First freeway in your city to be widened

[Tom958]

Freeways, or tolled freeways, or high-quality expressways. My city is Atlanta, and the freeway is I-75-85 from I-85 on the south side to University Avenue, c.1966. From a post I made on another forum:

This photo fascinates me. It's I-75 on the south side of Atlanta, looking south, immediately after completion of the I-85 Airport Connector in 1964. Note the yield sign at the foot of the ramp from 85! The highway that became I-75 here was completed by 1952 to a rather primitive standard-- actually, all of Atlanta's pre-Interstate freeways were infamous for their dead-yield onramps, and about a mile south of here, I-75 had an at-grade intersection that survived into the '80's.

I was born in 1958, I've lived in Atlanta all my life, and for as long as I've been cognizant of such things, the concurrency of I-75 and I-85 through downtown had been six lanes until the massive widening during the '80's. However, there was circumstantial evidence that the part from I-85 south to University Avenue wasn't six laned until at least 1966. This is the only photo I've ever seen that confirms that. The segment from University Avenue north to Georgia Avenue (now Ralph D. Abernathy Boulevard) was built as six lanes and opened in 1957.

Image from myajc.com, Atlanta's major newspaper

This photo was taken within the limits of the interchange between GA 166 and I-75-85. The collector-distributor roads that connected the Interstates south of their convergence to 166 hadn't been started yet, but on the southbound side you can see a stub for the CD to enter 85 south, and bridges carrying 85 over the as-yet-unbuilt CD road. 166 was known as the Lakewood Freeway because part of it overlaid Lakewood Avenue, which had a simple diamond interchange with the freeway. The Lakewood Freeway interchange used a type of guardrail that didn't come into use until 1966 or so, but there was also a bridge built in the same style as those on the 85 Airport Connector carrying Fair Drive over the freeway. I surmise that the Fair Drive bridge was built in order to provide a detour for while the Lakewood Avenue interchange was demolished and rebuilt, and it was probably well advanced in construction or finished when this photo was taken. That same 1966ish guardrail style appeared rather incongruously on a bridge that carried 75-85 over a railroad immediately south of University Avenue, strongly suggesting that the six laning of 75-85 from University to the 75-85 split was done when the Lakewood Freeway, not 85, was built. So that yield sign must've bedeviled Atlanta motorists for a significant amount of time.

Here's the Google Maps link for the area. You'd think that it'd have little relevance today since the entire highway was completely reconstructed in the '80's, but in fact the current layout is quite similar to that when the original 166 interchange was completed, though with a bigger footprint. The biggest difference is that now the CD's extend south to Cleveland Avenue.

[nexus73]

No freeways in my city.  I'll write about Oregon instead.  Our last widening in a city was I-5 in Salem from the Kuebler interchange to the Salem Parkway interchange.  4-lanes to 6-lanes.  It was really needed!

Rick

[Big John]

IN Green Bay, US/I-41 was recently (2011-16) widened from 4 lanes to 6-10 lanes in segments.

[Beltway]

I-95 Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike

I-95 has 6 lanes throughout the Richmond area; it was built with 6 lanes from the Maury Street interchange northward, and with 4 lanes southward of there; and the 22-mile-long section from Maury Street to the I-85 interchange in Petersburg was widened to 6 lanes from 1974 to 1978.

Widening I-95 from Maury Street in South Richmond to the I-95/I-85 interchange in Petersburg, plus other improvements to the Turnpike, including a new ramp at the Broad Street interchange in downtown Richmond, a complete reconstruction of the VA-150 Chippenham Parkway interchange, improvements to the VA-10 interchange, and a complete reconstruction of the Washington Street interchange and I-95/I-85 interchange in Petersburg, and reconstruction of the I-95 highway mainline in Petersburg to lessen several curves.  This new interchange complex between I-95 and Washington Street, Wythe Street and I-85 in Petersburg, was called the "Little Mixing Bowl" by the highway designers and planners.

[DJ Particle]

Within the Minneapolis city limits, I'm going to take a wild guess and say US-12 heading out of downtown, in the process of becoming I-394.

[wriddle082]

Not 100% sure about Columbia, SC, but I'm thinking it's the entirety of I-126 which was likely widened in the early 80's.  Could also be I-26 from Malfunction Junction (I-20) to I-77, which I think was done by "˜86.

As for Nashville (my hometown), I think I-65 from TN 255 to Wedgewood Ave was widened in around "˜85 or "˜86 in conjunction with the original construction of I-440.  I-24 was also widened from I-40 to TN 255 by "˜86, and I think I-40 from TN 155 to just east of I-440 was widened by "˜86 or "˜87.

[wanderer2575]

In my immediate area, I think it would be the widening of the original western stretch of I-696 (between I-96/I-275 and M-10) from four lanes to eight lanes in 1989.  I think the widening of I-75 in northern Oakland County happened after that.

[ET21]

Chicagoland there's a lot of local ones that I'm sure I'll miss, but I'd have to say maybe the Tri-State tollway during the 80s? My first widening experience was the southern Tri-State during the mid-2000s

EDIT: Just realized I answered the question wrong 

[US71]

I-540 needs it desperately, but ARDOT will never do anything besides upgrade the bridges, They were supposed to replace the Arkansas River bridge 4 years ago, but opted to use that money for some pet project near Little Rock.

[Eth]

Image from myajc.com, Atlanta's major newspaper

Slightly off topic here, but I noticed what looks like a route marker assembly over there on the northbound side with two square (i.e. presumably non-Interstate) shields on it. These would, I presume, be US 19 and US 41; when this freeway initially opened, those routes were moved onto it, with the old route (up to Lakewood Ave) being Business 19/41 according to GDOT maps of the era. The US highway mainlines were returned to the old route somewhere around this time, though I can't quite pinpoint exactly when. The June 1963 map shows them on the freeway co-signed with I-75, with I-85 under construction and the Lakewood Freeway apparently not yet started, but they'd been moved back by January 1966.

[froggie]

Within the Minneapolis city limits, I'm going to take a wild guess and say US-12 heading out of downtown, in the process of becoming I-394.

Wayzata Blvd wasn't a freeway before that point, though.  There were at-grades at Xerxes, Cedar Lake Rd, and Penn until ca. 1970, and even after that point there were RIRO's at Cedar Lake Rd until construction on I-394 began in the mid-80s.  I'm reading the OP's intention as the first already-existing freeway to be widened in a given city.

Which within the Minneapolis city limits would technically be WB 62 on the Crosstown Commons.  The original ramp to WB 62 from SB 35W was a single lane.  It was widened to 2 lanes ca. 1968.

In the Twin Cities as a whole, it was I-494 along the Bloomington Strip.  Opened in 1959 as 4 lanes, it became burdened with traffic so quickly it was widened to 6 lanes between MN 100 and today's MN 77 by 1965.

[Tom958]

As for Nashville (my hometown), I think I-65 from TN 255 to Wedgewood Ave was widened in around "˜85 or "˜86 in conjunction with the original construction of I-440.  I-24 was also widened from I-40 to TN 255 by "˜86, and I think I-40 from TN 155 to just east of I-440 was widened by "˜86 or "˜87.

My guess for Nashville would be the 24-40 concurrency, though I don't know when it happened since they apparently managed to cram another two lanes onto roadways built for six without widening any of the bridges. I couldn't find anything on bridgereports.com, anyway.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

From what I've seen/found from the Columbus Public Library online photo collection; I-71 north from Ft. Hayes (nowadays I-670) to I-270.

[Roadsguy]

I believe the first freeway widening in the Philadelphia area was the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Norristown (Germantown Pike) to Bensalem (US 1).

[Beltway]

I believe the first freeway widening in the Philadelphia area was the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Norristown (Germantown Pike) to Bensalem (US 1).

That would be the first major widening of a freeway in the Philadelphia area, at least on the Pennsylvania side.

Technically we might cite the Schuylkill Expressway between US-1 Roosevelt Expressway and Montgomery Drive, one lane each way added in the mid-1970s project to reconfigure and expand the interchange between the Schuylkill Expressway and the US-1 Roosevelt Expressway.

[Roadsguy]

I believe the first freeway widening in the Philadelphia area was the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Norristown (Germantown Pike) to Bensalem (US 1).

That would be the first major widening of a freeway in the Philadelphia area, at least on the Pennsylvania side.

Technically we might cite the Schuylkill Expressway between US-1 Roosevelt Expressway and Montgomery Drive, one lane each way added in the mid-1970s project to reconfigure and expand the interchange between the Schuylkill Expressway and the US-1 Roosevelt Expressway.

Ah yes, I forgot about that. I don't think there was an earlier widening on the PA side. The Turnpike widening was only done in the 1980s.

I have no idea about any widenings on the NJ side.

[Beltway]

Technically we might cite the Schuylkill Expressway between US-1 Roosevelt Expressway and Montgomery Drive, one lane each way added in the mid-1970s project to reconfigure and expand the interchange between the Schuylkill Expressway and the US-1 Roosevelt Expressway.

Ah yes, I forgot about that. I don't think there was an earlier widening on the PA side. The Turnpike widening was only done in the 1980s.
I have no idea about any widenings on the NJ side.

Recollection is hazy, but several miles of I-295 was widened from 4 to 6 lanes in the mid-1970s, just north of I-76/NJ-42, and maybe a couple miles south of there.

[PHLBOS]

For the Greater Boston area, I would have to say MA 128 (now I-95/MA 128) between MA 9/Wellesley (current Exit 20) and US 1/S. Lynnfield (current Exit 44) sometime between 1958 and 1962 based on viewing Historic Aerials.   It changed from a 4-to-6 lane highway to the current 6-to-8 lane highway.

[pianocello]

The Quad Cities' first freeway widening is going on now with the I-74 bridge project. All freeways are 4 lanes, but within the next few years, the majority of I-74 through town will be 6 lanes.

[TheStranger]

I'm not even sure any of the freeways built in SF ever were widened at any point:

Bayshore Freeway had 8 lanes through Hospital Curve as early as opening day (based on the photos I've seen from the 1950s)
San Francisco Skyway seems to have always been in its 6 lane configuration between 5th Street and the Central Freeway
The Central Freeway was realigned ca. 2005 to end at Market Street but with no capacity changes between Van Ness Avenue/Duboce Avenue and Market/Octavia.
The north part of the Junipero Serra Freeway (Route 1 from 280 to Font Boulevard) is pretty much the same configuration as when it opened

I haven't seen any construction era photos of the Southern Freeway portion of 280 (originally built as Bypass US 101) - HistoricAerials doesn't show any of it complete in 1956, but looks to be in its current configuration by 1968?

The US 101 freeway through the Presidio was 6 lanes in its 1937-2015 configuration as Doyle Drive, and still 6 lanes on the Interstate-standard modern Presidio Parkway that replaced it.

[triplemultiplex]

Because of its cobbled-together nature, it would be difficult to pin down a widening of the Beltline in Madison.  Much of it wasn't yet a freeway as the third lane was added.  Or it was constructed with the lanes it has today when it was upgraded to freeway. (Like the Yahara Causeway).

So I should focus on the interstate for an earliest freeway widening.  Back then, it was just I-90/94, but the expansion from four to six lanes north of the Badger Interchange went down in the late 80's into the early 90's.  I recall seeing newly reconstructed bridges and stuff on road trips as a young kid, particularly at the Badger Interchange itself.

In Milwaukee, I'm more confident about the first freeway to get more lanes.  It was I-43 at Silver Spring Dr. in the early 90's.  The reconstruction of that interchange extended the six lane configuration north maybe a mile.  It's noteworthy, because it involved repealing a moratorium on any freeway expansion in Milwaukee that managed to make it onto the books about 10 years earlier.

[OracleUsr]

Well, Statesville doesn't technically have freeways, but I-40 was the first, and not a moment too soon at that.

[hotdogPi]

Well, Statesville doesn't technically have freeways

What do you mean by that? Unless OpenStreetMap and Wikipedia both have the city boundaries wrong, it has both I-40 and I-77.

[Henry]

Chicagoland there's a lot of local ones that I'm sure I'll miss, but I'd have to say maybe the Tri-State tollway during the 80s? My first widening experience was the southern Tri-State during the mid-2000s

EDIT: Just realized I answered the question wrong 

I was thinking the (intown) Dan Ryan and Kennedy expressways were widened in the early 90s, because I remember coming home from college one summer and seeing construction crews work on them around the clock. When the project was finished, they sure looked a hell of a lot better than before!

[frankenroad]

I think Cincinnati's first widening was part of I-75 through the Lockland area in 1967.  It went from 4 to 6 lanes.   In about five years, that portion will go to 8 lanes.