Closed Exits

[TheHighwayMan3561]

There used to be a frontage road access point on US 169 in Hopkins, MN. It was on the northbound side between Cedar Lake Road and I-394. The exit closed in 2011 or 2012 and a sound wall was built.

https://www.google.com/maps/@44.957592,-93.400724,3a,75y,31.45h,82.38t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s85cIPNUwKg--SlS-VMmNjw!2e0!5s20110701T000000!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

[vtk]

It will open in about 2 weeks for about a week, then it will be closed for 5 years...  The people near the interchange were very upset that this interchange was built since it cost $4 million and it is sparsely used.

This sounds like it would have been funded by the golf venue, in which case, there's no story here (besides the roadgeek trivia).  On the other hand, if this was funded with taxpayer money, Wisconsinites should be grabbing their pitchforks and lighting their torches...

[peterj920]

It will open in about 2 weeks for about a week, then it will be closed for 5 years...  The people near the interchange were very upset that this interchange was built since it cost $4 million and it is sparsely used.

This sounds like it would have been funded by the golf venue, in which case, there's no story here (besides the roadgeek trivia).  On the other hand, if this was funded with taxpayer money, Wisconsinites should be grabbing their pitchforks and lighting their torches...

It was a 50/50 split between Kohler and the taxpayers of Wisconsin, $2 million each.  The project was approved in 2009

[mgk920]

It will open in about 2 weeks for about a week, then it will be closed for 5 years...  The people near the interchange were very upset that this interchange was built since it cost $4 million and it is sparsely used.

This sounds like it would have been funded by the golf venue, in which case, there's no story here (besides the roadgeek trivia).  On the other hand, if this was funded with taxpayer money, Wisconsinites should be grabbing their pitchforks and lighting their torches...

It was a 50/50 split between Kohler and the taxpayers of Wisconsin, $2 million each.  The project was approved in 2009

How much of that was from WisDOT and how much was from the Department of Tourism?

Mike

[Big John]

It will open in about 2 weeks for about a week, then it will be closed for 5 years...  The people near the interchange were very upset that this interchange was built since it cost $4 million and it is sparsely used.

This sounds like it would have been funded by the golf venue, in which case, there's no story here (besides the roadgeek trivia).  On the other hand, if this was funded with taxpayer money, Wisconsinites should be grabbing their pitchforks and lighting their torches...

It was a 50/50 split between Kohler and the taxpayers of Wisconsin, $2 million each.  The project was approved in 2009

How much of that was from WisDOT and how much was from the Department of Tourism?

Mike

According to this, is was 1/2 from the DOT and 1/2 from Kohler, but the total cost was $671,000: http://host.madison.com/news/local/public-money-goes-to-event-only-i--ramp-for/article_5090cce4-73d2-11df-a0cf-001cc4c002e0.html

[jwolfer]

The i95 sb to the i295(east beltway) ramp used to be a cloverleaf but a few years ago a flyover was built. The old cloverleaf is still there.  ( its the cloverleaf with no traffic detail) Interestingly driving both ways on 95  exit 362a comes first. SB used to be the normal exit xB xA set up. 

[briantroutman]

I vaguely recall... Wasn't there a ramp on I-80 in Youngstown–perhaps to the OH 711 freeway–that was closed for a very long time? I seem to remember driving by that exit–a seemingly important left exit with broad, sweeping geometry–with an orange CLOSED banner over the guide sign for what seemed like many years.

[cl94]

I vaguely recall... Wasn't there a ramp on I-80 in Youngstown–perhaps to the OH 711 freeway–that was closed for a very long time? I seem to remember driving by that exit–a seemingly important left exit with broad, sweeping geometry–with an orange CLOSED banner over the guide sign for what seemed like many years.

Yes-because it was a stub until construction on the northern part of SR 711 began in 2002. SR 711 ended at US 422 before then.

[thenetwork]

I seem to recall a "seasonal" exit on the NH Turnpike for a Race Track when I was on a family vacation in the early 80s.  Glancing at Google Maps, I don't see anything resembling one. 

Was there a bona-fide exit for a Race Track back then?  If so, what has become of the exit and/or Race Track???

[Gulol]

NB US 85 had a flyover ramp exit on NB I-25 in Castle Rock, CO (Exit 183 I believe) with SB US 85 merging on to SB I-25.  I think it was 2001 when they closed this exit and moved US 85 up to the Founders/Meadows Pkwy exit.  The former interchange was rebuilt and connected Old US 85 to Front Street.  A bit farther north on I-25, the Surrey Ridge exits were closed as well as the unnamed Exit 191.

[PHLBOS]

I seem to recall a "seasonal" exit on the NH Turnpike for a Race Track when I was on a family vacation in the early 80s.  Glancing at Google Maps, I don't see anything resembling one. 

Was there a bona-fide exit for a Race Track back then?  If so, what has become of the exit and/or Race Track???

That was the Maine Turnpike and the exit (then-Exit 6/current Exit 42) was for Scarborough Downs racetrack (which still exists BTW).

Not sure when it happened; but the interchange itself is no longer a Seasonal Only interchange.
Scarborough Interchange today

[thenetwork]

I seem to recall a "seasonal" exit on the NH Turnpike for a Race Track when I was on a family vacation in the early 80s.  Glancing at Google Maps, I don't see anything resembling one. 

Was there a bona-fide exit for a Race Track back then?  If so, what has become of the exit and/or Race Track???

That was the Maine Turnpike and the exit (then-Exit 6/current Exit 42) was for Scarborough Downs racetrack (which still exists BTW).

Not sure when it happened; but the interchange itself is no longer a Seasonal Only interchange.
Scarborough Interchange today

Thanks for the clarification & confirmation.  I knew there was something up there somewhere.

[lepidopteran]

If we're including seasonal exits, Exit 16 on I-495 (Capital Beltway) in Largo, MD was originally like this, sort of.  It was only open for Redskins football games and perhaps other events at Jack Kent Cooke Stadium (now FedEx Field).  But the development of the shopping center on the site of the old Capital Centre (later USAir Arena) and the Capital Town Center Metrorail station eventually led the exit to be open 24/7.

Another closed exit in the DC area -- ISTR that on US-50 WB, off the C/D ramp for the South Dakota Ave. exit, the ramp for Fort Lincoln Dr. seemed to be closed off for a time.  I think it opened sometime before the adjacent Costco was built, though I suspect the prospect of retail in the area must have helped.

[Rothman]

I seem to remember closed ramps coming off the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge.

[mgk920]

I seem to remember closed ramps coming off the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Those were closed off a little over a decade ago because some in high places were worried that they feed into streets that pass too closely to the NYPD headquarters building.

Mike

[Katavia]

• Bump

[/sup][/sub][/tt]
(sorry, I just felt like doing that  )
I-85 connector in Gastonia - it partially is open to traffic (I think) - but no access from I-85. The exit sign was torn down a while back (2-3 decades?)

[roadman65]

In Tampa, FL there used to be a closed entrance onto I-275 from Westshore Blvd that was abandoned for decades.  I believe the rather recent I-275 widening might of chopped it up.

However, the ramp was closed by FDOT to avoid weaving between it and the nearby interchange with FL 60.  Plus with FL 60 intersecting Westshore Blvd. to the south of it, motorists can still access I-275 rather simple still, so two birds are now killed with one stone to say.

[mgk920]

Another here in the Appleton, WI area at the I-41/US 10/WI 441 'Bridgeview' interchange.

http://binged.it/1Yfoy3h

When the original US 10/WI 441 bridge was opened in 1975, Lake St (the curving street extending southward from the interchange east of I-41) had a SB off/NB on ramp connection to that interchange.  The ramps were closed when then US 41 was upgraded from four to six lanes in 1991/1992 and Lake St was rerouted and extended northwestward over (now) I-41 to feed into Jacobson Rd (the main east-west road south of US 10).  The street bridge is where the former SB off ramp bridge was and that scar to the right of that street bridge is where the fill for the former NB on ramp was dug out as part of the current freeway upgrade project (linked image was flown in late spring/early summer, 2015).

Mike

[busman_49]

In Dayton, OH, for a long time there was a closed exit off of I-75 at Riverside Dr., to and from the east only.  I heard it was closed because of its proximity to the interchange with OH-4, aptly named "Malfunction Junction", at least until its reconstruction in the 200s finally eliminated the tight and narrow curves.  Pretty much all evidence of the ramps on the north side have been eliminated with the recent construction, including the concrete-intensive ramp from the SB bridge down to Riverside Dr.  South of I-75, you can still make out the grading for the NB Riverside-to-NB I-75 on-ramp, along with SB-to-NB loop-ramp, which was actually still in use right up until it closed for the construction project.

They also closed the Little York Rd. exit when they put in the Benchwood/Wyse Rds. interchange. The ROW was still evident until quite recently but now they've developed that newly open land.

That land hasn't been developed quite yet, but I think ODOT is still trying to sell it.  Here's a Google Maps view:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Dayton,+OH/@39.8535088,-84.1898773,759m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x884080d5aedd1403:0xa640e392f20e4ce4

[busman_49]

In Newark, OH, the ramps from OH 16/OH 79 and Buena Vista St. were removed in a 2011 construction project.  It appears the off ramp was eastbound-only and the on-ramp was westbound only.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Newark,+OH/@40.0611266,-82.3941466,268m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x883817d9b080117d:0x11616c35e1b4991c

Link to a proposal page from ODOT:
http://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D05/MajorProjects/SR16Newark/Documents/Buena%20Vista%20Cedar%20and%20State%20Route%2016%20Interchange%20Project%20Information%20Sheet.pdf

[busman_49]

I remembered another one.

In Akron, OH., the ramp from OH 8 southbound to I-76/I-77 westbound had an exit onto Johnston St.  It lasted into the early 2000s, but not much longer than that.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Akron,+OH/@41.0631267,-81.5057488,267m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x8830d7958b2efab7:0x29c96c95fd266d04

[cl94]

I can't remember if this was mentioned, but Ohio SR 315 NB immediately north of the I-670 interchange had a left exit to Olentangy River Road that was taken out when Olentangy River Road was extended. Well before I lived there, but the ramp is still visible and it is used as a bike path.

[GCrites]

In Newark, OH, the ramps from OH 16/OH 79 and Buena Vista St. were removed in a 2011 construction project.  It appears the off ramp was eastbound-only and the on-ramp was westbound only.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Newark,+OH/@40.0611266,-82.3941466,268m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x883817d9b080117d:0x11616c35e1b4991c

Link to a proposal page from ODOT:
http://www.dot.state.oh.us/districts/D05/MajorProjects/SR16Newark/Documents/Buena%20Vista%20Cedar%20and%20State%20Route%2016%20Interchange%20Project%20Information%20Sheet.pdf

That one was nasty. I remember that a year or two before the westbound ramp closed I was on my motorcycle and a slow-moving school bus appeared out of nowhere up the ramp. I was in the right lane of OH-16 and had a "beside buddy" lurking next to me in the left lane so I couldn't get over. I had to get on the brakes hard and heard the car behind me lock up its brakes. Scary! I hate school buses on freeways unless they are on a field trip or transporting kids for extracurriculars. But based on the time of day, this was a part of its regular route which was bullshit.

[GCrites]

I can't remember if this was mentioned, but Ohio SR 315 NB immediately north of the I-670 interchange had a left exit to Olentangy River Road that was taken out when Olentangy River Road was extended. Well before I lived there, but the ramp is still visible and it is used as a bike path.

Well sorta, the R/W of the ramp is still there as the bike path but the ramp itself is gone.

[thenetwork]

I remembered another one.

In Akron, OH., the ramp from OH 8 southbound to I-76/I-77 westbound had an exit onto Johnston St.  It lasted into the early 2000s, but not much longer than that.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Akron,+OH/@41.0631267,-81.5057488,267m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x8830d7958b2efab7:0x29c96c95fd266d04

Not to mention that there used to be an on-ramp to SR-8 Northbound from Inman/Lumiere avenues across from the Johnston St. Off-ramp.  That would have made 3 ramps converging nearly on top of each other before merging onto SR-8 proper when the Central Interchange was fully open! 

And on the other end of the Central Interchange, there used to be a Northbound on-ramp from Lovers Lane to the Central Interchange (SR-8/I-77/then I-80S) and Southbound SR-8 traffic could exit at Lovers Lane.  Due to the increased traffic and short merge/weave area, that on-ramp was closed and torn out in the late 70s/early 80s, while a jersey wall was constructed between SR-8 traffic and I-76 (80S)/77 traffic so the former could not exit at Lovers Lane anymore.


EDIT:  I tried to enter the historicalaerials.com image, but it did not hold the location.  Look at the Central Interchange aerials from 1966.

Zipping around the Akron area a little more, I didn't realize that in the early years, you could not enter I-77/US-21 South from Ghent Road.  Instead, there was a Southbound on-ramp from Cleveland-Massillon Road (Old US-21) to the freeway.   


EDIT:  I tried to enter the historicalaerials.com image, but it did not hold the location. Again.  Look at the Bath Township aerials from 1967.