Interchanges That Never Were

[abefroman329]

Also, the I-95/I-70 interchange in Baltimore, which featured a long ghost ramp for the EB/SB movement that was removed in the late 90s.

Also, the I-95/I-83 interchange in Baltimore, where the lane drops were visible on the viaduct where the ramps would enter and leave I-95; now the viaduct is being widened to 4 thru lanes each way thru the unbuilt interchange area.

I remember once seeing a screencap from a videotape of a drive through one of these interchanges (don't know which one) that showed ghost ramps rising into the air, but I can't find it for the life of me.

[mgk920]

While driving along the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) the other day, I noted something very odd about the overpass for East Avenue in Oak Park, Illinois.  The eastern face of the overpass was built such that it flares out as if it was intended for an interchange.  I did some research, and there was never an interchange of any sort at East Avenue and the Ike.  However, it does appear to have been built to have a partial interchange to/from the east.

Google Maps
Street View on the Ike
Street View from East Avenue

Any other interchanges were the groundwork was laid, but never came to fruition?

Wasn't that where the Crosstown was planned to connect?

Mike

[mgk920]

I-41 and County A near Appleton WI.  The sound walls were pushed back to show where the right-of-way was bought and to accommodate the ramps that were never built.

The east-west part of US (now 'I-') 41 between Appleton and Kaukauna has two additional 'never built' crossroad interchanges besides at Outagamie County 'A' where ROW was preserved when the highway was first built in 1960:

- Meade St
- Rosehill Rd

WisDOT was looking into building an interchange on US (now 'I-') 41 at County 'A' about 20 or so years ago, this to alleviate through traffic problems in the area, but nothing ever became of them (they were looking at a lot of improvements as far north as the Black Creek area as part of this) and with the highway's subsequent promotion to a full interstate, it is highly unlikely that any of those planned interchanges will be built in the foreseeable future, this due to interchange spacing requirements that are part of the basic design standards of the interstate highway system.

Also, if you check aerial images of the area, you'll notice some interesting angles in the area of Fieldcrest Dr and County 'CE' in Kaukauna.  When these routes were being laid out in the mid-late 1950s, a north-south WI 55 bypass of Kaukauna was proposed to run along Kaukauna's west edge, by the city's borders with Combined Locks and Little Chute.  That plan was dropped by the mid 1960s, but the lines were already set in the local development patterns.

Mike

[Revive 755]

While driving along the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) the other day, I noted something very odd about the overpass for East Avenue in Oak Park, Illinois.  The eastern face of the overpass was built such that it flares out as if it was intended for an interchange.  I did some research, and there was never an interchange of any sort at East Avenue and the Ike.  However, it does appear to have been built to have a partial interchange to/from the east.

Google Maps
Street View on the Ike
Street View from East Avenue

Any other interchanges were the groundwork was laid, but never came to fruition?

Wasn't that where the Crosstown was planned to connect?

Mike

The Crosstown would have been closer to/east of IL 50/Cicero Avenue.  I don't think the Crosstown got far enough along to get any ghost ramps.

[bing101]

I-280 at the ramps for Cesar Chavez (Army) Street in San Francisco has wider spots on the structures for where the proposed Route 87 (later Route 230) Hunters Point Freeway connection would have been made (which also would have been part of the Southern Crossing bridge project to Alameda).
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7459959,-122.3941165,455m/data=!3m1!1e3

On I-380 @ I-280 interchange in San Bruno there was going to be an extension where I-380 connects to CA-380 on the median but that was never made due to the opposition at the time and the Southern Crossing from I-380 @ US-101 but that's  been in debates for decades.

In Sacramento at the I-80/CA-51 interchange CA-244 was going to be extended into another freeway but CA-244 is only a ramp.

There used to be a section of CA-480 that had an abrupt roadblock due to CA-480 originally being used to connect to the Presidio Parkway formerly Doyle Drive though and that was stopped.

[ipeters61]

Not sure if this counts for this discussion, but what about US-71 at some of the random streets in Kansas City where the expressway is forced to have stoplights because of a "court order"?

Street View

[mgk920]

Not sure if this counts for this discussion, but what about US-71 at some of the random streets in Kansas City where the expressway is forced to have stoplights because of a "court order"?

Street View

I'm more interested in those two ghost interchanges on I-70 east of the downtown area, the first at Indiana/Truman (I have no idea what its buildout plan towards Independence, MO was) and the other at 29th/Jackson (to feed into the Blue Parkway/MO 350?). What are the stories of these two unbuilt extensions?

https://goo.gl/maps/hkkcJVbjYQ42

I'm much more confident on an eventual resolution regarding US 71(/future I-49?).

Mike

[mgk920]

Here's one that was and is no more - I-49/US 67 (Broad St), Texarkana, AR:

https://goo.gl/maps/XHeNc15Xs7q

Mike

[cwf1701]

US-112 and M-52 near Clinton MI. the US-112 expressway was canceled leaving the grading for the ramps which can be seen. https://www.google.com/maps/@42.0789829,-84.0161442,909m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

[kphoger]

While driving along the Eisenhower Expressway (I-290) the other day, I noted something very odd about the overpass for East Avenue in Oak Park, Illinois.  The eastern face of the overpass was built such that it flares out as if it was intended for an interchange.  I did some research, and there was never an interchange of any sort at East Avenue and the Ike.  However, it does appear to have been built to have a partial interchange to/from the east.

Google Maps
Street View on the Ike
Street View from East Avenue

Any other interchanges were the groundwork was laid, but never came to fruition?

Wasn't that where the Crosstown Hypotenuse was planned to connect?

Mike

un-FTFY

[cpzilliacus]

I-495 (Capital Beltway) at the (never-built) Northern Parkway in  the Silver Spring area of Montgomery County, Maryland.  Years ago, under the original numbering system for Beltway interchanges, there were small signs stating that Exit 22 was a "future" interchange.  There was a fairly large bridge that was constructed to carry the Beltway over Northern Parkway which was removed about 2000 or 2001.

Details in a blog posting from 2014 here.

[mapman1071]

I-17 Durango Curve Was originally built in the 1960's as the future Interchange with I-10 with Overpasses on the Southbound to Eastbound curve, Sometime in the 70's the Southbound to Eastbound Curve overpasses were filled in and the bridges removed.

[ipeters61]

One I was looking at recently, though it ends up being way more than an unused interchange, is I-189 west of US-7 in Vermont.  How did so much road end up being built? https://goo.gl/maps/56mZEThk1Tk

[Tonytone]

Newport freeway in Newport, De. It was supposed to go around the back of wilmington, but for whatever reason it was canceled? Also Route 4 in Newark, De was supposed to be a highway from Elkton-Newark Road & around the back of the city of Newark & suburbs probably making the city even bigger then it is now.

Google Earth Link
https://earth.app.goo.gl/cfCR8D

Newark,De location.




iPhone

[ipeters61]

Newport freeway in Newport, De. It was supposed to go around the back of wilmington, but for whatever reason it was canceled? Also Route 4 in Newark, De was supposed to be a highway from Elkton-Newark Road & around the back of the city of Newark & suburbs probably making the city even bigger then it is now.

Google Earth Link
https://earth.app.goo.gl/cfCR8D

Newark,De location.

I think this thread is meant to be about partially built interchanges, not about road plans.

[Tonytone]

Newport freeway in Newport, De. It was supposed to go around the back of wilmington, but for whatever reason it was canceled? Also Route 4 in Newark, De was supposed to be a highway from Elkton-Newark Road & around the back of the city of Newark & suburbs probably making the city even bigger then it is now.

Google Earth Link
https://earth.app.goo.gl/cfCR8D

Newark,De location.

I think this thread is meant to be about partially built interchanges, not about road plans.

You're right, I believe the Newport highway
Counts. It has a partially built interchange.



iPhone

[froggie]

One I was looking at recently, though it ends up being way more than an unused interchange, is I-189 west of US-7 in Vermont.  How did so much road end up being built? https://goo.gl/maps/56mZEThk1Tk

Part of a late '70s/early '80s plan for the "Southern Connector"**, a 4-lane at-grade roadway extension from I-189 tying into Battery St in downtown Burlington.  What you see is what got built before the discovery of far more contamination than expected along the Pine Street Canal first postponed and then scuttled the project.

The current plan (possibly to begin construction in the next year or two) will partly utilize what got built as a 2-lane parkway-style roadway that will extend up to Lakeside Ave just west of Pine St.

** - This project also completely redid the 189/7 interchange into its current configuration.  The original configuration was a trumpet interchange with 189 bridged over US 7 (instead of the other way around as currently exists).

[TheOneKEA]

At the southern end of the US 1 Bel Air Bypass in Harford County, MD, there is a wide segment of median and a grade separation of approximately 20-25 feet between each side of US 1. Although I've never seen a map or a diagram which confirms it, I believe this was intended to be the point where a proposed replacement of US 1 called the Perring Freeway was intended to join the bypass.

Further along the bypass, the awkward intersection where MD 24 joins US 1 was intended to be a large semi-directional interchange between the two highways. MD 24 was intended to proceed north beyond US 1; I've never seen a map or diagram of this route either so I don't know where it would have rejoined the current routing of MD 24, or what the interchange would have looked like. There are long-unfunded plans on the MDOT SHA books to use the ample site of the planned interchange to build a trumpet between US 1 and MD 24, and widen US 1 into a four-lane freeway between the southern end of the bypass and the intersection beyond the MD 24/924 interchange.

On the eastern side of the Baltimore Beltway, in Essex, MD, there is a very strangely shaped interchange between I-695 and MD 702 at Exit 36. The Beltway was intended to follow MD 702 east of the interchange, travel down the peninsula formed by the north shore of the Back River, and cross the Back River at its mouth to the Chesapeake to rejoin the Beltway. At the point where it would have joined up, south of Exit 41, the median is very wide. Because the crossing was never built, I-695 has to follow the exit ramps that would have linked the Beltway with the freeway south of the interchange at Exit 36, and there are many unused underpasses, ramp stubs and carriageway stubs showing where the missing roads would have gone.

South of Exit 36, there is a sharp 45mph curve where the Beltway turns east. This would have been a link with the Windlass Freeway, a planned cutoff between I-95/895 and MD 43 White Marsh Blvd in Middle River, MD. The segment between I-95 Exit 59 and here was deleted, but not before the ramp stubs at I-95 Exit 59 and the short segment between this curve and Exit 36 were built.

I found out about most of these missing roads from MDRoads, Roads to the Future, and this forum. Someday I'd like to go in the SHA archives and see the plans for these roads and interchanges.

[SSOWorld]

The only thing I can recall that's close to this is something I know you're familiar with, Brandon:  the I-72/US51 interchange on the north side of Decatur anticipating an I-39 extension.  The ghost ramps have been removed, but you can still see the separation of the carriageways to allow for the flyover ramps.

what about this??

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9042546,-88.9879546,1749m/data=!3m1!1e3!5m1!1e1

[froggie]

At the southern end of the US 1 Bel Air Bypass in Harford County, MD, there is a wide segment of median and a grade separation of approximately 20-25 feet between each side of US 1. Although I've never seen a map or a diagram which confirms it, I believe this was intended to be the point where a proposed replacement of US 1 called the Perring Freeway was intended to join the bypass.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=20861.0

In short, yes that's where the Perring Parkway (official docs called it Parkway and not Freeway) would have tied in.

Further along the bypass, the awkward intersection where MD 24 joins US 1 was intended to be a large semi-directional interchange between the two highways. MD 24 was intended to proceed north beyond US 1; I've never seen a map or diagram of this route either so I don't know where it would have rejoined the current routing of MD 24, or what the interchange would have looked like.

See above.  MD 24 was not intended as a new-alignment beyond US 1, at least not in 1959, nor on 1965 and 1977 maps I found.  The 1965 map suggests some sort of Outer Outer Baltimore Bypass freeway along MD 23 instead, which you can see at the top of the 1959 map in the above link.  A 1957 Baltimore County map calls this the "North Cross-Country Expressway"...it would have crossed I-83 near Hereford.

On the eastern side of the Baltimore Beltway, in Essex, MD, there is a very strangely shaped interchange between I-695 and MD 702 at Exit 36. The Beltway was intended to follow MD 702 east of the interchange, travel down the peninsula formed by the north shore of the Back River, and cross the Back River at its mouth to the Chesapeake to rejoin the Beltway. At the point where it would have joined up, south of Exit 41, the median is very wide. Because the crossing was never built, I-695 has to follow the exit ramps that would have linked the Beltway with the freeway south of the interchange at Exit 36, and there are many unused underpasses, ramp stubs and carriageway stubs showing where the missing roads would have gone.

If this was the intention for the Baltimore Beltway, it was dead by 1964.  The 1964 BMATS (Baltimore Metropolitan Area Transportation Study) plan had the Beltway splitting southward at Exit 34 (MD 7/Philadelphia Rd) and meeting the existing Beltway at the curve where the Windlass Freeway would have been built (as you noted below).  A corridor along the MD 702/Southeastern Expwy was still proposed, but would have been at-grade past Eastern Blvd (much as it is today) and across the Back River  Kozel suggests this was the Beltway plan on his website, but given the 1964 BMATS, I'm not convinced that was fully the case.

At the existing Beltway/702 interchange, the Windlass Freeway was planned to continue to the northeast, as far as the White Marsh (today's MD 43) per the 1964 BMATS.

South of Exit 36, there is a sharp 45mph curve where the Beltway turns east. This would have been a link with the Windlass Freeway, a planned cutoff between I-95/895 and MD 43 White Marsh Blvd in Middle River, MD.

As I noted above, this is also where the 1964 BMATS had the extension of the Beltway tying in.  The existing Beltway between here and 702 was to have been an extension of the Windlass.

[TheOneKEA]

At the southern end of the US 1 Bel Air Bypass in Harford County, MD, there is a wide segment of median and a grade separation of approximately 20-25 feet between each side of US 1. Although I've never seen a map or a diagram which confirms it, I believe this was intended to be the point where a proposed replacement of US 1 called the Perring Freeway was intended to join the bypass.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=20861.0

In short, yes that's where the Perring Parkway (official docs called it Parkway and not Freeway) would have tied in.

I forgot about this thread! Thank you for the reminder!

Further along the bypass, the awkward intersection where MD 24 joins US 1 was intended to be a large semi-directional interchange between the two highways. MD 24 was intended to proceed north beyond US 1; I've never seen a map or diagram of this route either so I don't know where it would have rejoined the current routing of MD 24, or what the interchange would have looked like.

See above.  MD 24 was not intended as a new-alignment beyond US 1, at least not in 1959, nor on 1965 and 1977 maps I found.  The 1965 map suggests some sort of Outer Outer Baltimore Bypass freeway along MD 23 instead, which you can see at the top of the 1959 map in the above link.  A 1957 Baltimore County map calls this the "North Cross-Country Expressway"...it would have crossed I-83 near Hereford.

Is the partially access-controlled segment of MD 140 between Taneytown and the eastern end of MD 832 also part of this proposed North Cross-Country Expressway?

On the eastern side of the Baltimore Beltway, in Essex, MD, there is a very strangely shaped interchange between I-695 and MD 702 at Exit 36. The Beltway was intended to follow MD 702 east of the interchange, travel down the peninsula formed by the north shore of the Back River, and cross the Back River at its mouth to the Chesapeake to rejoin the Beltway. At the point where it would have joined up, south of Exit 41, the median is very wide. Because the crossing was never built, I-695 has to follow the exit ramps that would have linked the Beltway with the freeway south of the interchange at Exit 36, and there are many unused underpasses, ramp stubs and carriageway stubs showing where the missing roads would have gone.

If this was the intention for the Baltimore Beltway, it was dead by 1964.  The 1964 BMATS (Baltimore Metropolitan Area Transportation Study) plan had the Beltway splitting southward at Exit 34 (MD 7/Philadelphia Rd) and meeting the existing Beltway at the curve where the Windlass Freeway would have been built (as you noted below).  A corridor along the MD 702/Southeastern Expwy was still proposed, but would have been at-grade past Eastern Blvd (much as it is today) and across the Back River  Kozel suggests this was the Beltway plan on his website, but given the 1964 BMATS, I'm not convinced that was fully the case.

That's interesting. I always found it strange that so many crossings of the Back River were planned for this part of Essex, and assumed that the large wartime traffic to and from Bethlehem Steel were the reason for so much freeway and highway capacity. If the proposal was dead by 1964, though, then why was the Patapsco Freeway south of Exit 41 built with such a wide median?

At the existing Beltway/702 interchange, the Windlass Freeway was planned to continue to the northeast, as far as the White Marsh (today's MD 43) per the 1964 BMATS.

South of Exit 36, there is a sharp 45mph curve where the Beltway turns east. This would have been a link with the Windlass Freeway, a planned cutoff between I-95/895 and MD 43 White Marsh Blvd in Middle River, MD.

As I noted above, this is also where the 1964 BMATS had the extension of the Beltway tying in.  The existing Beltway between here and 702 was to have been an extension of the Windlass.

I'm of the opinion that the segment of the Windlass Freeway between I-95 and this curve should be studied and eventually built. It would help relieve traffic on US 40 and MD 150 and reduce congestion on I-95 north and I-695. There's a sewage treatment plant along Windlass Run between the two freeways, so I wonder how much the local environment would be affected by the construction of a four-lane freeway.

[froggie]

See above.  MD 24 was not intended as a new-alignment beyond US 1, at least not in 1959, nor on 1965 and 1977 maps I found.  The 1965 map suggests some sort of Outer Outer Baltimore Bypass freeway along MD 23 instead, which you can see at the top of the 1959 map in the above link.  A 1957 Baltimore County map calls this the "North Cross-Country Expressway"...it would have crossed I-83 near Hereford.

Is the partially access-controlled segment of MD 140 between Taneytown and the eastern end of MD 832 also part of this proposed North Cross-Country Expressway?

Possibly.  The 1965 map suggests yes, but I've also seen planning maps from Frederick County that would be a definite no.

If this was the intention for the Baltimore Beltway, it was dead by 1964.  The 1964 BMATS (Baltimore Metropolitan Area Transportation Study) plan had the Beltway splitting southward at Exit 34 (MD 7/Philadelphia Rd) and meeting the existing Beltway at the curve where the Windlass Freeway would have been built (as you noted below).  A corridor along the MD 702/Southeastern Expwy was still proposed, but would have been at-grade past Eastern Blvd (much as it is today) and across the Back River  Kozel suggests this was the Beltway plan on his website, but given the 1964 BMATS, I'm not convinced that was fully the case.

That's interesting. I always found it strange that so many crossings of the Back River were planned for this part of Essex, and assumed that the large wartime traffic to and from Bethlehem Steel were the reason for so much freeway and highway capacity. If the proposal was dead by 1964, though, then why was the Patapsco Freeway south of Exit 41 built with such a wide median?

The idea of a Back River bridge there was not dead in 1964.  What was dead was the idea of using that bridge for the Beltway...if that was even a consideration.  As I noted above, I'm not convinced that was the case.

[Revive 755]

I'm more interested in those two ghost interchanges on I-70 east of the downtown area, the first at Indiana/Truman (I have no idea what its buildout plan towards Independence, MO was) and the other at 29th/Jackson (to feed into the Blue Parkway/MO 350?). What are the stories of these two unbuilt extensions?

IIRC, the Jackson Curve ghost ramps were for a feeder arterial, which then morphed into a short feeder freeway, which then morphed into a longer north-south freeway east of US 71 before being cancelled.  The Truman curve appears to have been originally for a short feeder freeway to US 24, and later for a continuation of the north-south freeway which would have gone north to I-35.  There some information on https://www.linecreekloudmouth.com/blog/kc-freeway-history/, and I think there was also a past discussion on it elsewhere in the forum.

[davewiecking]

Rockville Facility proposed to cross under Connecticut Ave:
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0717861,-77.0770699,202m/data=!3m1!1e3

1968 bridge was built with extra width, and the curb flares out at all 4 corners for the cloverleaf that was never built. The SW and NW quadrants still have the groundwork for the outer ramps.

(edited to add:)
Groundwork laid for originally planned interchange of I-95 and I-295 outside Trenton, NJ.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.2919103,-74.7728766,835m/data=!3m1!1e3

[Beltway]

If this was the intention for the Baltimore Beltway, it was dead by 1964.  The 1964 BMATS (Baltimore Metropolitan Area Transportation Study) plan had the Beltway splitting southward at Exit 34 (MD 7/Philadelphia Rd) and meeting the existing Beltway at the curve where the Windlass Freeway would have been built (as you noted below).  A corridor along the MD 702/Southeastern Expwy was still proposed, but would have been at-grade past Eastern Blvd (much as it is today) and across the Back River.  Kozel suggests this was the Beltway plan on his website, but given the 1964 BMATS, I'm not convinced that was fully the case.

Since these discussions haven't resolved it fully I haven't changed it yet.  Seems like the MD-702 route coupled with a river crossing made a continuous beltway route with no low-speed curves (there are three) as we have today with the segment of the Windlass Freeway and segment of the Patapaco Freeway.   The east end of the Patapaco Freeway has a major curve as it transitions into the Outer Harbor Crossing toll facility.

The whole eastern part of the Baltimore Beltway (MD-2 to I-95 north) has its oddities in alignment as well as in how it was developed.  Looks like it was cobbled together, both segmentally and in the widenings/dualizations.