Cities which need beltways that don't have them

[BridgesToIdealism]

What are some examples of cities that could benefit from/absolutely need at least a partial if not a full beltway around the downtown area, but yet don't have any such facility? The reason for not having a beltway could be that it was never proposed, or that it was cancelled and unbuilt.

The one example that I can think of immediately is Hartford, CT. With the cancellation of the full I-291 and I-484 loops, all Boston-->NYC traffic is forced through downtown Hartford on I-84, which is underbuilt for that level of thru traffic. The same problem exists with Springfield-->New Haven traffic on I-91, which also has no way to bypass center city. The existing segment of I-291 is useful for traffic bound for Bradley Airport from I-84 or points east, but doesn't really have any other good utility beyond that.

[hotdogPi]

Tucson, AZ
Fort Myers/Cape Coral, FL (partial)
North Port/Port Charlotte/Punta Gorda, FL (partial)
Bradenton/Sarasota, FL (partial) (noticing a trend?)
Philadelphia, PA

[kphoger]

Related question:  Why would a city not benefit from having a beltway?

[hotdogPi]

Related question:  Why would a city not benefit from having a beltway?

Oh great, now FritzOwl is going to give Kitty Hawk a beltway. (Fortunately, he only reads fictional.)

[CoreySamson]

Baton Rouge.

Marshall, TX would be one that needs a complete loop, though it could probably get by with it being non-freeway.

Another fun question: What cities have beltways planned but are not needed at all? I nominate Lafayette, LA.

[Max Rockatansky]

Tampa and St. Petersburg

[AlexandriaVA]

Related question:  Why would a city not benefit from having a beltway?

Because beltways (and other roads):

1) Convert what could be otherwise productive land into non-revenue generating land (gas taxes and potential tolls notwithstanding).
     1a) Obviously highways *can* allow for easier travel to productive locations, and also potentially open up more land for
    development. But it does otherwise preclude the ROW from ever being developed.

2) Add to the maintenance obligations of the relevant jurisdiction. Thus the City/County/State of ___ is on the hook for repaving, bridge improvements, etc

[AlexandriaVA]

How about this tradeoff, which I like to call the DC Model-

You get your regional beltway, and you even get some stub highways to go from the beltway towards the core of the region/city.

But you have to give up (either eliminate from the planning books, or tear down) the highways that actually run through the center of the region/city (usually quite valuable land from a development standpoint).

That would be more, I think, what the original Interstate System had in mind, which is also what you see a lot of in Europe.

[hotdogPi]

How about this tradeoff, which I like to call the DC Model-

You get your regional beltway, and you even get some stub highways to go from the beltway towards the core of the region/city.

But you have to give up (either eliminate from the planning books, or tear down) the highways that actually run through the center of the region/city (usually quite valuable land from a development standpoint).

That would be more, I think, what the original Interstate System had in mind, which is also what you see a lot of in Europe.

1. Is there any reason why the original plan was better? Usually, ideas improve over time (from thinking of new things, trial and error, etc.).
2. Isn't DC one of the most congested cities in the US, or at least complained about a lot?

[MCRoads]

Colorado Springs. Maybe it doesn't need it as much as other cities, but it does need something. Because of how long and narrow the city is, the city needs a bypass of downtown purely because everyone needs to use 2 routes: I-25, and Powers Blvd. My mom works in Fountain, but we live up near monument. So she needs to drive a long way through rush hour traffic to get to work. What usually takes us 45 minutes to do during non-rush hour traffic (still fairly busy, mind you), takes her almost 2 hours to do during her commute. There are also some people who live near us that commute to Ft Carson, and also Peterson AFB. I believe the Powers Blvd corridor was intended to be a controlled access freeway, but even if that was upgraded, it would probably still get clogged up with traffic. I believe that the city needs a new freeway further east, and also needs Powers to be widened, as a freeway would be very costly to build with development so close on both sides.

[Rothman]

Rutland, VT
Kokomo, IN
Pocatello, ID

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Glenrio, TX
Monowi, NE

For real, though, I have heard Nashville could use a NE quadrant bypass.

[kphoger]

Glenrio, TX

[1995hoo]

Montreal would be a good one.

Toronto could use a half-beltway (due to the lake), although I suppose the 407 ETR theoretically accomplishes some of that purpose. I don't know whether it's ever supposed to tie back down to 401 on the east side. The "bypass" route could really extend further west beyond, or around, Hamilton.

[Great Lakes Roads]

Lafayette, IN.

[webny99]

Related question:  Why would a city not benefit from having a beltway?

At first, I misread this as what city would not benefit from having a beltway.

My answer to that question would be: Binghamton, NY.

[1995hoo]

Related question:  Why would a city not benefit from having a beltway?

At first, I misread this as what city would not benefit from having a beltway.

My answer to that question would be: Binghamton, NY.

Then there are cities or metro areas where it's essentially impossible to build one. The Greater Miami area might benefit from a partial beltway around the west side linking the Turnpike and I-95 up around the northern end of the Sawgrass Expressway down to the Homestead area, but no such highway can possibly be constructed any further to the west than the existing Sawgrass, I-75, US-27, and Krome Avenue (FL-997) because of the Everglades, except perhaps all the way at the southern end in the Homestead area. If you're not familiar with the area, it's hard to visualize how dense development abruptly ENDS sharply at the north-south part of the Sawgrass (FL-869) and at US-27, and if you ever go out into the Everglades on a boat, you'd see it would be completely impractical (environmentally, financially, and realistically) and arguably very reprehensible (environmentally) to build an elevated beltway through that area.

[webny99]

Toronto could use a half-beltway (due to the lake), although I suppose the 407 ETR theoretically accomplishes some of that purpose. I don't know whether it's ever supposed to tie back down to 401 on the east side.

The ON 115/407 ETR interchange seems to leave open the possibility of a further extension, but I don't think there's anything planned at this time. ON 115, 418, and 412 provide sufficient connectivity even though there's no direct connection to 401.

The "bypass" route could really extend further west beyond, or around, Hamilton.

It's not really needed west of Hamilton (traffic on 403 lightens considerably beyond Hwy 6 South), but east is another story. The Red Hill Valley/QEW interchange is a major bottleneck in the summer, and the QEW can be miserable stop and go traffic all the way from there to Niagara Falls. However, I'm not sure an extension of 407 ETR is the answer even if you could somehow route it through or around the Hamilton area. A fourth lane in each direction through Grimsby and a ban on grape farmers doing 100 km/h in the left lane would help though! 

[ahj2000]

First to mind:
Staunton, VA (pop. 24, 932) has a partially freeway, partially limited access beltway.
It's a bit overkill. I'm originally from NC, where the bypass is supreme, but it's not even a bypass, just a 2/3 beltway to the west of the city.

[Bruce]

Seattle would be harmed by having a full beltway, as it would enable sprawl and require two new long bridges over the Puget Sound that would disrupt marine traffic and migrations. No thanks.

[1995hoo]

Toronto could use a half-beltway (due to the lake), although I suppose the 407 ETR theoretically accomplishes some of that purpose. I don't know whether it's ever supposed to tie back down to 401 on the east side.

The ON 115/407 ETR interchange seems to leave open the possibility of a further extension, but I don't think there's anything planned at this time. ON 115, 418, and 412 provide sufficient connectivity even though there's no direct connection to 401.

The "bypass" route could really extend further west beyond, or around, Hamilton.

It's not really needed west of Hamilton (traffic on 403 lightens considerably beyond Hwy 6 South), but east is another story. The Red Hill Valley/QEW interchange is a major bottleneck in the summer, and the QEW can be miserable stop and go traffic all the way from there to Niagara Falls. However, I'm not sure an extension of 407 ETR is the answer even if you could somehow route it through or around the Hamilton area. A fourth lane in each direction through Grimsby and a ban on grape farmers doing 100 km/h in the left lane would help though! 

Yeah, I couldn't really figure out how to route a bypass on the eastern side of Hamilton. Of course, anyone coming up the QEW from the USA and heading for Toronto would be highly unlikely to use a beltway around the western side of Hamilton barring some MAJOR crash on the east side.

[ahj2000]

First to mind:
Staunton, VA (pop. 24, 932) has a partially freeway, partially limited access beltway.
It's a bit overkill. I'm originally from NC, where the bypass is supreme, but it's not even a bypass, just a 2/3 beltway to the west of the city.

Wait I read this backwards.
Scranton could use some kind of bypass. Traffic can get a bit tight through it and W-B.

[webny99]

Of course, anyone coming up the QEW from the USA and heading for Toronto would be highly unlikely to use a beltway around the western side of Hamilton barring some MAJOR crash on the east side.

Which certainly can happen, because anything that affects the Burlington Bay Skyway creates a traffic nightmare. But as long as traffic on that bridge is moving, it doesn't need a bypass at all: It's one of the best and fastest-moving segments of the entire Toronto to Niagara corridor.

If anything, it would make sense to have two disconnected sections of toll road, with the other running from Mount Albion to Niagara Falls.

[kenarmy]

Birmingham, AL (459 isn't cutting it)
Orlando, Fl
Breezewood, PA 

[US 89]

Easy. Albuquerque.

A beltway was planned at one point - see this article - but the only part of it that ever got built was the freeway bit of Paseo del Norte between Coors and 2nd St (this has since been extended slightly further east to Jefferson). The rest of Paseo and Tramway probably could have been converted to freeways if not for NIMBYs and otherwise poor planning by NMDOT.



In an ideal world, Coors would have also been a freeway or at least a high-grade expressway with ROW to put in interchanges if needed. The full system interchange at 40 looks nice, but it's dumb when you consider that the rest of Coors is stoplight hell. It's too late now but there really should have been some better access control on that.