Abandoned Part of roads/freeways.

[Lukeisroads]

We all know what freeways are. But where are the abandoned parts of the freeways/roads. I have some in my area how about yours?

[Max Rockatansky]

Much of the Old Ridge Route is one of the classic abandoned/unused roads out there/

https://www.gribblenation.org/2018/11/legend-of-ridge-route-history-of.html?m=1


Recently I hiked the abandoned portion of Foresta Road out of Yosemite:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2022/10/abandoned-foresta-road-between-foresta.html?m=1


Most people don't even know about the original pre-1937 alignment of CA 1 between Montara and Pacifica over Pedro Mountain:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2021/07/former-california-state-route-1-over.html?m=1


Old Jackrabbit Trail which was the initial alignment of US 60 and US 70:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2022/03/former-us-route-60-70-on-jack-rabbit.html?m=1


Former CA 190 east of Porterville at the bottom of Lake Success:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2021/10/former-california-state-route-190-at.html?m=1

[Dirt Roads]

Certainly this thread will get relocated.  But we have an abandoned on-ramp for the original section of I-85 here in Orange County, North Carolina.  This is located at the east end of Efland and deep in the woods is a ramp from the eastbound lane of (then) US-70A (now reverted back to US-70) to westbound I-85 (now posted on streetblades as I-85 Connector to Exit 161, formerly posted on streetblades as US-70X).  The old loop was pretty tight and had a steep elevation change.  There was a recent proposal to replace this abandoned connection from Efland to I-85 as part of a failed development that was to have been anchored by Buc-ees.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Hillsborough,+NC+27278/@36.0825595,-79.1515227,487m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x89acc1041d398e59:0x3593ab3cd48ad23e!8m2!3d36.0754183!4d-79.0997347!16zL20vMHlqbDg

Twenty-five years ago, you could still see the arc-shaped loop sloping down from here:  https://www.google.com/maps/@36.0830338,-79.1521546,3a,43.9y,125.48h,78.74t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s3XA-qRLW8_cSkdtdsmSztQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[ilpt4u]

There is abandoned portions of Old IL 13 at the bottom of Crab Orchard Lake, near Cambria and Crainville, IL. The two "ends"  of Old 13 on both sides of the lake are now boat ramps, and there is a bit of the old road still visible on the northern peninsulas extending into Crab Orchard Lake. Foreville Rd (still usable to get to another boat ramp) and another road off of Campground Rd leading to another boat ramp are still usable, disconnected pieces of Old 13

https://maps.app.goo.gl/NbwB6ZcMkuoz7Wvx7?g_st=ic

[GaryV]

This bridge at the south end of Keweenaw Bay was once part of US-41. It now serves as part of someone's driveway.
https://goo.gl/maps/Sn3wQ3CYnTWHaAR4A

[CtrlAltDel]

There's this little bit of former I-44 northeast of Tulsa which was rerouted to meet the Creek Turnpike.


It's always annoyed me that they didn't dig it up.

[Bruce]

Ghost ramps and stubs aside, there's a few in the Seattle area:

The old northbound lanes of the Airport Expressway are now used as the overflow for the cell phone lot at Sea-Tac Airport. They were moved east as part of light rail construction in the late 2000s.

The former express lanes ramps onto I-90 from 5th Avenue S/Seattle Blvd S/S Dearborn Street are being converted into light rail tracks, with the street-level ramp remaining for maintenance access but otherwise unused most of the time.

[hbelkins]

There are probably going to be some abandoned sections of the Mountain Parkway when the widening is complete.

[MATraveler128]

There's an abandoned section of I-95 in Newburyport, Massachusetts. It's now used as a hiking trail. Walked down it myself.

[Crown Victoria]

Perhaps one of the best known is the Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike, bypassed during the 1960s in lieu of twinning the Rays Hill and Sideling Hill Tunnels.

There's also shorter stretches of abandoned PA Turnpike at the Laurel Hill Tunnel and just east of the Blue Mountain Tunnel.

Off the Turnpike, PA also has the Goat Path near Lancaster (planned to be partially used by a surface route), a short expressway stub in Norristown, and PA 61 between Ashland and Centralia.

[kurumi]

Connecticut gets a rep for being completely suburbanized and developed. However, there are several surface routes with some abandoned parts that are still hikeable and get you deep in the woods, out of sight of the newer roadway. There are a couple of ghost towns on old old CT 8, and another where CT 179 and CT 20 once met. CT 89 has more than 4 miles of abandoned roadway.

The list is here: http://kurumi.com/roads/ct/abandoned.html

[Declan127]

NYC has a couple, most notably the abandoned section of the Richmond Parkway over Richmond Avenue in Staten Island (and formerly the abandoned flyover with the Staten Island Expressway)

[cwf1701]

In Detroit, there is a abandoned on ramp near M-59 and I-94. The Ramp once also carried M-29 from Gratiot Ave to Shook Rd before I-94 was built. The ramp was abandoned when the current ramps for M-59 was built in the 90s https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6261723,-82.8498883,1644m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

[Takumi]

At I-295's north end, there's a stub continuing straight from the loop ramp where 295 turns onto I-64 eastbound.

In Chesapeake, the old 2-lane alignment of US 17 was converted to a bike/pedestrian trail. The old pavement with line markings is still mostly intact.

[sprjus4]

^ The city actually repaved most of the old US-17 road / trail, and interestingly kept the lane markings in tact and restriped it properly.

[pderocco]

The very end of US-6 on Cape Cod was narrowed from a divided road to a two-lane road some years ago, but they never dug up all the remains:

https://goo.gl/maps/Yk561JY9EzvazgFF9

[Rothman]

The very end of US-6 on Cape Cod was narrowed from a divided road to a two-lane road some years ago, but they never dug up all the remains:

https://goo.gl/maps/Yk561JY9EzvazgFF9

See also Niagara Scenic (f/k/a Robert Moses) Parkway north of Niagara Falls.

[pderocco]

There are quite a few old alignments of US-395 in the Owens Valley and beyond. Some are still in use as local roads, but a few are truly abandoned although they are still barely drivable, with grass growing out of the crack down the middle, and bushes encroaching on the pavement from both sides. They never bothered to tear up the pavement in the old days.

It's kind of fun to drive those old roads. I often imagine them as they must have been when they were the actual road, with 1940s vehicles puttering along them. I imagine Hollywood stars and crew taking them on their way to filming westerns up in the Alabama Hills, or movies like Out of the Past up in Bridgeport and Tahoe. It was much more of a trek in those days, when 45 was a more likely top speed than the 75 we do up there now.

[Henry]

Just north of Chicago, the Amstutz Expressway has a stub end indicating a cancelled extension towards WI.

[mgk920]

Just north of Chicago, the Amstutz Expressway has a stub end indicating a cancelled extension towards WI.

I would love to see detailed period maps from eastern Lake and far northeastern Cook Counties in Illinois that show where the extended Lake Freeway in Wisconsin, et al, were planned to go in the 1950s and 1960s.

Mike

[D-Dey65]

The very end of US-6 on Cape Cod was narrowed from a divided road to a two-lane road some years ago, but they never dug up all the remains:

https://goo.gl/maps/Yk561JY9EzvazgFF9

This view looks better. You can actually see the former lane from here.


"They sell it to you, like they sell it to me.
They're crowding the road to the cape."
--"Love Grenade," by The Cavedogs.

[amroad17]

There are a few abandoned alignments (now grassy areas) of tollways around Orlando that have been re-routed...

1.  The former west end of the East-West Tollway was abandoned for a westward expansion.  The abandoned section is between FL 50 and FL 408 a few miles west of downtown Orlando near the N. Kirkman/FL 50 intersection.
2.  The former east end of FL 408 where it tied in with FL 417 east of Orlando was partially abandoned.  The old right-of-way is used by William Coleman Dr. up to Valencia College Lane then is a grassy area north of the intersection to the FL 417 curve.
3.  A grassy/new buildings area between FL 429 and the FL 414/FL 451 interchange in Apopka.  FL 429 was routed through there until it was re-routed to meet with FL 414 west of its old routing.

In Greensboro, NC, there is a stretch of abandoned freeway near the airport runways in which the right-of-way is used by Cornerstone Dr. as well as a grassy area where the freeway used to go toward Bryan Blvd. I believe that this freeway was once named Bryan Blvd.  This freeway became abandoned/changed due to the routing of I-73 in the area.

[Max Rockatansky]

The original alignment of FL 4A and early US Route in the Lower Florida Keys:

Cudjoe Key (which has been converted into a bike trail since I took this):

23Cudjoe by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Sugarloaf Key:

IMG_8762 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

18Sugarloaf by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

17Sugarloaf by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

3Sugarloaf by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Geiger Key:

1Geiger by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Boca Chica Key:

IMG_8807 by Max Rockatansky, on Flickr

Of course these are all in addition to the numerous Florida East Coast RR bridges which were once used by US 1.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

There are a few abandoned US 61 sections along Lake Superior. Some of them have reverted to private ownership and the landowners have erected barricades, such as the stretch at the old MN 1 junction (bypassed in 1969 with a new 61 alignment closer to the shoreline). There's also the old Border Road section near Grand Portage that is officially abandoned north of Mount Maud.

[wanderer2575]

Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike east of Breezewood: