When a road provides no benefit to local motorists

[hbelkins]

How many instances are there of roads that provide absolutely no benefit to local travelers?

For many years, the Mountain Parkway in Clark County was just such an example. The route's western terminus is at I-64 just outside Winchester. The first exit was at Clay City, in Powell County. There was no way for anyone near the road in Clark County to access it. Traffic from that eastern section of the county had to use KY 15 to get to Winchester.

That changed when an exit was built at KY 974 in Clark County about 10 years ago. Local residents were finally able to use the road.

Excepting very short segments where freeways clip a corner of a county, such as the Western Kentucky Parkway does to Butler County, are there any other places where locals don't have access to a road that goes through their community?

[abefroman329]

Every instance of a limited-access highway that travels through a community, but doesn't have an exit serving it?

Although "provides no benefit to local motorists" isn't always true; if the limited-access highway is taking traffic off of local roads, then it's providing a benefit.

[zzcarp]

Growing up in Wakeman, Ohio, the Ohio Turnpike provided no direct benefit to local motorists. Had there been an exit at Ohio 60, we could have used it to get to both points east and west quickly. However, the nearest exit to the west is at US 250 in Avery, 20+ minutes to the west. Any drive to Cleveland or points east made sense to drive on US 20/OH 10 to pick up the Turnpike at North Ridgeville or by skipping the Turnpike entirely.

US 20 of course was/is a big shunpike route, but I do acknowledge that the Turnpike does take a large amount of traffic off of US 20.

[Roadgeekteen]

I-684 serves no benefit for anyone in Connecticut.

[hotdogPi]

I thought I saw somewhere a minor road that parallels a state route for a few hundred feet as a local road, ending at it on both ends, but has no residences on it, making it useless. I can't find it, though.

The road layout was basically this without the additional side streets, but this one has houses and is therefore not useless.

[Rothman]

There was talk about the Thruway hopefully adding an interchange at Fort Plain or Saint Johnsville.  That would be most welcome.

[StogieGuy7]

I-684 serves no benefit for anyone in Connecticut.

Not true: it is common for travelers coming from the northern half of CT to use I-84 west to I-684 south as an alternative to the Merritt Parkway or I-95 to reach the NY area. While I see the point you're trying to make (i.e. that 684 enters the state but you can't directly access it), unfortunately you chose a routing that is actually pretty well used by people traveling from CT southward.

[Roadgeekteen]

I-684 serves no benefit for anyone in Connecticut.

Not true: it is common for travelers coming from the northern half of CT to use I-84 west to I-684 south as an alternative to the Merritt Parkway or I-95 to reach the NY area. While I see the point you're trying to make (i.e. that 684 enters the state but you can't directly access it), unfortunately you chose a routing that is actually pretty well used by people traveling from CT southward.

I guess I meant people of Greenwich.

[JayhawkCO]

I-BL40 in Glenrio, TX.

[StogieGuy7]

I-684 serves no benefit for anyone in Connecticut.

Not true: it is common for travelers coming from the northern half of CT to use I-84 west to I-684 south as an alternative to the Merritt Parkway or I-95 to reach the NY area. While I see the point you're trying to make (i.e. that 684 enters the state but you can't directly access it), unfortunately you chose a routing that is actually pretty well used by people traveling from CT southward.

I guess I meant people of Greenwich.

Yes, it's fair to say that.

[Rothman]

I-684 serves no benefit for anyone in Connecticut.

Not true: it is common for travelers coming from the northern half of CT to use I-84 west to I-684 south as an alternative to the Merritt Parkway or I-95 to reach the NY area. While I see the point you're trying to make (i.e. that 684 enters the state but you can't directly access it), unfortunately you chose a routing that is actually pretty well used by people traveling from CT southward.

I guess I meant people of Greenwich.

So...CT is Greenwich...

[pianocello]

Despite having four interchanges serving the city, I-75 in Gainesville, FL is angled in such a way that it isn't very helpful for many commuting or shopping patterns.

[froggie]

There was talk about the Thruway hopefully adding an interchange at Fort Plain or Saint Johnsville.  That would be most welcome.

So whatever happened with this?

[Roadgeekteen]

Despite having four interchanges serving the city, I-75 in Gainesville, FL is angled in such a way that it isn't very helpful for many commuting or shopping patterns.

I-75 bypasses downtown Gainesville to the west, that's probably why.

[formulanone]

Despite having four interchanges serving the city, I-75 in Gainesville, FL is angled in such a way that it isn't very helpful for many commuting or shopping patterns.

My understanding is that in the early-1960s, they didn't want I-75 plowing through downtown, nor too close to US 441 / University of Florida. It serves Gainesville quite well if you live anywhere else (well, except for Newberry and Archer).

Of course, it forces many commuters to clog the roads at 4-5pm which aren't much wider than they were 30-40 years ago, and more folks commute to work east of I-75, but live west of current I-75. And the population is dwindling east of the Main Street "meridian". There's no reason to add a loop, and any chances to put in limited-access spur are long gone.

[Max Rockatansky]

It is difficult to say much of the Suncoast Parkway (FL 589) has much benefit for local travel.  The tollway essentially exists to facilitate commuter traffic to/from Tampa to the northern counties.  The Suncoast Parkway has virtually no advantage in places like Spring Hill or Brooksville compared to surface highways like US 19, FL 50 or US 41.

[Rothman]

There was talk about the Thruway hopefully adding an interchange at Fort Plain or Saint Johnsville.  That would be most welcome.

So whatever happened with this?

I have no idea.

There have been a few announcements made recently about improvements or funding coming to NY that have not yet come to fruition.

But, the just made announcement on the most recent round of Harsh Winter Paving is all set to go.

[jakeroot]

I would echo others in this thread regarding lack of access; sometimes it's a good thing, in that the bypass road removes traffic from the local road, making the overall experience better for everyone. Issues certainly arise when looking at freeways or expressways with too many interchanges, where that road becomes so easy to access that almost everyone defaults to it, creating congestion.

Most Japanese expressways have limited access points. Since interchanges ("IC"s) almost always have tollbooths, even today, you see lots of trumpet or directional-T interchanges which are obviously hard to build in every other mile. In the case of my local expressway, the E58 Okinawa Expressway, it's 57 kilometers long but there are only eight full-access interchanges (ten if you count the start and end, twelve if you count the parking areas, and 16 if you count every single possible ramp). In this case, the expressway is decidedly hard to reach from some areas, so local roads are still the most popular way of getting around. But if you're near an interchange, the expressway is great because it's usually flowing pretty good.

[Dirt Roads]

Probably not what the OP wanted, but the following Interstate routes have no exits in these counties (and independent cities) that they clip off:

I-10  Gillespie County, Texas
I-10  Gonzales County, Texas
I-10  Nassau County, Florida

I-20  Crane County, Texas
I-20  Walton County, Georgia

I-24  Hamilton County, Tennessee

I-29  Hamlin County, South Dakota

I-35  Miami County, Kansas
I-35  Caldwell County, Missouri

I-44  Caddo County, Oklahoma

Triple Bonus!!!  I-49 enters Evangeline Parish, Louisiana three separate times but has no exits

I-57  Clay County, Illinois
I-57  Shelby County, Illinois

I-64  Nelson County, Virginia
I-64  Fluvanna County, Virginia 

I-65  Hendricks County, Indiana
I-65  Newton County, Indiana

I-66  no local exits in Frederick County, Virginia

I-69  Wells County, Indiana

I-70  Logan County, Kansas
Ouch!  I-70 has no local exits in Baltimore City

I-71  Trimble County, Kentucky
I-71  Pickaway County, Ohio

I-75  Desoto County, Florida
I-75  Crawford County, Georgia
I-75  Lamar County, Georgia
I-75  Spalding County, Georgia

I-79  Gilmer County, West Virginia
I-79  Lawrence County, Pennsylvania

I-80  Sierra County, California
I-80  Storey County, Nevada
I-80  Butler County, Pennsylvania
I-80  Sussex County, New Jersey

I-81  Warren County, Virginia

I-84  Holland, (Hampden County), Massachusetts

I-85  Meriwether County, Georgia

I-95  Effingham County, Georgia
I-95  no exits in Washington, D.C. (no swimming allowed)
I-95  Waldo County, Maine

[zachary_amaryllis]

I-684 serves no benefit for anyone in Connecticut.

I remember that from when I was a kid, but there was some sign about 'this road is officially closed - travel at your own risk', on that little chunk of 684 that clips CT.

[webny99]

I-684 serves no benefit for anyone in Connecticut.

Not true: it is common for travelers coming from the northern half of CT to use I-84 west to I-684 south as an alternative to the Merritt Parkway or I-95 to reach the NY area. While I see the point you're trying to make (i.e. that 684 enters the state but you can't directly access it), unfortunately you chose a routing that is actually pretty well used by people traveling from CT southward.

I guess I meant people of Greenwich.

Yes, it's fair to say that.

But even then... it depends on where in Greenwich. The irony is that the closer you are to that segment of I-684, the less use you'll probably have for that particular segment. There's not much use for it at all for someone at Tamarack Country Club, for example.

But someone in the southwest corner of Greenwich could easily use the segment of I-684 to get to Danbury; likewise, someone in the northeast corner could easily use it to get to White Plains.

[webny99]

As for the NYS Thruway, the I-90 portion passes through the following towns/villages with no nearby access, such that someone living there would never have reason to use the segment that passes through their town unless home was neither their starting point nor endpoint, from west to east:

Brocton
Clarence*
Scottsville*
Pittsford/Mendon
Clifton Springs*
Phelps
Port Byron*
Jordan
Oneida*
Whitesboro
Fort Plain

*Interestingly, almost half of these have travel plazas named after them - almost as if the Thruway wants to recognize them despite not providing access to their town.

[KCRoadFan]

This thread makes me think of New Baltimore, PA - the town right next to the Turnpike, which famously has (or at least used to have) that church with the stairs leading up to it from the Turnpike - set up that way, no doubt, because the only other way to reach the town, from the nearest exit, would involve going 20 miles over winding mountain roads.

Along another northeastern turnpike, the town of Blandford, MA, is right next to the Mass Pike, about halfway in the long gap between the Lee and Westfield exits. Blandford even has a service area named for it - but no direct access to the Pike without a long detour to one of the aforementioned exits.

[HighwayStar]

This is very common with toll roads which tend to under provision exits due to the artificial cost of controlling and billing entry/exit from the road.
That said, I don't buy the "road provides no benefit to X" arguments without a qualifier, since good roads are a critical part of national infrastructure and everyone benefits from them regardless of if they are driving on them or not. Its more that the road does not provide a local travel benefit in that area.

[Gnutella]

The Pennsylvania Turnpike passes through Huntingdon County and Lebanon County with no interchanges.