Roads in former railroad rights-of-way

[triplemultiplex]

In Wisconsin, I-94 in the area of 27th St in Milwaukee was built on the grade of a former electric interurban (now called 'Light Rail Transit') line.

There's a lot of freeway mileage in Milwaukee that obliterated the old interurban rail system.  I-94 used the one of the corridors all the way into West Allis.  You can can see the last bit of r/w through the cemetery north of the freeway in the Miller Park vicinity.
The entirety of I-894 uses one of these rail transit corridors.  There is still visible r/w coming south out of the Hale interchange curving towards "Highway A-hunderd".  The high voltage power line running along the east side of US 45/WI 100 through Hales Corners sits on top of the former rail line.


Aerial photos from 1956 show these r/w's.

Mike probably knows this, but there is a functioning remnant of the Interurban Electric Rail system between Mukwonago and East Troy as a tourist novelty.

[bugo]

I remember crossing that bridge for the first time in the dark about 10 years ago.  Approaching the bridge there was a route marker for HI-56 that said you could go straight OR bear right (on the RR bridge) to continue on 56.

They also had contra-flows set up during select hours in the morning where southbound traffic used both lanes of the main bridge while northbound traffic had to use the RR bridge, IIRC.

Is the railroad bridge a truss?

[bugo]

The Broken Arrow Expressway (OK 51/US 64) west of I-44 is in a current railroad right of way.  The freeway was built on either side of the railroad so today the rail line is in the median.

[mgk920]

In Wisconsin, I-94 in the area of 27th St in Milwaukee was built on the grade of a former electric interurban (now called 'Light Rail Transit') line.

There's a lot of freeway mileage in Milwaukee that obliterated the old interurban rail system.  I-94 used the one of the corridors all the way into West Allis.  You can can see the last bit of r/w through the cemetery north of the freeway in the Miller Park vicinity.
The entirety of I-894 uses one of these rail transit corridors.  There is still visible r/w coming south out of the Hale interchange curving towards "Highway A-hunderd".  The high voltage power line running along the east side of US 45/WI 100 through Hales Corners sits on top of the former rail line.


Aerial photos from 1956 show these r/w's.

Mike probably knows this, but there is a functioning remnant of the Interurban Electric Rail system between Mukwonago and East Troy as a tourist novelty.

In the area of Miller Park, those odd-looking power towers, especially visible along I-94 east of the stadium, straddle the abandoned interurban grade.

Mike

[apjung]

Tammany Trace bike trail in Louisiana
https://www.tammanytrace.org/

Civic Blvd in Taipei, Taiwan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civic_Blvd_Expressway

[ibagli]

Colonel By Drive in Ottawa was built on the former railroad right of way after the train station was moved out of downtown.

[Brian556]

SE of Sherman, TX, SH 11 ( FMR FM 1281) was built on an old railroad grade.
Just discovered this when doing research for my Grayson County Highway History Map.

[SectorZ]

Interstate 91 in Hatfield and Whately MA runs on an old rail line that used to be right beside a current line. Also, a portion of US 5/MA 10 west of South Deerfield uses that same old rail line.

http://docs.unh.edu/MA/nrhm95nw.jpg

Good historical map that shows the old lines.

[Roadsguy]

Much of the Fort Washington Expressway (PA 309) in the Philly area is on former railroad right-of-way.

[hm insulators]

I remember crossing that bridge for the first time in the dark about 10 years ago.  Approaching the bridge there was a route marker for HI-56 that said you could go straight OR bear right (on the RR bridge) to continue on 56.

They also had contra-flows set up during select hours in the morning where southbound traffic used both lanes of the main bridge while northbound traffic had to use the RR bridge, IIRC.

Is the railroad bridge a truss?

No; it's just an ordinary-looking bridge. There is an old cantilever-truss bridge on the north shore of Kauai near a town called Hanalei but it was never a railroad bridge. It's a very narrow single-lane thing that was built in 1912. Every so often, the powers that be in both the state of Hawaii and Kauai County make noises that it's time to replace it with a big modern span over the Hanalei River, but the folks in Hanalei and vicinity scream bloody-blue murder about the changes it would bring. If you've ever seen The Descendents with George Clooney and Anne Hathaway, I think (it was up for a Best Picture Oscar a few years ago), part of it was shot in Hanalei. That quaint little town hasn't changed since I was living on Kauai 30 years ago and back then, it probably looked as it did in the 1940s. And the people there like it that way.

[Roadrunner75]

U.S. Route 9 in Beachwood, NJ from the Garden State Parkway south to its merge with Route 166 was constructed in the old Pennsylvania Railroad right-of-way.  This is the same line mentioned earlier in this thread that crossed the Barnegat Bay to Seaside Park and turned north along current Route 35.  It can be seen very clearly from an aerial view of Beachwood, with the vacant former ROW visible at each end of the portion occupied by Route 9.  The old Barnegat Branch of the Central Railroad of NJ (now a pedestrian trail) crosses the ROW in the middle of town forming a visible "X" from above...