Cities that completed their freeway network

[cl94]

Found this, which shows US 23 as a freeway outside I-270 and US 33 implicitly connecting to I-70.

I bet the apartments to the SE of the current interchange hadn't been built yet. There probably wasn't any development at all there at the time. So they probably assumed that nothing was going to get in the way of it except maybe on the NE corner.

Even though the interchange isn't freeway standard, it's nearly complete and, for the 4 freeway/expressway movements, expressway standard. Remember: US 33 isn't freeway grade until the Lancaster bypass (unless you include the short section between SRs 104 and 317). A few at-grades remain, but an expressway does exist south of I-70. Given the geometry and development in the area, they really can't do much more without cutting off a subdivision or tearing a bunch of stuff down. If they really wanted to, they could make all movements to and from the south freeway-grade without tearing stuff down, but it's pretty pointless to build large flyovers to make movements that the current setup handles fine. If anything, they need to improve access between James and Refugee Rds before they worry about grade separating more stuff. One bridge would do it.

[GCrites]

That gore is massive too. It always made me wonder of there were supposed to be more roads in it.

[Scott5114]

Oklahoma City has never had any of its originally planned freeways canceled.

[GCrites]

Found this, which shows US 23 as a freeway outside I-270 and US 33 implicitly connecting to I-70.

I bet the apartments to the SE of the current interchange hadn't been built yet. There probably wasn't any development at all there at the time. So they probably assumed that nothing was going to get in the way of it except maybe on the NE corner.

Even though the interchange isn't freeway standard, it's nearly complete and, for the 4 freeway/expressway movements, expressway standard. Remember: US 33 isn't freeway grade until the Lancaster bypass (unless you include the short section between SRs 104 and 317). A few at-grades remain, but an expressway does exist south of I-70. Given the geometry and development in the area, they really can't do much more without cutting off a subdivision or tearing a bunch of stuff down. If they really wanted to, they could make all movements to and from the south freeway-grade without tearing stuff down, but it's pretty pointless to build large flyovers to make movements that the current setup handles fine. If anything, they need to improve access between James and Refugee Rds before they worry about grade separating more stuff. One bridge would do it.

Ugh, that weave is lame. And then people doing u-turns at the next turnaround when they miss it.

[cl94]

Found this, which shows US 23 as a freeway outside I-270 and US 33 implicitly connecting to I-70.

I bet the apartments to the SE of the current interchange hadn't been built yet. There probably wasn't any development at all there at the time. So they probably assumed that nothing was going to get in the way of it except maybe on the NE corner.

Even though the interchange isn't freeway standard, it's nearly complete and, for the 4 freeway/expressway movements, expressway standard. Remember: US 33 isn't freeway grade until the Lancaster bypass (unless you include the short section between SRs 104 and 317). A few at-grades remain, but an expressway does exist south of I-70. Given the geometry and development in the area, they really can't do much more without cutting off a subdivision or tearing a bunch of stuff down. If they really wanted to, they could make all movements to and from the south freeway-grade without tearing stuff down, but it's pretty pointless to build large flyovers to make movements that the current setup handles fine. If anything, they need to improve access between James and Refugee Rds before they worry about grade separating more stuff. One bridge would do it.

Ugh, that weave is lame. And then people doing u-turns at the next turnaround when they miss it.

Yep. Only exists in that direction because ODOT is cheap and (still) likes to install left exits/entrances.

[froggie]

Oklahoma City has never had any of its originally planned freeways canceled.

State highway maps from the 1970s expanded the OKC inset, and as a result showed two freeways that never got built.  One, the "Sooner Freeway", was shown as a north-south proposal to the east of I-35, intersecting at the I-35/I-44/Kilpatrick Turnpike interchange and running along or near Sooner Rd to the south, crossing I-40 at Sooner Rd, meeting I-240 east of Sooner Rd, and passing east of Hall Park in Norman.

The other freeway, the "South Outer Loop", was to begin at I-40/Morgan Rd (where what became the Kilpatrick Turnpike was also to have met I-40), head south for a few miles, turn southeast near SW 59th St near Mustang, cross I-44 just south of OK 37/SW 134th St, then turn east and cross I-35 at roughly SW 27th St in Moore.

Were these two freeways never officially cancelled?  Or were they were added after the OKC Interstates (and OK 74) were planned?

[NE2]

The 1971 official goes far enough east to show where the Sooner Freeway would be, with nothing there. But "originally planned freeways" is a bit of a copout.

[Revive 755]

Oklahoma City has never had any of its originally planned freeways canceled.

State highway maps from the 1970s expanded the OKC inset, and as a result showed two freeways that never got built.  One, the "Sooner Freeway", was shown as a north-south proposal to the east of I-35, intersecting at the I-35/I-44/Kilpatrick Turnpike interchange and running along or near Sooner Rd to the south, crossing I-40 at Sooner Rd, meeting I-240 east of Sooner Rd, and passing east of Hall Park in Norman.

Is this why the I-35/I-44/Kilpatrick Turnpike interchange has the extra ramps tying into Sooner Road, or is that just a coincidence?  Aerial photo of interchange

[froggie]

I believe it was intentional.

[Alex]

Wilmington, DE, unless you count DE 141.  Scranton looks pretty complete too.

Considering the Wilmington metropolitan area, Delaware 141 was intended to be built as a full freeway between Delaware 2 and U.S. 202 at Blue Ball. The Pike Creek Valley Freeway was never constructed either, nor was U.S. 301 leading south from I-95 (the missing Exit 2).

[adventurernumber1]

What about Richmond, Virginia? I've been scoping out the Richmond area on Google Maps and Richmond appears to have a very completed freeway network. I can't find any historic freeway revolts in Richmond on the Internet.

[NE2]

What about Richmond, Virginia? I've been scoping out the Richmond area on Google Maps and Richmond appears to have a very completed freeway network. I can't find any historic freeway revolts in Richmond on the Internet.

John Rolfe Parkway was the original planned alignment of SR 288. Later, after SR 288 was shifted west, it was still planned to be a lower-standard freeway. But I'll give you that one. Also, SR 288 was going to go east to I-295, but they built SR 895 instead.

It would surprise me if there weren't plans to extend the SR 150 freeway.

In the entire Richmond-Petersburg area, there was a planned extension of I-295 west to I-85. I suppose there's also the US 460 toll road bull.

[roadman65]

Is the Altoona area in PA completed or is their plans (or ever plans) to extend the US 22 freeway east of US 220 ( I will not acknowledge the I-99 as the route) to bypass Holidaysburg in the works ever to be a reality?  If not then I would say that particular city has its freeways completed then.

[NE2]

Bay Lake, FL completed its freeways.

[getemngo]

I believe every city in Michigan except Detroit completed their freeways.  Some places took a little longer than others and they were not completed exactly as first proposed (Lansing, I'm looking at you) but the overall functionality was completed.

Grand Rapids?

I was about to say Grand Rapids never got its West Beltline, but nothing I see indicates it would have been a freeway.

The 1968 trunkline plan is somewhat up to interpretation, because what does "Interstate and Arterial" mean, exactly? It does appear that Lansing was supposed to get a north-south bypass east of US 127, Jackson was supposed to get more than it did, and Business US 131 through Kalamazoo was (probably) supposed to be a freeway all the way through and not just at its northern end.

I had already heard previously that, at the very least, the Business US 131 Kalamazoo freeway was going to connect to the Business Loop I-94 expressway on the east side of Kalamazoo. This is very easy to imagine as a continuous northeastern freeway bypass, especially because the eastern junction of BL-94 and M-96 looks like half of a narrow diamond interchange.

[mrsman]

Excuse the snark for a moment, but I don't believe that any city could possibly complete their own network, nor should a city ever think that they are done.

It's true that maybe there is a city somewhere that completed a plan from the 1950's and 1960's and did not have a significant freeeway revolt.  But the freeway system needs to evolve and expand as traffic grows.

[JREwing78]

I believe every city in Michigan except Detroit completed their freeways.  Some places took a little longer than others and they were not completed exactly as first proposed (Lansing, I'm looking at you) but the overall functionality was completed.

Grand Rapids?

I was about to say Grand Rapids never got its West Beltline, but nothing I see indicates it would have been a freeway.

The 1968 trunkline plan is somewhat up to interpretation, because what does "Interstate and Arterial" mean, exactly?

Given the general location of the routes and existing infrastructure when this was planned out, I could reasonably interpret "Interstate and Arterial" to mean a freeway, while "Expanded Arterial" would mean a divided, 4-lane controlled-access highway built for later conversion to freeway.

According to that map, Benton Harbor/St. Joseph, Traverse City, and the Tri-Cities (Saginaw, Bay City, Midland) didn't get their planned freeway networks built out either.