Cities which don't need beltways but have them.

[Roadgeekteen]

Shoutout Rochester NY (although the beltway is gone now.)

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Lexington, KY

[JayhawkCO]

Are we defining beltway as needing to be limited access?  Otherwise I might nominate Enterprise, AL.

Chris

[Roadgeekteen]

Are we defining beltway as needing to be limited access?  Otherwise I might nominate Enterprise, AL.

Chris

Not necessary, could be any beltway.

[1995hoo]

Depending on what you construe as a beltway, I nominate Durham, North Carolina, because the Downtown Loop is both unnecessary and a nuisance.

[webny99]

Shoutout Rochester NY (although the beltway is gone now.)

Two things:

(1) At only about 3 miles in length, the Inner Loop was a little small to be consider a "beltway" in the traditional sense.  I/NY 390 and I/NY 590 are closer to what I would consider an actual beltway, but it's incomplete.

(2) Rochester is absolute deserving of a beltway. I'd love to see a "roof" on our current partial beltway, either via NY 104 or something closer to the lakeshore.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Are we defining beltway as needing to be limited access?  Otherwise I might nominate Enterprise, AL.

Chris

Not necessary, could be any beltway.

Is this the only setup where the bypass route is a bypass of the bypass?

[JayhawkCO]

Are we defining beltway as needing to be limited access?  Otherwise I might nominate Enterprise, AL.

Chris

Not necessary, could be any beltway.

Is this the only setup where the bypass route is a bypass of the bypass?

I know zero about the history, but I'm assuming US84 used to follow Main Street?

Chris

[SkyPesos]

Not a city, and not in the US, but a single beltway number for a route that encircles a body of water and is concurrent with other routes most of the way is not needed.

[TheStranger]

Is Grand Boulevard in Corona the only example of a circular road around a community in California?

Not sure if "need" or "unneeded" are the terms to describe that though, and the city itself got its name from having a circular road at all!  (it was used also for auto racing in the 1910s)

In terms of enclosed beltways (as opposed to say, a long loop route like I-405), I-280/I-680 basically operates more as two north-south corridors anyway than one unified belt route, and the surface street belt of Capitol Avenue/Capitol Expressway/Hillsdale Avenue/San Tomas Expressway/Montague Expressway around San Jose is a pretty major route.

[Rothman]

Shoutout Rochester NY (although the beltway is gone now.)

Two things:

(1) At only about 3 miles in length, the Inner Loop was a little small to be consider a "beltway" in the traditional sense.  I/NY 390 and I/NY 590 are closer to what I would consider an actual beltway, but it's incomplete.

(2) Rochester is absolute deserving of a beltway. I'd love to see a "roof" on our current partial beltway, either via NY 104 or something closer to the lakeshore.

Eesh.  That "roof" would either destroy decent communities or the shoreline itself.

[skluth]

I grew up in Green Bay. It doesn't NEED a beltway, though I-41, I-43, and WI 172 constitute one. I appreciate it every time I visit my family who still live there and it clears out the traffic nicely after every Packers game.

I recommend this parking strategy to anyone heading towards Milwaukee after a game at Lambeau. Park free just north of the stadium east of Oneida St; you can usually find an empty street spot on the first block of Raleigh or Liberty. After the game, return via the following: North on Oneida to end, east one block on Dousman, north on Gray St to the end, east one short block on Velp, north on Atkinson to SB I-43 ramp. Oneida is mostly used by locals and they all turn at Mason, so the rest of the "shortcut" is practically devoid of traffic until the I-43/WI 172 merge. It beats the crap of dealing with all the idiots cramming the local streets to get to WI 172 or I-41. I've never used it for a night game, but it works great for the early afternoon starts.

[webny99]

Rochester is absolute deserving of a beltway. I'd love to see a "roof" on our current partial beltway, either via NY 104 or something closer to the lakeshore.

Eesh.  That "roof" would either destroy decent communities or the shoreline itself.

Yes, it is fantasy... although I look at what's being done to US 281 north of San Antonio and it's not totally outrageous to think NY 104 could be upgraded to a freeway. It would never happen in the current climate though.

[Rothman]

Rochester is absolute deserving of a beltway. I'd love to see a "roof" on our current partial beltway, either via NY 104 or something closer to the lakeshore.

Eesh.  That "roof" would either destroy decent communities or the shoreline itself.

Yes, it is fantasy... although I look at what's being done to US 281 north of San Antonio and it's not totally outrageous to think NY 104 could be upgraded to a freeway. It would never happen in the current climate though.

Charlotte would go nuts.

[hbelkins]

Lexington, KY

Construction on New Circle Road started before the conceptualization of the interstate system, to serve as a bypass for US 25 and US 60.

[Ned Weasel]

What about St. Charles, MO?

[STLmapboy]

What about St. Charles, MO?

I don't think 370 is really a beltway per se. It's a connector between 70 and 270 to allow commercial traffic and personal vehicles to shave off some time going from X to Y without passing through STL.

[vdeane]

Shoutout Rochester NY (although the beltway is gone now.)

I presume you mean the Inner Loop?  As mentioned, that's not really a beltway.  A beltway would be more like 590/390/104, were it finished; NY 104 between NY 390 and the river isn't a freeway.  It was planned to be, but alas, the current climate in NY is very freeway hostile.

[Revive 755]

What about St. Charles, MO?

I don't think 370 is really a beltway per se. It's a connector between 70 and 270 to allow commercial traffic and personal vehicles to shave off some time going from X to Y without passing through STL.

While it isn't much quicker when traffic is flowing on I-70, MO 370 is a much more pleasant drive than I-70 and should have tied into MO 79 (though the Salt River Road extension now kind of fills this role as an arterial).  It has been very nice to have as an alternative to the Blanchette and the previously overloaded ramp from NB I-270 to WB I-70 in the years prior to the opening of MO 364 and the freeway upgrades to US 40 in St. Charles County.

[ibthebigd]

Fort Wayne Indiana I-469

SM-G950U

[webny99]

Fort Wayne Indiana I-469

It may not be needed for Fort Wayne itself, but the southern 2/3 are needed for Indy-Toledo and Indy-Detroit traffic.

[formulanone]

Are we defining beltway as needing to be limited access?  Otherwise I might nominate Enterprise, AL.

Chris

Not necessary, could be any beltway.

Is this the only setup where the bypass route is a bypass of the bypass?

I know zero about the history, but I'm assuming US84 used to follow Main Street?

Chris

It appears that the NE quadrant of the US 84 bypass of Main Street occurred between 1957-62. The rest of the US 84 bypass wasn't completed until 1990-91.

But the big attraction downtown is the Boll Weevil Monument:

[NWI_Irish96]

So this isn't a full beltway but my small hometown of Bremen got a US 6 bypass in the 1980s. The governor of Indiana from 1973-81 was from Bremen so he made sure we got the bypass even though there were three larger towns on US 6 that did not.

[StogieGuy7]

Lexington, KY

Construction on New Circle Road started before the conceptualization of the interstate system, to serve as a bypass for US 25 and US 60.

Which explains why it inconveniently (and annoyingly) doesn't directly link up with any interstates or parkways. To get to  - or leave - Lexington, you have to approach on a surface street of some form (sitting through at least some traffic lights at intersections) before you can reach the circle road, let alone downtown. Although there may be others, I can't think of another city this size that has such a dysfunctional arrangement.

[Evan_Th]

Depending on what you construe as a beltway, I nominate Durham, North Carolina, because the Downtown Loop is both unnecessary and a nuisance.

Hey, I grew up in Durham!  I agree it's unnecessary, but what makes you say it's a nuisance? 

But also, I say a loop around part of the core of downtown definitely doesn't qualify as a beltway.  The actual beltway - 15-501 and 85 - is pretty definitely necessary.  Soon, you'll be able to add in the East End Connector, 147, and 40 to say there's a full beltway.