The Most Vital Highway to your State

[empirestate]

From an economic perspective, I'd argue that 87 or 90 hold much higher value in New York than 95.

I think that's true, too. However, if those roads suddenly disappeared, I think that a relatively high amount of that value could still be served by other roads in the state. Not to an adequate degree, by any means, just to a higher degree than I-95 if it were to go away. You'd still have I-86, I-88, I-390, I-81, I-84, I-380 (PA) and I-80 for various combinations of E-W and N-S traffic. In other words, I'm suggesting that I-87 and I-90, even if more valuable, are more "replaceable" than I-95.

It also depends, of course, on what exactly we're choosing as our most vital "highway": all of I-90? all of I-87? all of the Thruway mainline? Certainly the Thruway mainline, as a whole, would be more vital than either I-87 or I-90 alone, even when including their non-Thruway portions, and certainly a very reasonable choice for the answer to this question.

Another thing to consider is whether the economic damage would be greater from the loss of toll revenue on the GWB and New England Thruway than it would on the Thruway mainline. While Thruway tolls go to the system itself, and a few other tourism-related uses like the canal system, the Port Authority has a much wider array of critical transportation facilities to pay for. On the other hand, if the Thruway mainline disappeared, the whole authority would cease to exist and take all those jobs with it. How many jobs would be lost without just one of the Port Authority's bridges?

Again, it depends a lot on what we consider a "highway": just the Cross Bronx Expressway? the New England Thruway? the whole numbered route including the bridge? just the portion in New York, or nationwide? One thing's for sure, including the bridge is key to my selection of I-95 for this thread. So maybe my answer, really, is "the George Washington Bridge". :-)

[Eth]

I-40 is definitely the most vital in Tennessee.  Connects the three largest metro areas, and has the highest interstate mile marker east of the Mississippi (452).

Incorrect because of a technicality. I-90 has a MM 496 in New York at the Pennsylvania line. While this is Thruway mileage, it is located on I-90, which does not have its own set of mile markers (except for a short section in/near Albany).

Incorrect even without that technicality. I-75 in Florida goes to 470.

[cl94]

From an economic perspective, I'd argue that 87 or 90 hold much higher value in New York than 95.

I think that's true, too. However, if those roads suddenly disappeared, I think that a relatively high amount of that value could still be served by other roads in the state. Not to an adequate degree, by any means, just to a higher degree than I-95 if it were to go away. You'd still have I-86, I-88, I-390, I-81, I-84, I-380 (PA) and I-80 for various combinations of E-W and N-S traffic. In other words, I'm suggesting that I-87 and I-90, even if more valuable, are more "replaceable" than I-95.

It also depends, of course, on what exactly we're choosing as our most vital "highway": all of I-90? all of I-87? all of the Thruway mainline? Certainly the Thruway mainline, as a whole, would be more vital than either I-87 or I-90 alone, even when including their non-Thruway portions, and certainly a very reasonable choice for the answer to this question.

Another thing to consider is whether the economic damage would be greater from the loss of toll revenue on the GWB and New England Thruway than it would on the Thruway mainline. While Thruway tolls go to the system itself, and a few other tourism-related uses like the canal system, the Port Authority has a much wider array of critical transportation facilities to pay for. On the other hand, if the Thruway mainline disappeared, the whole authority would cease to exist and take all those jobs with it. How many jobs would be lost without just one of the Port Authority's bridges?

Again, it depends a lot on what we consider a "highway": just the Cross Bronx Expressway? the New England Thruway? the whole numbered route including the bridge? just the portion in New York, or nationwide? One thing's for sure, including the bridge is key to my selection of I-95 for this thread. So maybe my answer, really, is "the George Washington Bridge". :-)

Eh, depends on what we're talking about. If 87 or 90 go, you have entire regions that are disconnected from the rest of the country. Tens of thousands of jobs are linked directly to those two Interstates. Their presence has allowed remote regions to stay alive, as mines and factories can ship goods long distances. Port Authority coffers would be relatively unaffected by the loss of the bridge, as all of the tolls go to salaries of the toll takers at each of 3 toll plazas and maintenance of the bridge. Remember- each one of the GWB's toll plazas is larger than every other run by the PA.

[empirestate]

Eh, depends on what we're talking about. If 87 or 90 go, you have entire regions that are disconnected from the rest of the country. Tens of thousands of jobs are linked directly to those two Interstates. Their presence has allowed remote regions to stay alive, as mines and factories can ship goods long distances. Port Authority coffers would be relatively unaffected by the loss of the bridge, as all of the tolls go to salaries of the toll takers at each of 3 toll plazas and maintenance of the bridge. Remember- each one of the GWB's toll plazas is larger than every other run by the PA.

Do you really think so; would entire regions not stay alive, even a little bit, with just US 9-NY 22 or US 20-NY 5-NY 104-NY 31, not to mention the other Interstates? I mean, you might certainly be right; we really won't know for sure unless and until one of the roads actually does disappear.

But at this point, I'm actually more interested in what happens if an entire highway does disappear. What does that actually look like–does the road itself physically go away, or is it just more like an absolute closure from end to end? And is that closure hard and fast at the state line, or...? (Imagine the disappearance of I-95 at the midpoint of the GWB; if only half the bridge physically remains, that would have course be more catastrophic for traffic than if we're just talking closure.)

If the road does disappear, what about the right-of-way? In the case of the Thruway, you have far more acreage that the authority could sell back to the people, thus mitigating the loss of the highway economically. Although most of these proceeds would surely have to go to the bondholders, there's the added benefit of putting all those parcels back on the tax rolls, further offsetting the loss of revenue from commercial transport, tourism etc. Of course you also would have all of the maintenance equipment, service area facilities, and other assets that could be sold, minus the liabilities from various concession contracts, outstanding construction bids, etc. etc. You're basically liquidating a sizable business, and while I do doubt that it would be a net profit, it might amount to less of a loss than you'd initially think. But then there are social cost, and those are tough to measure...

On the other hand, if it's I-95 that disappears, you have much less land to sell back, but it's considerably more valuable at downstate real estate prices–yet of course, it's not very developable land, it's below-grade in the Bronx, prone to flooding and other hazards, and certainly in need of vast amounts of industrial cleanup, all of which reduces its value. Then again, the bridge itself is worth heaps, if in terms of nothing more than scrap iron–but again, minus the loss of value in surrounding real estate by not being near a convenient river crossing. But at the same time, values in the south Bronx might well increase without the blight of the expressway running through it. And again, you'd be able to liquidate a portion of the Thruway's business with its New England segment, conceivably funneling that money back into the mainline operations.

Shit, this is a complicated question! 

[froggie]

You might be reading into it too much.  Certainly reading into it far more than the OP did.

[empirestate]

You might be reading into it too much.  Certainly reading into it far more than the OP did.

That's okay. I'm enjoying myself.

[roadman65]

In New Jersey its the Garden State Parkway as the one road that is most vital to it.  Almost everyone visiting the Shore uses it as well as commuters, especially now with communities like Seaside Heights which used to be for seasonal residents is now a bedroom community for the inland corporate and industrial areas all near or close by to The Parkway.