First freeway in your city to be widened

[MikieTimT]

I-49 here in NWA just this year.  It has been so overdue, that they went from a standard 2x2 straight to 4x4 for a few miles of it.  3x3 for most of the rest of NWA, except for another stretch of 4x4 between the US-71B and US-62 exits up at Bentonville/Rogers.  What's sad is it's still the only contiguous freeway in this corner of Arkansas, despite almost cracking the Top-100 MSAs in population.  Except that it really isn't because of the missing link into Missouri (BVB).

[wriddle082]

As for Nashville (my hometown), I think I-65 from TN 255 to Wedgewood Ave was widened in around "˜85 or "˜86 in conjunction with the original construction of I-440.  I-24 was also widened from I-40 to TN 255 by "˜86, and I think I-40 from TN 155 to just east of I-440 was widened by "˜86 or "˜87.

My guess for Nashville would be the 24-40 concurrency, though I don't know when it happened since they apparently managed to cram another two lanes onto roadways built for six without widening any of the bridges. I couldn't find anything on bridgereports.com, anyway.

I thought about that one and deduced that 24/40 was originally six lanes but was widened to eight via re-striping and eliminating shoulders at some point in the 80's either concurrently with or just after the widenings I previously mentioned.

Also, the south, west, and north portions of the Downtown Loop were all six lanes when they were originally constructed in the early 70's, but the older mid-60's vintage eastern portion (I-24 now, I-24/65 at that time) was widened to six lanes I think around 86 or 87.

Oh yeah, the Silliman Evans Bridge over the Cumberland River *may* have been widened in the late 70's.  If that is true, I think it qualifies as the first widening.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Duluth was probably the southbound truck lane on I-35 between Central and US 2 West. The 2x2+auxiliaries between Mesaba/Superior and I-535 came when the freeway was extended.

[Tom958]

Also, the south, west, and north portions of the Downtown Loop were all six lanes when they were originally constructed in the early 70's, but the older mid-60's vintage eastern portion (I-24 now, I-24/65 at that time) was widened to six lanes I think around 86 or 87.

I didn't know that, and I find it surprising- - I assumed that the whole downtown loop had been built as six lanes. According to http://bridgereports.com/1499226 , the I-24 bridge over Spring Street was widened in 1985, so you're right on the date.

Oh yeah, the Silliman Evans Bridge over the Cumberland River *may* have been widened in the late 70's.  If that is true, I think it qualifies as the first widening.

Actually, http://bridgereports.com/1499231 says the bridges were built in 1963 and "reconstructed," which I presume means widened, in 1973! How strange that they'd widen from six lanes to eight when the connecting freeway to the north would remain only four lanes for more than a decade longer.

I hesitate to give credit as a widening since it's essentially just auxiliary lanes, but I'm glad we had this conversation.

[jdbx]

Locally in my area, CA-24 was rebuilt as a freeway with BART down the median and widened to 4-5 lanes in each direction in the early 70's.  The original Benicia Bridge was widened around 1988 from 2-lanes in each direction to 3-lanes in each direction by cantilevering off of the original deck.  I-680 was widened to 3 lanes in each direction between the Benicia Bridge and CA-242 around the same time.  A 4th HOV lane was then added to that same stretch of I-680 around 2003.  CA-242 (originally signed as CA-24 until the mid 80's) was widened to 3 lanes in each direction around 2000.  The stretch of I-680 between CA-242 and CA-24 was rebuilt and widened in the mid 90's when the 680/24 interchange was rebuilt.

The period between 1985 and 2000 saw a LOT of highway expansion throughout Contra Costa County.  In the early 80's, I-680 was still 2 lanes in each direction with the old oleander median.  At this point, it is 4-7 lanes in each direction with HOV (soon to be HOT), narrow to non-existent left shoulders.

[wriddle082]

Also, the south, west, and north portions of the Downtown Loop were all six lanes when they were originally constructed in the early 70's, but the older mid-60's vintage eastern portion (I-24 now, I-24/65 at that time) was widened to six lanes I think around 86 or 87.

I didn't know that, and I find it surprising- - I assumed that the whole downtown loop had been built as six lanes. According to http://bridgereports.com/1499226 , the I-24 bridge over Spring Street was widened in 1985, so you're right on the date.

Oh yeah, the Silliman Evans Bridge over the Cumberland River *may* have been widened in the late 70's.  If that is true, I think it qualifies as the first widening.

Actually, http://bridgereports.com/1499231 says the bridges were built in 1963 and "reconstructed," which I presume means widened, in 1973! How strange that they'd widen from six lanes to eight when the connecting freeway to the north would remain only four lanes for more than a decade longer.

I hesitate to give credit as a widening since it's essentially just auxiliary lanes, but I'm glad we had this conversation.

I believe the reason it was reconstructed so early in the 70's was due to having flimsy metal railings that were considered very hazardous as they provided little protection to vehicles falling off the bridge and going into the river, and quite a few did.  So this early 70's widening/retrofit replaced the railings with one of the earliest Jersey parapets in TN with a metal rail along the top, along with the connecting ramps at the 40 junction to the south.  Sometime in the last 10-15 years, during a rehab project, the metal railing on top was replaced with a concrete extension, making it look similar to other tall Jersey barriers throughout TN.

An example of this flimsy metal railing style that TN used in this period still exists today here, over I-40 in Dickson County: https://goo.gl/maps/P5m5qvwFTAr

[RobbieL2415]

Probably (former) CT 15/I-86 and (current) I-84 from East Hartford to Union.  Went from four lanes to six from about 1978 to 1989, the last portion finished being the stretch from the current end of CT 15 to I-384.

[kphoger]

I just want to say, every time I see one of your posts, I think agentsteel53 is back on the forum–just because of your avatar.

[TXtoNJ]

Per Houston Freeways, it was the northern section of the Gulf Freeway.

[Tom958]

The NYCRoads crew says theirs was probably the Grand Central Parkway between Horace Harding Blvd (a.k.a. the LIE) and Kew Gardens.

Nope, that didn't happen until the '60's. The first widenings were of the Belt Parkway (all of it, I guess) and the Bronx section of the Hutchinson River Parkway, both in the late '40's. Unlike earlier parkways, these had been built with good-sized medians, making widening them cheap and easy.

[thenetwork]

Cleveland is a real enigma because most of the freeways that were built in the 60s and 70s were built for the future traffic counts in mind. 

Which leaves us with the freeways that were around in the 50s.  Both the West Shoreway (SR-2/US-6/US-20) and the Willow Freeway (I-77/US-21) started out as 2x2s.  Then somewhere in the late 60's/early 70s,  they "added" a 3rd lane in each direction by reducing the width of the existing lanes and shoulders.  Not sure which of those freeways added a 3rd lane first.

As far as physically widening a freeway, my guess is the East Shoreway (I-90/SR-2) from Dead Mans Curve to Bratenahl had a permanent 3rd lane added in the mid 70s as well as an auxillary lane between DMC and E. 55th St.  Prior to that, I believe the East Shoreway squeezed in a 3rd lane by narrowing the lanes & shoulders like it's West Shoreway neighbor.

In the mid 90s, I-71 through Strongsville was one of the original 2x2s that was first widened to accommodate a 3rd lane for the first time -- this was part of the major 3-laning of I-71 from Cleveland to Columbus project.

I also remember the I-75 Detroit-Toledo Expressway being given a 3rd lane widening between the two cities in the mid 1970s.  Took another 10-15 years before Ohio widened I-75 to 3 lanes between the state line and I-280.  I remember how weird it was to see a 6 lane freeway in rural SE Michigan reduce to 4 lanes when entering urban Toledo there.  Usually it is the other way around.

[J N Winkler]

In Wichita, the answer to this question hinges on what is considered to be a freeway.

What is now the Kellogg Avenue (US 54-400) freeway was originally built in the early 1950's as an expressway with a combination of interchanges and flat intersections.  From west to east, from I-235 to the present Turnpike interchange, the original configuration was as follows:

West:  flat

Edwards/Meridian:  grade-separated

Vine:  flat (closed in the 1980's)

Seneca/Sycamore:  grade-separated

Main/Market/Broadway/Topeka:  flat

Washington:  grade-separated

Hydraulic/George Washington Boulevard:  flat

Hillside:  flat

Bluff:  flat

Oliver:  flat

Edgemoor:  flat

Woodlawn:  flat

Armour:  flat

Rock:  flat

Cypress:  flat

To the extent that any of the segments of Kellogg that existed prior to the beginning of significant improvements circa 1980 can be considered freeway, then they were widened in the mid-1990's and formed the first segments of freeway in Wichita to be widened.  But if they are not considered freeway, then the first proper widening is almost finished and consists of the addition of an extra lane in each direction on I-235 between Kellogg and Central.

[abefroman329]

Chicagoland there's a lot of local ones that I'm sure I'll miss, but I'd have to say maybe the Tri-State tollway during the 80s? My first widening experience was the southern Tri-State during the mid-2000s

EDIT: Just realized I answered the question wrong 

I was thinking the (intown) Dan Ryan and Kennedy expressways were widened in the early 90s, because I remember coming home from college one summer and seeing construction crews work on them around the clock. When the project was finished, they sure looked a hell of a lot better than before!

Ah yes, Don't Shout, Re-Route (or Don't Shoot, Re-Route, depending on your preferred pronunciation).

[sparker]

If the criteria for "first widening" is the first time a freeway was expanded beyond its original configuration, then here in the South Bay (Santa Clara County) the first of those would be US 101 from Old Oakland Road (former CA 238) north to the San Mateo county line; the widening from 6 to 8 lanes commenced around 1965 north of the then-new CA 85 merge in Mountain View, was continued south from there by 1973-74 and was completed around 1979-80.  South of Old Oakland the freeway remained 6 lanes but shrunk to 4 under the old Santa Clara St./Alum Rock Ave. overcrossing, built as part of the original Bayshore Highway project.   The overcrossing was replaced and that section of freeway expanded to 8 lanes (with slip lanes added later) in the early '90's.   

[froggie]

^^ I recall the Kennedy reconstruction when I was at Great Lakes in 1994, but that wasn't a widening...just a reconstruction.  The Kennedy's Express Lanes date back to its original construction.

[cl94]

Albany area was PROBABLY I-87 north of NY 9P, which was done by the early-mid 70s.

Buffalo is almost certainly I-90 between Exits 53 and 55, which was originally 4 lanes and is the only significant freeway section in the region to be widened post-construction.

[cwf1701]

In my immediate area, I think it would be the widening of the original western stretch of I-696 (between I-96/I-275 and M-10) from four lanes to eight lanes in 1989.  I think the widening of I-75 in northern Oakland County happened after that.

for the Detroit area, it was I-94 between Michigan Ave and Willow Run Airport in the early 60s, as that was built as 4 lanes in the 1940s  (as M-112) and widened out to 6 lanes and brought up to interstate standards.

[DJ Particle]

Wayzata Blvd wasn't a freeway before that point, though.  There were at-grades at Xerxes, Cedar Lake Rd, and Penn until ca. 1970, and even after that point there were RIRO's at Cedar Lake Rd until construction on I-394 began in the mid-80s.  I'm reading the OP's intention as the first already-existing freeway to be widened in a given city.

Ah...see I thought it was freeway from downtown to MN-100 between 1970 and I-394's incorporation (I knew of the old exit at Wirth...didn't know of the RIROs)

Which within the Minneapolis city limits would technically be WB 62 on the Crosstown Commons.  The original ramp to WB 62 from SB 35W was a single lane.  It was widened to 2 lanes ca. 1968.

I thought the commons were technically in Richfield, though....

In the Twin Cities as a whole, it was I-494 along the Bloomington Strip.  Opened in 1959 as 4 lanes, it became burdened with traffic so quickly it was widened to 6 lanes between MN 100 and today's MN 77 by 1965.

I guess they didn't figure Met Stadium (built 1956) was about to have 2 pro sports teams call it home in 1961  *heh*

[froggie]

Which within the Minneapolis city limits would technically be WB 62 on the Crosstown Commons.  The original ramp to WB 62 from SB 35W was a single lane.  It was widened to 2 lanes ca. 1968.

I thought the commons were technically in Richfield, though....

Upon further review, the ramp I mentioned is indeed in Richfield, albeit just barely.  In that case, first widening within the city limits would probably be when MnDOT redid the Dartmouth Bridge on I-94 and added the auxiliary lanes between Riverside & the U of M exit ca. 1997.  First widescale widening in Minneapolis proper would be the Crosstown Commons project that finished in 2010.

In the Twin Cities as a whole, it was I-494 along the Bloomington Strip.  Opened in 1959 as 4 lanes, it became burdened with traffic so quickly it was widened to 6 lanes between MN 100 and today's MN 77 by 1965.

I guess they didn't figure Met Stadium (built 1956) was about to have 2 pro sports teams call it home in 1961  *heh*

They didn't figure that Bloomington would mushroom the way it did.  The population jumped from 9,902 in 1950 to over 50,000 in 1960.

[mrcmc888]

The I-40 and I-75 split in Knoxville, started in 1982 just in time for the World's Fair.  It desperately needed it-the junction was the biggest roadblock travelers from the Great Lakes states heading to Florida had to face for more than 25 years.

I-640 was completed just as the widening of Malfunction Junction started and I-75 was routed onto it as an encouragement for travelers to use the bypass instead.

http://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/junction-for-malfunction-ep-360224674-356724351.html/

[ccurley100]

The I-40 and I-75 split in Knoxville, started in 1982 just in time for the World's Fair.  It desperately needed it-the junction was the biggest roadblock travelers from the Great Lakes states heading to Florida had to face for more than 25 years.

I-640 was completed just as the widening of Malfunction Junction started and I-75 was routed onto it as an encouragement for travelers to use the bypass instead.

http://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/junction-for-malfunction-ep-360224674-356724351.html/

I can remember seeing all the construction in Knoxville passing through there in 1979. I-75 followed what is I-275 now to get to I-40.


iPhone

[ccurley100]

In Charlotte it was I-85. They started widening it in 1984 or 85. They've been widening it through NC ever since except for the section between Exits 87 and 118. That opened as a 6 lane section in 1984.


iPhone

[countysigns]

I also remember the I-75 Detroit-Toledo Expressway being given a 3rd lane widening between the two cities in the mid 1970s.  Took another 10-15 years before Ohio widened I-75 to 3 lanes between the state line and I-280.  I remember how weird it was to see a 6 lane freeway in rural SE Michigan reduce to 4 lanes when entering urban Toledo there.  Usually it is the other way around.

When I-75 was widened between Detroit and Toledo, was this when the Summit Street interchange got switched from right-on, left-off to how it is today?

[countysigns]

In the Toledo area, if I recall correctly, it was I-75 that was first widened.  By widening I-75 to 3 lanes in each direction from the Michigan line to I-280, it straightened out a really nasty curve that turned into a skating rink in winter and an accident collector in every other season!

[thenetwork]

I also remember the I-75 Detroit-Toledo Expressway being given a 3rd lane widening between the two cities in the mid 1970s.  Took another 10-15 years before Ohio widened I-75 to 3 lanes between the state line and I-280.  I remember how weird it was to see a 6 lane freeway in rural SE Michigan reduce to 4 lanes when entering urban Toledo there.  Usually it is the other way around.

When I-75 was widened between Detroit and Toledo, was this when the Summit Street interchange got switched from right-on, left-off to how it is today?

Yes.  The Flyover off-ramps were constructed at the time of the addition of the 3rd lane.  Then in the late 80s/early 90s the entire stretch was gradually rebuilt -- both the original 2 lanes and the 3rd lanes were ripped out and replaced.