?  Missing a year or few?

With official state maps, that is less of a concern than it used to be, because many state DOTs have scanned their old maps and put them online.  There is even some online availability of old county maps as well.

When I was compiling a freeway completion list for Kansas, which was precise to the year (Kansas generally updated maps annually for most of the time Interstates were being built), my primary source was official state maps on KDOT's website.  Richie Kennedy (route56) eventually finished it and included opening dates for some segments, culled from the Kansas State Historical Society's clippings file.

[ce929wax]

I looked at it again.  I can tell you that I remember travelling on I-69 in 1991 when we took my aunt and cousins back to Ohio at the end of that summer.   I do know that between Charlotte and Lansing that there was a Temp I-69 on Michigan state maps circa 1992 or so.

[thspfc]

I find it hard to believe that I-94 from Milwaukee to the Twin cities was not complete until the 80's. Seems like the would have built that corridor before they built I-90 in WI.