Cities besides Anchorage where freeways don’t connect

[Concrete Bob]

State Route 65 in Porterville, CA and Alfred Harrell Highway in Bakersfield. 

[vdeane]

Given that all the development in Merritt is WEST of BC 5, did they really have grounds to complain?  It's not like the traffic was driving through town anyways.

I think so. There's nowhere else to get food or gas for ~120 km (Hope or Kelowna), so lots of people stop there.

And that would still be true, would it not?  They could have put signs saying for services to go north to Merritt.  Unless "south of Merritt" meant not just a little south but a lot south.

[midwesternroadguy]

Hwy 11 in Monroe, WI is a 4.5 mile freeway bypass with no connections to other freeways or expressways. It continues eastward as expressway another 3 miles or so before reverting to 2-lane. Rumor has it that Hwy 15 (now I-43) was to be extended as a freeway or expressway between Janesville and Beloit westward to Dubuque, and this was to be part of it.

I'm pretty sure this is the only Wisconsin example; everything else connects directly to a freeway or 4-lane expressway somewhere (assuming we're excusing things like the 2 miles of surface street Hwy 26 approaching I-39/90).

There are two short freeways that are isolated in Wisconsin:  Campus Drive in Madison, a one-mile long, limited access, 4-lane highway between Breese Terrace and University Bay Drive.  Granted, it does not prohibit unmotorized traffic on its shoulders; and the Mason Street bridge in Green Bay, that is similar to the bridge systems of Winnipeg, and other interior Canadian cities, with interchanges at its approaches.

[Dough4872]

The freeway section of PA 12 in Reading, PA along the Warren Street Bypass is not connected to the US 222 and US 422 freeways since there is a section of PA 12 with businesses and RIRO intersections between US 222/US 422 and PA 183.

[rhen_var]

Rochester, MN - the US 63 interchange with US 52 on the south side of the city is signalized, but 63 is a freeway to the south.

Technically, if you're following 63 through that interchange, you don't go through a signal.  Though in fairness it's not a full freeway-to-freeway interchange.

Also, neither US 52 nor US 63 have full freeway to freeway connections with I-90.

One could argue that US-14 west of town is a freeway for a short while (and will likely eventually be upgraded to a full freeway eventually) and also does not have a freeway-to-freeway interchange with US-52.  Even after the I-90/US-52 interchange project, there will still be no full freeway-to-freeway interchanges between any of the 4 freeways in the area.

[thspfc]

Hwy 11 in Monroe, WI is a 4.5 mile freeway bypass with no connections to other freeways or expressways. It continues eastward as expressway another 3 miles or so before reverting to 2-lane. Rumor has it that Hwy 15 (now I-43) was to be extended as a freeway or expressway between Janesville and Beloit westward to Dubuque, and this was to be part of it.

I'm pretty sure this is the only Wisconsin example; everything else connects directly to a freeway or 4-lane expressway somewhere (assuming we're excusing things like the 2 miles of surface street Hwy 26 approaching I-39/90).

There are two short freeways that are isolated in Wisconsin:  Campus Drive in Madison, a one-mile long, limited access, 4-lane highway between Breese Terrace and University Bay Drive.  Granted, it does not prohibit unmotorized traffic on its shoulders; and the Mason Street bridge in Green Bay, that is similar to the bridge systems of Winnipeg, and other interior Canadian cities, with interchanges at its approaches.

This is a flimsy definition of "freeway" . If those two are freeways, then why doesn't WI-16 in Wyocena or WI-13 in Prentice count?

If I was to define it, a freeway must have at least two interchanges located along a fully limited access stretch of at least two miles.

[Big John]

I say the Mason Street bridge is questionable because of a 35 MPH speed limit, no shoulders and an unseparated sidewalk on the part over the river.

[roadman65]

Hwy 11 in Monroe, WI is a 4.5 mile freeway bypass with no connections to other freeways or expressways. It continues eastward as expressway another 3 miles or so before reverting to 2-lane. Rumor has it that Hwy 15 (now I-43) was to be extended as a freeway or expressway between Janesville and Beloit westward to Dubuque, and this was to be part of it.

I'm pretty sure this is the only Wisconsin example; everything else connects directly to a freeway or 4-lane expressway somewhere (assuming we're excusing things like the 2 miles of surface street Hwy 26 approaching I-39/90).

There are two short freeways that are isolated in Wisconsin:  Campus Drive in Madison, a one-mile long, limited access, 4-lane highway between Breese Terrace and University Bay Drive.  Granted, it does not prohibit unmotorized traffic on its shoulders; and the Mason Street bridge in Green Bay, that is similar to the bridge systems of Winnipeg, and other interior Canadian cities, with interchanges at its approaches.

This is a flimsy definition of "freeway" . If those two are freeways, then why doesn't WI-16 in Wyocena or WI-13 in Prentice count?

If I was to define it, a freeway must have at least two interchanges located along a fully limited access stretch of at least two miles.

Then I-587 in Kingston, NY don't count as one.

[thspfc]

Hwy 11 in Monroe, WI is a 4.5 mile freeway bypass with no connections to other freeways or expressways. It continues eastward as expressway another 3 miles or so before reverting to 2-lane. Rumor has it that Hwy 15 (now I-43) was to be extended as a freeway or expressway between Janesville and Beloit westward to Dubuque, and this was to be part of it.

I'm pretty sure this is the only Wisconsin example; everything else connects directly to a freeway or 4-lane expressway somewhere (assuming we're excusing things like the 2 miles of surface street Hwy 26 approaching I-39/90).

There are two short freeways that are isolated in Wisconsin:  Campus Drive in Madison, a one-mile long, limited access, 4-lane highway between Breese Terrace and University Bay Drive.  Granted, it does not prohibit unmotorized traffic on its shoulders; and the Mason Street bridge in Green Bay, that is similar to the bridge systems of Winnipeg, and other interior Canadian cities, with interchanges at its approaches.

This is a flimsy definition of "freeway" . If those two are freeways, then why doesn't WI-16 in Wyocena or WI-13 in Prentice count?

If I was to define it, a freeway must have at least two interchanges located along a fully limited access stretch of at least two miles.

Then I-587 in Kingston, NY don't count as one.

Now that I think about it, two interchanges in two limited access miles is a bad definition also because it would include expressways that happen to have a stretch between two interchanges without any cross roads.

[sprjus4]

Now that I think about it, two interchanges in two limited access miles is a bad definition also because it would include expressways that happen to have a stretch between two interchanges without any cross roads.

I would argue that would count as a small freeway segment.

[therocket]

Honorable mention goes to San Francisco that only has 1 pair of freeways intersecting at the south of the city (I-280 and US-101, which later cease to be freeways deeper into the city)

[TheStranger]

Honorable mention goes to San Francisco that only has 1 pair of freeways intersecting at the south of the city (I-280 and US-101, which later cease to be freeways deeper into the city)

SF has at least one other freeway-to-freeway connection: I-80 and US 101 at the Central Freeway/Bayshore Freeway/San Francisco Skyway junction.

Prior to 1989 there was also the 80/480 split just before the Bay Bridge (which was planned to also be I-280's north terminus from 1968 to the early 1980s, but for 280 never being built past 3rd Street).

[Henry]

Hwy 11 in Monroe, WI is a 4.5 mile freeway bypass with no connections to other freeways or expressways. It continues eastward as expressway another 3 miles or so before reverting to 2-lane. Rumor has it that Hwy 15 (now I-43) was to be extended as a freeway or expressway between Janesville and Beloit westward to Dubuque, and this was to be part of it.

I'm pretty sure this is the only Wisconsin example; everything else connects directly to a freeway or 4-lane expressway somewhere (assuming we're excusing things like the 2 miles of surface street Hwy 26 approaching I-39/90).

There are two short freeways that are isolated in Wisconsin:  Campus Drive in Madison, a one-mile long, limited access, 4-lane highway between Breese Terrace and University Bay Drive.  Granted, it does not prohibit unmotorized traffic on its shoulders; and the Mason Street bridge in Green Bay, that is similar to the bridge systems of Winnipeg, and other interior Canadian cities, with interchanges at its approaches.

This is a flimsy definition of "freeway" . If those two are freeways, then why doesn't WI-16 in Wyocena or WI-13 in Prentice count?

If I was to define it, a freeway must have at least two interchanges located along a fully limited access stretch of at least two miles.

Then I-587 in Kingston, NY don't count as one.

And on the same note, neither does I-180 in Cheyenne, WY (it's not even a freeway at all!).

[JustDrive]

CA 198 in Lemoore/Hanford also comes to mind.

[KCRoadFan]

Jefferson City, MO, has a rather strange half-example: it has two freeways, US 50 and US 54, which are connected by an interchange, but there's not enough room around it for a standard cloverleaf, which means that the ramps actually intersect one another at-grade - and if that's not weird enough, US 50 just east of the interchange has its own at-grade section with traffic lights.

Or, alternatively:  US-50 stops being a freeway east of Dix Road.

I suppose you could say that - but there are several more freeway exits along US 50 to the east of the at-grade section as well.

[dmuzika]

Given that all the development in Merritt is WEST of BC 5, did they really have grounds to complain?  It's not like the traffic was driving through town anyways.

I think so. There's nowhere else to get food or gas for ~120 km (Hope or Kelowna), so lots of people stop there.

And that would still be true, would it not?  They could have put signs saying for services to go north to Merritt.  Unless "south of Merritt" meant not just a little south but a lot south.

It would have been about 20 mi south of Merritt, close to present-day exit 256 (Coldwater Road). Truckers would have been happier if it was constructed, the BC-5A/97C junction at Aspen Grove is located on a plateau, along with where it would have connected to BC-5; currently one has to do a significant descent and climb in-and-out of the Nicola Valley. It would help if the Parclo-B2 was reconfigured at BC-5/97C (& 5A) in Merritt - NB BC-5 to EB BC-97C has to go around the loop and turn left at a signalized intersection.

[Ketchup99]

Not sure if this is quite what the thread is asking, but the freeway system of Central Pennsylvania is completely separated from the rest of the US freeway system. Even after the State College Connector on US 322 is built, I-99, US 15, US 22, US 322, and PA 26 will all have freeway segments connected to each other (i.e. you can drive from anywhere to anywhere else in Central PA without leaving the freeways), but you can't connect to any other freeways without going through at-grade intersections, as the freeways spill out into at-grades. If Ebensburg ever got a freeway bypass, this would become even funnier, as US 219 would be integrated into the freeway system - but still doesn't connect to any other freeways.

Sadly, this phenomenon will be killed off with the construction of the (much needed) high-speed interchange between I-99 and I-80.

[bzakharin]

Trenton, NJ is like this. NJ 29 is no longer a freeway by the time it interchanges with the US 1 freeway. NJ 29, as a freeway, ties into I-195 and I-295 in New Jersey, while US 1, as a freeway, crosses into PA and ties into I-295 there.

[mrsman]

While most of California is full of interconnected freeway networks, there are a few isolated examples of routes that do this (where a freeway does not have a free-flowing, no-stoplights junction with another freeway in the area) -

- the La Cienega Boulevard freeway in Baldwin Park that was supposed to be part of the never-completed Route 170 south segment
- former Route 118 parallel to I-210 northwest of Pasadena
- Friars Road between Route 163 and I-15 in San Diego
- Route 90 in Yorba Linda
- the Route 1 freeway in Oxnard (though I suspect a connection to the now-removed flyover interchange with US 101 was planned decades ago)

That little freeway that terminates right outside the Rose Bowl in Pasadena is top of mind.

While not quite within the parameters of the thread,  I do have to mention the relative isolation of I-210 from much of the rest of the freeeway network.

Yes, 210 connects to 5, 118 , 2, 134, 710 northern stub, 605, 57 ,15, and 215, and 10.  But there is no easy way to get from much of the 210 to the Hollywood area without a lot of backtracking or a surface street connection.

So let's say that you are at Hollywood and Vine.  US 101 is only a few blocks away and you can take it north to reach much of the SFV but not the communities along 210 unless you use Sunland Blvd as a street connection.  Likewise, you can take US 101 south to reach Downtown LA (and by extension all freeways emanating to the east like 5, 10, 60 to reach eastern areas but not any of the Foothill communities that are west of 605 like Pasadena, Arcadia, and Monrovia.  To go from Hollywood to Arcadia one would have to do one of the following with surface street connections:

1) US 101 north to Vineland and then onto 134 east to 210
2) US 101 south to Alvarado and then surface streets onto CA-2 and then 134
3) US 101 south to CA-110 and then surface streets in Pasadena to reach 210
4) US 101 south to I-10 east to I-710 north and then any of the 710 gap surface streets, like Fremont, to reach 210

So while 210 is connected to the other freeways, the lack of a 170 extension to 210, the lack of a 710 extenstion to 210, the lack of CA-2 reaching US 101, and the lack of 710 extension to 210 has made the 210 relatively isolated from all the freeways to its south between 405 and 605.

[ElishaGOtis]

Florida has a bunch of one-off examples of this, some of which are part of a future expansion, while others were built simply for connectivity. For example, there is:
- US-19 in St. Petersburg (to be connected via Gateway Expressway)
- SR-538 Poinciana Pkwy in Orlando (to be connected to I-4 & SR-429)
- Osceola Parkway (on the small toll segment)
- US-301 Alt around Starke
- FL-293 around Niceville (though technically not a freeway, but comes very close)

Some close contenders (not quite what this thread is looking for) are large bridges and interchanges, such as those seen on Gandy Blvd, US-98 in both Pensacola and Panama City, SR-295 at New Warrington Spur, the bundle of interchanges between SR-85 and SR-123, and SR-563 on Kathleen Blvd for a few blocks in downtown Lakeland.

[Dirt Roads]

Not much of a city, but the WV-9 Bypass heading into Martinsburg is doomed to be disconnected from I-81 perhaps forever.  In 2016, shortly after completion of the freeway section of WV-9 from East Martinsburg down almost to Charles Town in 2016, the WVDOH announced that they selected the No-Build Option for the remaining piece of the WV-9 Martinsburg Bypass.  According to local media, that missing section has been on the books since 1978.