"Old" roads/avenues/streets

[Buffaboy]

What "old" roads are in your town and what are the historical significance behind them?

Where I live, there is Old Lakeshore Road for example. I believe this is because runs on the shore of Lake Erie and not further inland like NY-5.

[freebrickproductions]

There's an Old Highway 20 in eastern Limestone County and eastern Colbert County, which are old alignments of AL 20. Then you also have Old Highway 231 and Old Highway 431 roads scattered around the area, along with a few Old Lee Highways along US 72, one of which runs through Cherokee, AL, IIRC.

[1995hoo]

Almost all the "Old" routes I can think of are ones where a road was put on a new alignment, normally due to widening requiring more right-of-way (thus, Old Pickett Road is where a segment of Pickett Road ran until I was in high school, plus a short new piece connecting it to the new alignment). The only one I can think of that might–I say "might" because I don't know the name's origin–is Old Keene Mill Road. There is no "Keene Mill Road" superseding it and indeed Old Keene Mill is a major arterial. I've always assumed, without any evidence, that once upon a time someone named Keene owned a mill somewhere along there, hence "Old Keene Mill" as in "Keene's old mill."

I think my favorite example is that Route 123 (Ox Road) was rerouted in Burke when it was upgraded from a two-lane road, but since there was already an Old Ox Road due to a previous realignment, the orphaned segment was named Little Ox Road.

[TR69]

There is an Old Henry Road in Louisville. Interestingly, there is no, and AFAIK never has been, a corresponding Henry Road. Recently a segment of Old Henry Road was realigned, cutting off the former section of Old Henry. I was *really* hoping they'd rename the old alignment Old Old Henry Road, but, alas, they renamed it Old Henry Trace.

A small portion of Old Henry Road (the new alignment mentioned above) is designated KY 3084: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view;pic=59 .

[dgolub]

In Port Washington, NY, where I grew up, there's Old Shore Road, which I assume was an old alignment of Shore Road.

[route17fan]

What "old" roads are in your town and what are the historical significance behind them?

Where I live, there is Old Lakeshore Road for example. I believe this is because runs on the shore of Lake Erie and not further inland like NY-5.

Old Lakeshore Rd, in this case, is an old alignment of US 20. From their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HistoricUsRoute20MA - it then ran concurrent with today's NY 5 and then over to Big Tree Rd to connect with current US 20

[empirestate]

In my area these are exceedingly common, so I'll just give one quite significant example.

In Philipstown, NY there is the Old Albany Post Road, which is an original stretch of the historic route from New York to Albany, much of which has evolved into US 9. This section, however, was bypassed ages ago and remains now as a town-maintained road.

What's significant is that this road, along with some adjacent stretches of intersecting roads (including the Old West Point Road), are deliberately maintained in a rustic state. The Post Road and its neighbors are currently surfaced in dirt/gravel, and efforts to pave them are regularly resisted (a short stretch at the southernmost end of the Post Road did receive a hard surface). There is even a community group dedicated to preserving and overseeing these roads, the Philipstown Old Roads Society: http://www.oldrdsoc.org

I'm lucky to live a short distance from the Post Road and it is a beautiful and tranquil excursion, particularly at this time of year.


iPhone

[Max Rockatansky]

From Bakersfield:

There is an "Old" State Road from Wofford Heights to Alta Sierra.  I'm not certain on this but I'm pretty sure it's the old alignment of CA 155.

Old Ridge Route is the old alignment of US 99 through the Sierra Pelona Mountains.  The history really speaks to itself...very important old route and it's a shame it isn't maintained.

There is an Old River Road which is named after the CDP of the same name and the Old Kern River bed.

[The Nature Boy]

Almost all the "Old" routes I can think of are ones where a road was put on a new alignment, normally due to widening requiring more right-of-way (thus, Old Pickett Road is where a segment of Pickett Road ran until I was in high school, plus a short new piece connecting it to the new alignment). The only one I can think of that might–I say "might" because I don't know the name's origin–is Old Keene Mill Road. There is no "Keene Mill Road" superseding it and indeed Old Keene Mill is a major arterial. I've always assumed, without any evidence, that once upon a time someone named Keene owned a mill somewhere along there, hence "Old Keene Mill" as in "Keene's old mill."

I think my favorite example is that Route 123 (Ox Road) was rerouted in Burke when it was upgraded from a two-lane road, but since there was already an Old Ox Road due to a previous realignment, the orphaned segment was named Little Ox Road.

You would actually be right on the Keene's Mill guess:



I'm a big fan of road names that preserve some kind of history of the region.

[tradephoric]

Woodward Avenue in Detroit literally put the world on wheels.  It's the home of the first paved mile of concrete road (between 6 mile and 7 mile), the first 3-colored 4-way traffic signal (at Woodward & Michigan), and the home of Henry Ford's Highland Park assembly plant where a moving assembly line installed in 1913 mass produced the automobile.  Today it's home to the annual Woodward Dream Cruise, the largest single-day classic car event in the world.  Woodward also crosses the Davison freeway which was the first depressed freeway in the nation built in the early 40s.

[bzakharin]

Bortons Mill Road is only old at this one intersection
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.8972542,-75.0154013,3a,37.5y,21.84h,85.26t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s7BT6p1T1Y6j-jpewHZRAew!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!5m1!1e1
Even then, as you can see, it's only old on the traffic light blade, not the regular one. More curiously, it only became old some time between 2008 and 2012:
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.8973516,-75.0154713,3a,75y,21.84h,85.26t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sIzEzigwdRI8gF3qwxqNShw!2e0!7i3328!8i1664!5m1!1e1
I don't know the history of this change, but Challenge Grove park, which is relatively new to begin with underwent some renovations in the time period between 2008 and 2012. I don't recall whether the course of the road has changed as the park was built/renovated. It seems likely that the bridge over the Cooper River was once open to traffic, but what is clear is that there is no other Bortons Mill Road.

[Max Rockatansky]

Woodward Avenue in Detroit literally put the world on wheels.  It's the home of the first paved mile of concrete road (between 6 mile and 7 mile), the first 3-colored 4-way traffic signal (at Woodward & Michigan), and the home of Henry Ford's Highland Park assembly plant where a moving assembly line installed in 1913 mass produced the automobile.  Today it's home to the annual Woodward Dream Cruise, the largest single-day classic car event in the world.  Woodward also crosses the Davison freeway which was the first depressed freeway in the nation built in the early 40s.

Doesn't it end at the city limit of Detroit?

[Avalanchez71]

For some time there was a old Old Hickory Blvd but it wasn't signed as such in Nashville, TN.  It was just signed as Old Hickory Blvd but it was the old alignment of Old Hickory Blvd.  The new alignment was also named Old Hickory Blvd but the point at which the old alignment began the new alignment was renamed as Hobson Pike.  The road eventually became Hobson Pike but that was officaily after old Old Hickory Blvd until a few years ago.

The name Old Hickory Blvd is not an old Hickory Blvd but it relates to President Andrew Jackson.

[tradephoric]

Woodward Avenue in Detroit literally put the world on wheels.  It's the home of the first paved mile of concrete road (between 6 mile and 7 mile), the first 3-colored 4-way traffic signal (at Woodward & Michigan), and the home of Henry Ford's Highland Park assembly plant where a moving assembly line installed in 1913 mass produced the automobile.  Today it's home to the annual Woodward Dream Cruise, the largest single-day classic car event in the world.  Woodward also crosses the Davison freeway which was the first depressed freeway in the nation built in the early 40s.

Doesn't it end at the city limit of Detroit?

Woodward Avenue extends from downtown Detroit to Pontiac.  The Woodward corridor is about 27 miles in length.  I'm currently editing a video of a Woodward drive i did that should be finished in about a week.

[Max Rockatansky]

Woodward Avenue in Detroit literally put the world on wheels.  It's the home of the first paved mile of concrete road (between 6 mile and 7 mile), the first 3-colored 4-way traffic signal (at Woodward & Michigan), and the home of Henry Ford's Highland Park assembly plant where a moving assembly line installed in 1913 mass produced the automobile.  Today it's home to the annual Woodward Dream Cruise, the largest single-day classic car event in the world.  Woodward also crosses the Davison freeway which was the first depressed freeway in the nation built in the early 40s.

Doesn't it end at the city limit of Detroit?

Woodward Avenue extends from downtown Detroit to Pontiac.  The Woodward corridor is about 27 miles in length.  I'm currently editing a video of a Woodward drive i did that should be finished in about a week.

Meant the Dream Cruise.  Doesn't it still end at Eight Mile and not enter the city proper?

[DJDBVT]

In Jamaica, VT, there's "Old Route 8", which is a former alignment of what is now VT 100. That stretch of 100 hasn't been VT 8 since around 1960. The "new" alignment of VT 8 was built in the late 1940s, which is a bit straighter and about a tenth of a mile shorter than the "old" route, which is/was just under a mile in length. In Brattleboro, VT, there's Old Ferry Road, which dead-ends at the Connecticut River and Old Guilford Road, which used to run to neighboring Guilford until I-91 cut it off. In Hinsdale, NH, there's Old Brattleboro Road, a former alignment of what's now NH 119 (aka Brattleboro Road).

[GaryV]

Woodward Avenue in Detroit literally put the world on wheels.  It's the home of the first paved mile of concrete road (between 6 mile and 7 mile), the first 3-colored 4-way traffic signal (at Woodward & Michigan), and the home of Henry Ford's Highland Park assembly plant where a moving assembly line installed in 1913 mass produced the automobile.  Today it's home to the annual Woodward Dream Cruise, the largest single-day classic car event in the world.  Woodward also crosses the Davison freeway which was the first depressed freeway in the nation built in the early 40s.

And there's a section of Old Woodward in Birmingham.

There's an Old 99 in Oceana County that is a former route of old M-11 (West Michigan Pike).  M-11 became US 31.  That's OLD!

[tradephoric]

Woodward Avenue in Detroit literally put the world on wheels.  It's the home of the first paved mile of concrete road (between 6 mile and 7 mile), the first 3-colored 4-way traffic signal (at Woodward & Michigan), and the home of Henry Ford's Highland Park assembly plant where a moving assembly line installed in 1913 mass produced the automobile.  Today it's home to the annual Woodward Dream Cruise, the largest single-day classic car event in the world.  Woodward also crosses the Davison freeway which was the first depressed freeway in the nation built in the early 40s.

Doesn't it end at the city limit of Detroit?

Woodward Avenue extends from downtown Detroit to Pontiac.  The Woodward corridor is about 27 miles in length.  I'm currently editing a video of a Woodward drive i did that should be finished in about a week.

Meant the Dream Cruise.  Doesn't it still end at Eight Mile and not enter the city proper?

Oh sorry.  Yeah, the dream cruise ends at Eight Mile. 

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Along Lake Superior's North Shore you will find a number of "Old North Shore Road" and "Old Shore Road". This was the road that predated US 61. The most significant section of this is the one that parallels the MN 61 expressway (I believe it carries the designation of St. Louis County Road 290 or 291), but there are others such as on the east side of Grand Marais.

[lepidopteran]

In Mercer County, NJ, you have Old Trenton Rd. running between Cranbury Twp. and Hamilton Twp., at which point it becomes Edinburg Rd.  I presumed that road preceded the construction of US-130 and/or NJ-33.

[1995hoo]

You would actually be right on the Keene's Mill guess:

Thanks for that. All the times I've driven that road I've never noticed that marker. I'll have to keep my eyes peeled next time I go out in that direction. I use Route 644 almost every day but it's normally the Franconia Road portion.

[jmd41280]

There is a stretch of former PA 71 (decommissioned in the 1960s) near Charleroi, PA that is officially named "Old 71".

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Old+71,+Charleroi,+PA+15022/@40.1328823,-79.9296225,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x88350349b39375fd:0x41e954fd8eb8597e!8m2!3d40.1328823!4d-79.9274285

[countysigns]

In Lucas County, Ohio, we have Old State Line Road which runs along the old Fulton Line, which formed the southern boundary of the disputed land which brought about the Toledo War in 1835.

http://www.toledowar.com/ gives a really nice history on the Toledo War and talks a lot about the Fulton Line and explains why a lot of north-south roads in Fulton County make a jog at the Line.

[DandyDan]

There's a couple of "Old" streets near me, but my personal favorite "Old" road in Nebraska is Old Highway 8 going SE from Fremont, NE.  Highway 8 is the precursor to US 275.

[wphiii]

One that comes to mind around here is Old Browns Hill Rd, which was an extension of Browns Hill Rd and led to the bridge connecting Pittsburgh and Homestead until the Homestead Hi-Level Bridge (now Homestead Grays Bridge) was built in the late 1930s. Today it basically dead ends at the river and a little "lost world" neighborhood called Duck Hollow.

There's also the "Old William Penn Highway" which snakes around I-376 in Monroeville. I'm guessing that would have been the original alignment of U.S. 22.