Small towns with outsized highway networks

[webny99]

I've never been up there personally, but from my understanding a lot of the Rust Belt cities that used to be bigger in places like Ohio would fall into this category.

Like Youngstown.

Also Pittsburgh, PA and Detroit, MI.

Oh, you meant small towns? Well, in that case, Saginaw, Flint and Erie would better fit the description.

Never thought that Pittsburgh's highway network was overbuilt for it's size. And Erie only has 2 interstates really, wouldn't call it overbuilt.

I agree that neither Pittsburgh nor Erie are overbuilt. Terrain is such a major restraint in Pittsburgh that their network is underbuilt, if anything. And Erie only has about 2 miles of I-79 within city limits and no other freeways except I-90, which stays on the fringes of the metro area. That is... not a lot, and probably a lot less than the average city of ~100k.

[webny99]

I nominate Harrisburg, PA, it's not as small but it has 9 freeways (including the airport spur) for an area of around 150k people (including a mere 51k in the city itself).

The Harrisburg MSA has about 600,000 people.

Harrisburg is perhaps the perfect Pennsylvania juxtaposition. On one hand, there's freeways everywhere. On the other hand... there's still a lack of direct routes, so you have to use pretty much all of the freeways to get anywhere 

[hbelkins]

Another Kentucky example would be Glasgow.

The Cumberland Parkway runs east-west south of downtown. A bypass of US 31E was built to the west of downtown, and the through route is signed along it. The old downtown route is signed Business US 31E but is officially known as US 31EX (but not signed like it is in Mt. Washington).

There is now a full four-lane bypass around the north side of Glasgow, running from a new Cumberland Parkway exit west of town to a new exit east of town. Most of the semi-circle is signed as US 68/KY 80, with the old route through downtown signed as Business US 68.

Russellville would also qualify. There's a full four-lane loop around town, variously signed as US 68, US 431, and US 79.

[webny99]

FWIW, I don't think there's a single example in NY. All the ones mentioned so far besides Round Lake which is a two-lane bypass, are not "small towns" by any stretch. The state is extremely lacking in four-lane non-interstates of any variety and that includes bypasses of small towns.

There's basically none unless you count something like the partial NY 13 bypass of Ithaca, or NY 400 around East Aurora.

[dantheman]

FWIW, I don't think there's a single example in NY. All the ones mentioned so far besides Round Lake which is a two-lane bypass, are not "small towns" by any stretch. The state is extremely lacking in four-lane non-interstates of any variety and that includes bypasses of small towns.

There's basically none unless you count something like the partial NY 13 bypass of Ithaca, or NY 400 around East Aurora.

Agreed on NY, with the possible exception of Utica (again, I'm stretching the definition of "small town") But it's hard to say Utica is overbuilt when the connection from I-90 to I-790 involves a stoplight.

Big tangent... The Round Lake bypass is probably better thought of as an extended exit ramp from I-87 to US 9. When the Global Foundries chip plant was built east of US 9 in that area, the original plan was to build a new Exit 11A with a connector road straight east, intersecting US 9, and continuing into the chip plant. While exits 11 and 12 aren't far away, the routes from those to the chip plant run through Round Lake (a very historic village with a couple of sharp turns) and a busy commercial area, respectively. Ultimately, it was decided that it was easier to build a two-lane road parallel to I-87 from Exit 11 than to build a whole new interchange. The terrain probably had something to do with this... I-87 is on a big valley fill right where the new exit would've landed, so the earthwork needed for a new exit would've been substantial.

https://dailygazette.com/2013/04/08/new-northway-exit-0409/
https://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Study-Exit-11A-on-Northway-unneeded-6936344.php

[texaskdog]

Old Faithful has a freeway around it!

[interstatefan990]

The state is extremely lacking in four-lane non-interstates of any variety

Uh, Hudson Valley parkways? NY-17?

[oscar]

Fairbanks AK has two short freeways around it - for 30k

Plus a partial freeway bypass to the north, the Johansen Expressway. It doesn't have a freeway-to-freeway connection with either of the other freeways, but construction may start next year on an interchange with Fairbanks' Steese Expressway eastern bypass.

Nome (population about 3700) is the center of a three-legged mostly gravel highway network, about 300 miles long. It's isolated from the rest of Alaska's highway network, so you have to rent a 4x4 to get around. None of Nome's highways are currently numbered, but they once were assigned Federal-aid secondary route numbers.

[zachary_amaryllis]

I submit the Central City Parkway.
Central City got pissed because everyone was going to Black Hawk, so they said 'we're gonna build our own highway ... with blackjack .. and hookers!"

CCP runs more or less parallel to 6/119, and in fact you can almost see 119 from the CCP. They were so desperate to shoehorn this in, that this 4-lane road, eventually funnels into the town's 2 one-way streets.

overview: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7676306,-105.5129514,12z
street view: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7966775,-105.5164007,416m/data=!3m1!1e3

[sbeaver44]

I nominate Harrisburg, PA, it's not as small but it has 9 freeways (including the airport spur) for an area of around 150k people (including a mere 51k in the city itself).

The Harrisburg MSA has about 600,000 people.

Also, check the traffic counts for I-83 near the South (John Harris) Bridge.  110,000 AADT.  124,000 AADT between the Eisenhower Interchange and Union Deposit Rd.

https://gis.penndot.gov/BPR_PDF_FILES/MAPS/Traffic/Traffic_Volume/County_Maps/Dauphin_tv.pdf

And just 5 miles north, you have 96,000 AADT on I-81 by Front St/Farm Show.  We have a lot of trucks on the freeways, because of the high quantity of warehouses in the area.

[tmthyvs]

I submit the Central City Parkway.
Central City got pissed because everyone was going to Black Hawk, so they said 'we're gonna build our own highway ... with blackjack .. and hookers!"

CCP runs more or less parallel to 6/119, and in fact you can almost see 119 from the CCP. They were so desperate to shoehorn this in, that this 4-lane road, eventually funnels into the town's 2 one-way streets.

overview: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7676306,-105.5129514,12z
street view: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7966775,-105.5164007,416m/data=!3m1!1e3

...and 2-lane 6/119 still gets way more traffic.

[Life in Paradise]

Another Kentucky example would be Glasgow.

The Cumberland Parkway runs east-west south of downtown. A bypass of US 31E was built to the west of downtown, and the through route is signed along it. The old downtown route is signed Business US 31E but is officially known as US 31EX (but not signed like it is in Mt. Washington).

There is now a full four-lane bypass around the north side of Glasgow, running from a new Cumberland Parkway exit west of town to a new exit east of town. Most of the semi-circle is signed as US 68/KY 80, with the old route through downtown signed as Business US 68.

Russellville would also qualify. There's a full four-lane loop around town, variously signed as US 68, US 431, and US 79.

Although a little bigger than Russellville, Glasgow and Somerset, would you also include Hopkinsville in that line of cities with overbuilt highway systems?  They have the Pennyrile Parkway (future I-169), a circular (at least mostly) bypass that half is Bypass US 68, and the North south US 41/four lane Alt 41 in town.  From my memory, the downtown is not that big.

[hbelkins]

Another Kentucky example would be Glasgow.

The Cumberland Parkway runs east-west south of downtown. A bypass of US 31E was built to the west of downtown, and the through route is signed along it. The old downtown route is signed Business US 31E but is officially known as US 31EX (but not signed like it is in Mt. Washington).

There is now a full four-lane bypass around the north side of Glasgow, running from a new Cumberland Parkway exit west of town to a new exit east of town. Most of the semi-circle is signed as US 68/KY 80, with the old route through downtown signed as Business US 68.

Russellville would also qualify. There's a full four-lane loop around town, variously signed as US 68, US 431, and US 79.

Although a little bigger than Russellville, Glasgow and Somerset, would you also include Hopkinsville in that line of cities with overbuilt highway systems?  They have the Pennyrile Parkway (future I-169), a circular (at least mostly) bypass that half is Bypass US 68, and the North south US 41/four lane Alt 41 in town.  From my memory, the downtown is not that big.

Good one. That might qualify.

[Techknow]

San Bruno, CA has a population of 42,000 yet has quite a few highways, in fact almost the same highways that go to neighboring SF with a population over 20x (it actually borders SFO but one can still count SFO as part of SF.)

San Bruno: I-280, I-380, US 101, CA 35, CA 82

San Francisco: All of the above, except replace I-380 with I-80.

[pianocello]

San Bruno, CA has a population of 42,000 yet has quite a few highways, in fact almost the same highways that go to neighboring SF with a population over 20x (it actually borders SFO but one can still count SFO as part of SF.)

San Bruno: I-280, I-380, US 101, CA 35, CA 82

San Francisco: All of the above, except replace I-380 with I-80.

Seems like a bit of a stretch, given that San Bruno seems more like a suburb than a small town.

By that logic, we would be able to include Rosemont, IL (pop. 4,000) since it has I-294, I-90, I-190, and an expressway-like stretch of Mannheim Rd (US 12/45).

[thspfc]

Wouldn't call it a small town, but Wheeling. There is no need for two E/W freeways through a metro area of 145k that is mostly N/S oriented. And a nice parkway would suffice in place of the US-250 freeway.