Freeways that never got built

[Voyager]

I know there's plenty of them. Post the ones that you know.

Sir Francis Drake BLVD from US 101 to I-580.

[yanksfan6129]

Route 23 in NJ was SUPPOSED to be a freeway, that never happened. The only part that was built up to freeway standards is the part just north of the interchange with I-80. It stays a freeway for about a mile or two, I think. Then it changes to a Jersey freeway, with an interchange but businesses lining the road, then soon after that, just a regular road.

[Bryant5493]

Non-built Georgia Interstates:

I-485: Would have connected SR 400 with I-675 and US 78 (Stone Mountain Freeway).

I-420: Was to begin at I-20, near Douglasville, and continue along SR 166 (Langford Parkway) to around Gresham Park. The only portion to be built is antiquated Langford Parkway/"Lakewood Freeway."

I-175: Was to connect I-75 with Albany, starting at Cordele (SR 300 - Georgia-Florida Parkway). Currently, SR 300 is a divided highway that goes through several small towns en route to Albany, Georgia.


Be well,

Bryant

[ssummers72]

Chicago Area:
I-494 LSD Route: Present To "I-90" at Stony Island Dr North to US-41(LSD) to Ohio St then West to I-90/94 at Ohio Street Feeder Ramps.

I-494 Crosstown: I-90/94 Split at Kennedy/Edens Expy South along IL-50 to 75th St then East to I-90/94 Dan Ryan/Skyway Split

One of my favorites:

Ohio:
I-80S from Milan SW along OH-18 to Akron

Indianapolis:
I-165 from I-65/70 North Split NE to 38th St (Future Proposed I-69)

Take Care,

Stephen

[mrivera1]

Connector freeway CA-252 just south of downtown San Diego.  It would've connected I-5 to I-805 at a point halfway between CA-94 and CA-54.

[DrZoidberg]

Oregon has its fair share of axed freeways.

- I-505 was to run along the present US 30's split with I-405 to NW Yeon Ave.  A short distance, but it did appear on at least one map, from what I've seen.

- I-305 running along the Salem Parkway (Business OR 99E) connecting I-5 with downtown Salem.

- The Mt. Hood Freeway, though I'm not as familiar with this one.  If I recall correctly, it was to go through SE Portland along what is now US 26.  Maybe somebody can shed more light on that one.

- Naito Parkway (former OR 99W) was at one time going to be a freeway skimming the riverfront, but was axed in favor of the waterfront park (which I'm greatful for as I run in this park a few times a week!)

[Hellfighter]

I-275 from I-96 in Farmington Hills to I-75 outside Clarkston

[mightyace]

Tops on my list is the "cow pasture expressway"
i.e. The graded but never completed PA 23 expressway northeast of Lancaster, PA.

Also in Pennsylvania:
The original ideas for what became I-80 across PA (both toll and free) ran parallel to US 6 instead of its actual alignment.

New Jersey
How can we forget about the never completed section of I-95 that was supposed to run northeast towards the NJ Turnpike near I-287.

Connecticut
On some old atlases of mine I-384 east of Hartford and US 6 around Willimantic were supposed to be I-84 running eastward.  To Providence?  What's now I-84 from Hartford to the Mass Pike was I-86.

DC - Maryland
I-95 Through the city.

Maryland
In Baltimore: I-83 meeting up with I-95 east of Fells Point, I-70 running eastward to meet I-95 southwest of the Inner Harbor.  Also, the part of I-795 that was supposed to run inside the I-695 beltway.

Massachusetts
I-95 was supposed to be (was?) the central artery and split off onto a partially built freeway that is currently signed US 1 but was never completed northeastward to close the gap.

Tennessee
The north loop of TN 840 may never be built.

I-40 through Memphis. (instead of around)

[FLRoads]

There were plans for a Jacksonville-Tampa toll facility (limited access freeway style like the Florida Turnpike) in the 1980's but plans for that were scrapped due to NIMBY's in the Micanopy area as well as environmental issues.  Two portions of this proposed route have been or are being built.  The Suncoast Parkway (Toll Florida 589) which opened in 2000 would have been the southern portion of the planned route.  What would have been the northern section of this planned toll facility is now being constructed as part of the Branan Field-Chaffee Expressway (Florida 23).

[akotchi]

There was a proposed I-895 segment between I-95 Exit 40 near Bristol, PA, which I think was supposed to be a new Burlington-Bristol Bridge into New Jersey.  I think it was supposed to end at I-295 in New Jersey.  Later, it may have been one of the options for the I-95/Pa Turnpike interchange.

[Alex]

There are portions under construction, and one four-lane section already opened to traffic as an at-grade facility. The next portion to open will be the connection to Interstate 10. I've blogged about SR 23 here and here.

[FLRoads]

The portion under construction between 103rd St (Florida 134) and Interstate 10 will be finished in the fall of this year.  The four-lane section south of 103rd St is actually limited access grade in preparation for the eventual outer-outer beltway.

[vdeane]

NY 204 was supposed to go from I-490 to the airport at I-390.  It was never built (and never will be) east of NY 33A.

I've also heard that the Lake Ontario State Parkway was supposed to continue past Lake Ave and follow abandoned railroad tracks to NY 590.  There is certainly enough right of way for that to have happened in Durand Park; the portion of Lake Shore Blvd in the area only has two lanes but is wide enough for at least four (the remaining space is used for a left turn lane and parking).

[Tarkus]

- The Mt. Hood Freeway, though I'm not as familiar with this one.  If I recall correctly, it was to go through SE Portland along what is now US 26.  Maybe somebody can shed more light on that one.

- Naito Parkway (former OR 99W) was at one time going to be a freeway skimming the riverfront, but was axed in favor of the waterfront park (which I'm greatful for as I run in this park a few times a week!)

The Mt. Hood Freeway was part of Robert Moses' freeway plans for Portland--just about none of which got built.  It indeed was planned to run roughly in the area of SE Powell Blvd and was apparently going to connect into the current I-84 east of I-205.  It was originally planned to be the alignment of I-84 (then I-80N) instead of the Banfield. 

There's also a sort of "ghost divided highway" section of US 26 out near Boring as well, which was apparently going to connect into the Mt. Hood Freeway somehow.

As far as Naito Parkway . . . or as I still call it, Front Avenue . . . it never was planned to be a freeway.  There actually was a US-99W expressway a few feet east of Front/Naito called Harbor Drive, right next to the river.  Most of it was taken out and converted into Waterfront Park, but a short stretch of it still exists.  It comes off of I-405 at the southern I-5 interchange as Exit 1A, cuts through the Riverplace neighborhood as a 5-lane surface arterial and then splits into Clay and Market Streets at Front/Naito.  It's also partly the reason why the approaches to all the bridges in Portland from downtown are set up the way they are.

Many of the freeway revolt advocates in the area claim that Portland was the first major city to tear out a freeway, but the fact of the matter is, before Harbor Drive was replaced with Waterfront Park, the Marquam Bridge had been built, so the freeway was really just moved to the other side of the river.  Plus, Harbor Drive, at least from what I've seen (it was before my time) it was a pretty cramped little roadway--like the Hawthorne Boulevard of freeways. 

There's been a bunch of aborted projects down in Eugene as well--namely, the Roosevelt Freeway, which would have taken an alignment similar to that of Roosevelt Boulevard in West Eugene.  After that was killed, there was also a West Eugene Parkway that was proposed, and actually approved by voters a couple of times, but the city council killed it.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[Duke87]

On some old atlases of mine I-384 east of Hartford and US 6 around Willimantic were supposed to be I-84 running eastward.  To Providence? 

Yes, and to this day, Providence is the control city on 384 eastbound. Interesting artifact, that. Rather amusing.

Not as amusing as "Indio; Other Desert Cities", though.

[mightyace]

Tops on my list is the "cow pasture expressway"

Or the "goat path" as locals call it...

New Jersey
How can we forget about the never completed section of I-95 that was supposed to run northeast towards the NJ Turnpike near I-287.

Other way around, actually.  It was to connect to I-287, not the Turnpike.  It would've used today's I-287 to connect to the Turnpike at Exit 10.

Connecticut
On some old atlases of mine I-384 east of Hartford and US 6 around Willimantic were supposed to be I-84 running eastward.  To Providence?  What's now I-84 from Hartford to the Mass Pike was I-86.

Correct....to Providence.

Maryland
In Baltimore: I-83 meeting up with I-95 east of Fells Point, I-70 running eastward to meet I-95 southwest of the Inner Harbor.  Also, the part of I-795 that was supposed to run inside the I-695 beltway.

This was covered earlier in the Baltimore thread.

Thanks for the corrections.  I knew those, but I was writing off the cuff and muffed those points. 

[Revive 755]

Missouri:

* MO 755/North-South Distributor, from the I-55/I-44 interchange, running through the US 40 interchange just west of Union Station, then up to I-70 just south of the McKinley Bridge

* Freeway along Page Avenue, from I-270 to I-70 downtown.  This proposal was later extended west into St. Charles County.  The section inside I-270 was cut back twice before apparently being canceled outright, first to MO 755, then to I-170.  The section now in existence as MO 364 was orginally going to end at the I-70/MO 79 interchange.

* I-170 from US 40 to I-55, or even to MO 267 in one of the last proposals.

* Part of MO 141 between Valley Park and Rte HH/Clayton Road.

* US 71 from I-435 to the I-70/I-670 interchange - at least part of it is still unbuilt.

- The next few were considerations under various city plans, and some of them may not have been true freeways.

* A connector from I-55 to Gravois Avenue in St. Louis City, as indicated in the 1951 expressway plan.  It was supposed to start south of the Delor Street overpass, but I don't remember the exact route very well.  This one may have morphed into one of the proposals for I-44 to run south of Chippewa Street.

* The Franklin Avenue Branch of the Daniel Boone Expressway, shown in the 1951 expressway plan.  Was to start from the area of the current US 40/Forest Park Ave interchange, and run north to some street crossing Martin Luther King Drive (then Franklin Avenue); it was not going to connect with the Mark Twain (I-70) Expressway.  This was supposed to be the main fork of the Daniel Boone Expressway's "tuning fork" end (my name for it).  The other branch, I think it was called Spruce, is the route that evolved into today's US 40.

* A freeway along Gravois Avenue inside St. Louis City, as indicated in the 1948 street plan.  I believe this one fell through before 1951 due to the development along Gravois Avenue.  May have only been an expressway (by today's terminology), but some of the pictures shown in the book on St. Louis City's planning  (which I can't remember the title of at this moment) showed it as a below-grade freeway.

* A possible freeway from I-55 somewhere in St. Louis County that ran in the city along or using Morganford, Tower Grove, Boyle, and somehow ending near the I-70/Adelaide interchange.  Only appeared in the 1948 street plan for St. Louis.

* A possible freeway along Skinker and the edge of St. Louis City.  I've only seen it in the 1948 street plan, but it's possible this one evolved into today's I-170.

* A possible freeway using MO 47 as part of an "Outer Outerbelt" for St. Louis.  A couple of newspaper articles seemed to be back and forth over this one, as some listed the project as an expressway.

* A possible freeway using the Rte M/Rte MM/Rte W/MO 109 corridor.  This one was the "Outer Belt" for St. Louis, with only the section between I-55 and MO 21 (Rte M) seeing construction (but only as an expressway), but a partial expressway being considered to replace Rte MM ("Death Valley").  None of the old Post-Dispatch articles are clear on the standards the Outer Belt was to be built to.

- Proposals that were not seriously considered, but got mention in a newspaper article.

* An extension of I-170 north of I-270 to US 67.  This one was suggested to take traffic off of US 67 shortly after the I-170 extension south of US 40 croaked in 1997.

* A freeway along or using MO 367 from the I-270 interchange to I-70.  Just a proposal by some North County mayors in the late 1990's, seems to have been even less considered than the northern extension of I-170.

Illinois
A lot of rural ones in this state that didn't make it since the supplemental freeway plan fell through.  See http://www.midwestroads.com/illinois/il%20supp%20fwy.pdf for a map.  Some of them were or may be built as expressways.

Iowa
Had some planned like Illinois, but some were downgraded to expressways, others died completely.  See http://homepage.mac.com/jeffmorrison/maps/1968plan.html

There may have been a couple cancellations around Cedar Rapids, but the long range plan that had the old freeway plan is not online anymore.  I think US 151 from the IA 13 intersection to US 30 was to be a freeway, and a western bypass from the stub of IA 100 to US 30 was also going to be a freeway.  The latter may come back as an expressway or arterial.

Nebraska
Only one I know for sure was the one starting from the I-480/US 75 interchange.  There may have been more in the Omaha area that didn't make it.  Lincoln may have had one canceled when the Northeast Radial fell through.  A railroad relocation study for Lincoln showed a few interchanges on a north-south section of this road around 23rd Street between Capital Parkway and somewhere near the BNSF line angling northeasterly from downtown Lincoln.

[PalmettoDP]

In South Carolina:

I-126 and the SC 277 freeway were originally planned to form a continuous route through downtown Columbia. It will never be built, and isn't really needed, in my opinion.

I-526 was never finished in Charleston, but we've been talking about it for 40 years. The completion would join the southern end of 526 with the SC 30 freeway (James Island Connector). Within the last year, funding has been allocated for this project, but there is still some bickering over the design (full freeway vs. surface connector). I believe the state funding can only be used if the road is designated an interstate, so that ought to resolve that argument.

I remember a story in Charleston's local paper several years ago that contained the city's original freeway plan. I remember seeing a "Citadel Expressway" that would parallel US 17 south of downtown. I haven't been able to find that plan anywhere online, though.

On the map, it looks like I-185 and I-385 could have been planned to form a continuous route through downtown Greenville, but I'm not sure about that one.

[Ed T.]

While technically this was to be a Parkway, I found this old stretch of road-that-never-was interesting.

(link shows exits built to the planned roadway from the Staten Island Expressway)
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&t=k&om=1&ll=40.609644,-74.109124&spn=0.006597,0.012306&z=17

It was originally intended to be the Richmond Parkway, and is for the most part, still there but overgrown with weeds and such.  Originally built in the sixties but converted to be part of the Staten Island greenbelt ( http://nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/vt_the_greenbelt/vt_gb_history.html ).

More info and pics on it here:
http://web.mit.edu/smalpert/www/roads/ny/richmond/




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[Voyager]

California had a highway 77 that was supposed to go from the East Bay areas of Walnut Creek and Concord to the Oakland hills. It showed up on some maps.

[FLRoads]

Back in the 1980's a limited access beltway was proposed for Lee County, Florida.  Of course thanks to a bunch of NIMBY's it was never constructed, though all the survey benchmarks are still in place for the proposed route so one can look at a map and see its proposed alignment.  I wonder, though, if it had been built if they would have gotten federal funding for it and would have had it designated Interstate 475 or even and Interstate 875 (which would have worked perfect in that part of southwest Florida)...

[Voyager]

How many are in San Francisco again?

[mightyace]

There was talk in the late 90s and/or early 00s about building a connector between Brentwood/Franklin @ I-65 and Smyrna @ I-24.  Nothing has ever come of it.

First, too many expensive homes have gone up in the proposed route.

Second, it would be less than 10 miles north of TN 840.

[Duke87]

While technically this was to be a Parkway, I found this old stretch of road-that-never-was interesting.

Your routing there is incorrect. That Y junction was to be used for an extension of the existing Richmond Parkway, which has its stub east end at Arthur Kill Rd and Richmond Av. The rest of the highway was never built due to not wanting to disturb La Tourette Park. The route leading down to Great Kills Harbor was for the Willowbrook Parkway (the existing Willowbrook Parkway stubs just south of I-278.

And then you have the Wolfe's Pond Parkway and the south extension of the West Shore Expressway.

Bit of a crude sketch:


All Robert Moses' ideas, of course.

[Ed T.]

Your routing there is incorrect. That Y junction was to be used for an extension of the existing Richmond Parkway, which has its stub east end at Arthur Kill Rd and Richmond Av. The rest of the highway was never built due to not wanting to disturb La Tourette Park. The route leading down to Great Kills Harbor was for the Willowbrook Parkway (the existing Willowbrook Parkway stubs just south of I-278.

And then you have the Wolfe's Pond Parkway and the south extension of the West Shore Expressway.

You're absolutely correct.  When I had originally made that sketch up I was trying to fit one roadway into the green space but it was actually two intersecting roadways.

Here's the archive to my original (dead) MIT link (great pics of the abandoned roadway): Archive.org: MIT link
And I found this additional link here: NYCRoads.com