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Bridges first, road later...

Started by GreenLanternCorps, October 13, 2021, 08:01:51 AM

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GreenLanternCorps

Found the below image on Google Maps back when I-269 was still under construction.

How often do they build a pair of bridges first, and the road after?

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.8700993,-89.9249922,3a,40.1y,192.51h,92.45t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sqx6Os2nLpWDvSuvZfyaHBQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656


1995hoo

Three locations in New Jersey and New York immediately came to mind:

New Jersey: https://goo.gl/maps/RLcCNFvQV5nq6XxLA

Staten Island: https://goo.gl/maps/FXjXYc8XY7kjHhJX6

Also Staten Island (now demolished): https://goo.gl/maps/zr1Q7TB8MqfpjVZs6
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

Ned Weasel

The K-10 bridge over US 59 in Kansas was up for a loooooooooong time before the segment of K-10 that actually uses it opened.  https://goo.gl/maps/9zTHuCUqs6QrLcQF7
"I was raised by a cup of coffee." - Strong Bad imitating Homsar

Disclaimer: Views I express are my own and don't reflect any employer or associated entity.

Max Rockatansky

Seemingly this was the preferred method of construction by the California Division of Highways since I see it so often in the 1924-67 California Highways & Public Works volumes. 

webny99

A little different than the OP example because there was a lot more earthwork involved, but future US 15 over existing US 15 in Winfield, PA, has been built for a few years now and still isn't open to traffic yet.

Crown Victoria

The PA 23 Lancaster-Norristown Expressway, now known as the Goat Path...a probable case of bridges first, road never...

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.0692837,-76.206873,506m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

RoadRebel

Not exactly the same, but I've seen pre-built bridges in several places over the years, usually along with a stretch of unopened road attatched.  Here's a longstanding one for a US-52 bypass of Bluefield, West Virginia:

https://www.google.com/maps/@37.277428,-81.1674996,15z/data=!3m1!1e3

They did this on the Greensboro Urban Loop at the I-840/I-785/US-29 interchange:

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.142626,-79.7342442,15z/data=!3m1!1e3

It was also done on I-485 at I-77 and NC-115 where a few bridges sat unopened for years before the final segment opened.
Keep right (not middle) except to pass!

hbelkins

Kentucky has done this with its construction of the new alignment of US 460 (Corridor Q), and Virginia did as well when it built the bridge near the state line.


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

GaryV

The bridges for the northern I-96/I-69 interchange were built long before the ramp roadways (early 1980's).  It looked like random bridges placed in the fields.

Rothman

Also makes me think of the infamous bridges to nowhere on I-84 in CT that were eventually and partially incorporated into its interchange with CT 9.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Kniwt

UT 7 has had a roadless bridge between Exits 7 and 10 for about five years now:


Rick Powell

It's a future railroad bridge for when the Alaska Railroad gets extended to Delta Junction and possibly to the lower 48, being used in a very limited way as a multi-use bridge for military training and hunter access for the time being. The railroad is not going to be built for the foreseeable future.

https://www.facebook.com/aaroads/posts/the-tanana-river-bridge-near-salcha-alaska-is-alaskas-longest-bridge-with-a-leng/10157554941752948/

CtrlAltDel

There's things like this, where a pair of bridges has a wider median than the existing road, like over the Cedar River on I-80 in Iowa:

Interstates clinched: 4, 57, 275 (IN-KY-OH), 465 (IN), 640 (TN), 985
State Interstates clinched: I-26 (TN), I-75 (GA), I-75 (KY), I-75 (TN), I-81 (WV), I-95 (NH)

Scott5114

Rock Creek Road over I-35 in Norman in 2009—2010:
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

Bruce

How about an entire interchange that has sat unused for 2 years because the approaches aren't finished:



Source: https://www.business-live.co.uk/economic-development/unusable-m49-junction-causing-misery-21493748

DandyDan

I remember the I-494 bridges being up over MN 13 in Eagan long before 494 itself was built there.
MORE FUN THAN HUMANLY THOUGHT POSSIBLE

US20IL64

For the upcoming I-490 in IL, the bridge over I-90 has been up for over a year, and now building roads to/from it, to be opened in 2 years.

jp the roadgeek

Quote from: Rothman on October 13, 2021, 12:03:13 PM
Also makes me think of the infamous bridges to nowhere on I-84 in CT that were eventually and partially incorporated into its interchange with CT 9.

And the ("future") CT 11 bridge over CT 82 in Salem that has sat unused for almost 50 years.
Interstates I've clinched: 97, 290 (MA), 291 (CT), 291 (MA), 293, 295 (DE-NJ-PA), 295 (RI-MA), 384, 391, 395 (CT-MA), 395 (MD), 495 (DE), 610 (LA), 684, 691, 695 (MD), 695 (NY), 795 (MD)

frankenroad

IIRC, there were some bridges in Howard County Maryland along MD-32 that may have been there as early as the late 1970s, but the freeway itself was not constructed until the early 1980s, and did not open until 1985.
2di's clinched: 44, 66, 68, 71, 72, 74, 78, 83, 84(east), 86(east), 88(east), 96

Highways I've lived on M-43, M-185, US-127

Bruce

The I-5 / I-90 interchange was built in the 1960s (with I-5 opening in early 1967), but the ramps were unused until the late 1980s when I-90 was built around Beacon Hill.



And of course, we had the abandoned ghost ramps of the R H Thomson Expressway in the arboretum, jutting out from SR 520. Built in the 1960s and demolished a few years ago:


Terry Shea

Quote from: Bruce on October 13, 2021, 07:58:38 PM
How about an entire interchange that has sat unused for 2 years because the approaches aren't finished:



Source: https://www.business-live.co.uk/economic-development/unusable-m49-junction-causing-misery-21493748
That looks like an elevated race track!

wriddle082

The AL 157 bridge across the Tennessee River in Florence, AL was completed a few years before any road leading to it was built.  I can't remember the exact years. but it was in the 00's.

ilpt4u

The 2nd Carriageway of US 50 across IL had multiple bridges built decades ago on the 4 Lane Divided ROW, but the project was cancelled and these bridges are unused to this day

CtrlAltDel

I love that road hidden in the roundabout.

Interstates clinched: 4, 57, 275 (IN-KY-OH), 465 (IN), 640 (TN), 985
State Interstates clinched: I-26 (TN), I-75 (GA), I-75 (KY), I-75 (TN), I-81 (WV), I-95 (NH)

Bruce

Quote from: CtrlAltDel on October 15, 2021, 01:58:47 PM
I love that road hidden in the roundabout.



That would be the footpath as they call it over there.



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