Routes with random ends

[roadman65]

I-495 in NYC has a messy ending. At the Midtown Tunnel, signage stops, and you get nothing until you cross into New Jersey (yet another strange end) on NJ 495. The BGSes at the beginning of I-495 call the Queens-Midtown Tunnel a part of it too.

Another weird end is I-76 east, at the NJ side of the Walt Whitman Bridge. You're suddenly dumped off the Walt Whitman into Camden, then thrown with an unfair split (1 lane to I-295, the rest of the 4 lanes of the 5 lane freeway onto NJ 42).

The ACE has a strange end at BOTH ends. You seemingly just merge onto NJ 42, while at the east end, you're blocks from the Boardwalk. Just extend it another block, please?

PA 163 - I've mentioned it before - at the west end, you're a good 100 or so feet from the MD line onto a...2 lane road? It just went from 4 lane divided to 2? That's actually MD 63, Williamsport Pike, pretty much I-81's 2nd alt route to Hagerstown.

Why are these random ends?  These are freeways!  The ACE ends at another freeway, so what is random about that?  Then if you had the ACE go any further you would be in the Atlantic Ocean so its got to end someplace like on city street.

[dgolub]

NY 171 - floating segment.  Northern terminus is at the former NY 5S.  Extend it north a little to the current NY 5S.  Not sure what to do with the southern terminus.

You mean NY 5?  NY 171 actually crosses current NY 5S.

Yes, I meant to extend it to NY 5.  Oops!

[dgolub]

I-495 in NYC has a messy ending. At the Midtown Tunnel, signage stops, and you get nothing until you cross into New Jersey (yet another strange end) on NJ 495. The BGSes at the beginning of I-495 call the Queens-Midtown Tunnel a part of it too.

Actually, it depends on where in Manhattan you are.  If you're on NY 9A, the signs there all refer to the Lincoln Tunnel as I-495.  Most of the local streets don't show any route designation.  To the best of my knowledge, there are no NY 495 shields anywhere, even though that's what it's officially designated.

[jp the roadgeek]

CT 4: Just ends on Farmington Ave at the corner of Boulevard in West Hartford (to produce the only state highway "END" sign in CT)

CT 34:  West end is often mismarked. Does it end at I-84? Does it turn onto Wasserman Way?  Many think it continues to meet US 6 in Sandy Hook

CT 71A: Just ends at Buell St in New Britain

[kurumi]

CT 176: hardly any signage north of CT 175. Just kind of dies. Officially ends at Hartford city line.

CT 349: there used to be an END sign, but that appears to be gone

[Roadsguy]

PA 441's northern end is weird, just randomly ending at Paxton Street (former US 322, but hasn't been that for decades).

[noelbotevera]

I-495 in NYC has a messy ending. At the Midtown Tunnel, signage stops, and you get nothing until you cross into New Jersey (yet another strange end) on NJ 495. The BGSes at the beginning of I-495 call the Queens-Midtown Tunnel a part of it too.

Another weird end is I-76 east, at the NJ side of the Walt Whitman Bridge. You're suddenly dumped off the Walt Whitman into Camden, then thrown with an unfair split (1 lane to I-295, the rest of the 4 lanes of the 5 lane freeway onto NJ 42).

The ACE has a strange end at BOTH ends. You seemingly just merge onto NJ 42, while at the east end, you're blocks from the Boardwalk. Just extend it another block, please?

PA 163 - I've mentioned it before - at the west end, you're a good 100 or so feet from the MD line onto a...2 lane road? It just went from 4 lane divided to 2? That's actually MD 63, Williamsport Pike, pretty much I-81's 2nd alt route to Hagerstown.

Why are these random ends?  These are freeways!  The ACE ends at another freeway, so what is random about that?  Then if you had the ACE go any further you would be in the Atlantic Ocean so its got to end someplace like on city street.

The ACE peters out at Fairmount Street, suddenly turning into Missouri Avenue (Christopher Columbus Boulevard) and Arkansas Avenue. There's evidence it would've ended at Atlantic Avenue, as those streets are four lane (two lanes each way) and divided. Also one way too, running like the ACE.

[theline]

Indiana has lots of highways with random ends because of INDOT's passion for unloading responsibility for maintenance to localities. State highways often end at a county line or city limit. There are so many that I won't attempt a list.

There is one that might seem on the surface to end randomly for that reason, but the reasoning is more involved. SR-332 extends east from I-69 to Muncie, ending at the intersection of Tillotson Avenue and McGalliard Road. The road began as a two-lane extension of McGalliard Road, built by Delaware County. The county built the road from Tillotson as far west as CR 600 W (Yorktown-Gaston Pike). A dispute in the County Council over funding prevented completion of the road to I-69, and that appeared to doom the project. INDOT eventually came to the rescue, taking over the extension and finishing it first as a two-lane road. It was widened to four lanes over time.

It would have been logical to extend 332 to the east along McGalliard, perhaps as far as the US 35-SR 3-SR 67 bypass, but that's not INDOT's M.O. The highway just becomes a city street at Tillotson.

[TEG24601]

Indiana has lots of highways with random ends because of INDOT's passion for unloading responsibility for maintenance to localities. State highways often end at a county line or city limit. There are so many that I won't attempt a list.

There is one that might seem on the surface to end randomly for that reason, but the reasoning is more involved. SR-332 extends east from I-69 to Muncie, ending at the intersection of Tillotson Avenue and McGalliard Road. The road began as a two-lane extension of McGalliard Road, built by Delaware County. The county built the road from Tillotson as far west as CR 600 W (Yorktown-Gaston Pike). A dispute in the County Council over funding prevented completion of the road to I-69, and that appeared to doom the project. INDOT eventually came to the rescue, taking over the extension and finishing it first as a two-lane road. It was widened to four lanes over time.

It would have been logical to extend 332 to the east along McGalliard, perhaps as far as the US 35-SR 3-SR 67 bypass, but that's not INDOT's M.O. The highway just becomes a city street at Tillotson.

INDOT's idiocy in this regard makes Indiana one of the most difficult states to navigate if you aren't native.  The couple of split routes don't help either.

[Duke87]

CT 4: (to produce the only state highway "END" sign in CT)

Not anymore

CT 34:  West end is often mismarked. Does it end at I-84? Does it turn onto Wasserman Way?  Many think it continues to meet US 6 in Sandy Hook

Officially it ends at Pearl St, the first intersection north of I-84. This is simply where state maintenance ends, and is likely a product of Connecticut being highly allergic to designating state highways along road segments the state does not maintain.  It did, however, at one point in time extend to Riverside Road, which is the old (then-current) alignment of US 6.

The ACE peters out at Fairmount Street, suddenly turning into Missouri Avenue (Christopher Columbus Boulevard) and Arkansas Avenue. There's evidence it would've ended at Atlantic Avenue, as those streets are four lane (two lanes each way) and divided. Also one way too, running like the ACE.

Just because a pair of one way streets leads into a freeway does not mean there were ever plans to extend the freeway. What practical reason would there have been to have the ACE extend to Atlantic Ave? Remember, the purpose was to get traffic to Atlantic City. At Fairmount Ave the road has served that purpose already, and it's quite a logical end.

The one way pair after that allows cars to turn onto/off of Fairmount and Arctic Aves directly which a freeway would not, unless you added a new pair of ramps to Fairmount and built frontage roads for the last couple blocks. There is not and never would have been any reason to have extended the Expressway further.

Bear in mind as well that just because something looks cool or tempting on a map does not mean it makes sense on the ground. This is a trap roadgeeks often fall into, looking at the road from the perspective of it being a hobby subject rather than from the perspective of it being useful to drivers. The latter, not the former, is what motivates roads to be built.

[sipes23]

It'd be faster to give you a list of state highways in Wyoming that don't meet that definition.

No kidding. On the other hand, Wyo 253 (Hat 6 Road) does end at a perfectly logical place. The end of the pavement where there's an open range sign. If I ever get out that way again (no reason I couldn't), I should take a picture.

[roadman65]

I-495 in NYC has a messy ending. At the Midtown Tunnel, signage stops, and you get nothing until you cross into New Jersey (yet another strange end) on NJ 495. The BGSes at the beginning of I-495 call the Queens-Midtown Tunnel a part of it too.

Another weird end is I-76 east, at the NJ side of the Walt Whitman Bridge. You're suddenly dumped off the Walt Whitman into Camden, then thrown with an unfair split (1 lane to I-295, the rest of the 4 lanes of the 5 lane freeway onto NJ 42).

The ACE has a strange end at BOTH ends. You seemingly just merge onto NJ 42, while at the east end, you're blocks from the Boardwalk. Just extend it another block, please?

PA 163 - I've mentioned it before - at the west end, you're a good 100 or so feet from the MD line onto a...2 lane road? It just went from 4 lane divided to 2? That's actually MD 63, Williamsport Pike, pretty much I-81's 2nd alt route to Hagerstown.

Why are these random ends?  These are freeways!  The ACE ends at another freeway, so what is random about that?  Then if you had the ACE go any further you would be in the Atlantic Ocean so its got to end someplace like on city street.

The ACE peters out at Fairmount Street, suddenly turning into Missouri Avenue (Christopher Columbus Boulevard) and Arkansas Avenue. There's evidence it would've ended at Atlantic Avenue, as those streets are four lane (two lanes each way) and divided. Also one way too, running like the ACE.

Last time I was there both Missouri and Arkansas was both a one way pair.  They are not four lanes each with two lanes each way unless they changed it since I was there last.

I always remembered the ACE splitting into the two one way pairs equally and both Avenues were four lane each up until Atlantic Avenue where they both were much narrower after that.  Atlantic Avenue is the main N-S thoroughfare in AC so the traffic from the toll road mostly distributes at that intersection to go north and south (technically NE or SW as Atlantic Avenue does not run true N-S).

[Buffaboy]

NY 840 - turns into Oneida CR 840 a little bit past the end of the expressway.  Extend it along the entirety of CR 840.

I believe a proposal has been floated around to extend it to Rome.

And, here it is:



http://www.ocgov.net/oneida/sites/default/files/hoctsmpo/lrtp/LRTP2035May15/Appendix%20A%20-%20Potential%20Transporation%20Needs%20F.pdf

[national highway 1]

The north end of US 41 is at the entrance of Fort Wilkins State Park near Copper Harbor, MI. Similarly, US 385's south end is at the entrance of Big Bend National Park, in Texas.

[dgolub]

NY 840 - turns into Oneida CR 840 a little bit past the end of the expressway.  Extend it along the entirety of CR 840.

I believe a proposal has been floated around to extend it to Rome.

And, here it is:



http://www.ocgov.net/oneida/sites/default/files/hoctsmpo/lrtp/LRTP2035May15/Appendix%20A%20-%20Potential%20Transporation%20Needs%20F.pdf

That would be cool if it got built.  In case there aren't already enough routes converging on that interchange in Rome.

[NE2]

Similarly, US 385's south end is at the entrance of Big Bend National Park, in Texas.

Pretty much the opposite of random.

[vdeane]

NY 840 - turns into Oneida CR 840 a little bit past the end of the expressway.  Extend it along the entirety of CR 840.

I believe a proposal has been floated around to extend it to Rome.

And, here it is:



http://www.ocgov.net/oneida/sites/default/files/hoctsmpo/lrtp/LRTP2035May15/Appendix%20A%20-%20Potential%20Transporation%20Needs%20F.pdf

What would that look like?  Consolidation of driveways/at-grades with a new road built to the interchange?  Or a full freeway?  And if the latter, what would be done with the existing at-grades on NY 840?

Of course, the time to modify the interchange would have been BEFORE the bridges were rebuilt...

[GaryV]

The north end of US 41 is at the entrance of Fort Wilkins State Park near Copper Harbor, MI.

Actually the north end is about 1/2 mile east of the park entrance, making it even more random.

Another one is the north end of M-93 outside Grayling.  It runs northwest from I-75 to Hartwick Pines State Park.  Several years ago the reconfigured roadways inside the park, and moved the park entrance closer to I-75.  But the highway still extends to where the previous entrance was.

[OracleUsr]

Is it true that the END US 41 is taken out when it snows in Calumet?  I heard that somewhere, maybe on here.

I still can't believe it's a third of the distance from Calumet to Detroit Airport as it is for the entire length of US 41 (Copper Harbor is 603 miles from Detroit...Miami, FL, 1990 miles from Copper Harbor)

[Brandon]

The north end of US 41 is at the entrance of Fort Wilkins State Park near Copper Harbor, MI. Similarly, US 385's south end is at the entrance of Big Bend National Park, in Texas.

Actually, it's just east of the entrance, ending in a circle just before a dirt road.

[Brandon]

Is it true that the END US 41 is taken out when it snows in Calumet?  I heard that somewhere, maybe on here.

I still can't believe it's a third of the distance from Calumet to Detroit Airport as it is for the entire length of US 41 (Copper Harbor is 603 miles from Detroit...Miami, FL, 1990 miles from Copper Harbor)

No, there is no end sign in Calumet for US-41.  The end is 45 miles up the peninsula in the unincorporated community of Copper Harbor.  The end sign in the circle is there, even in the snow.

Michigan is the biggest state east of the Mississippi River, and the Mackinac Bridge is only about halfway between Copper Harbor and Monroe.

[corco]

No, there is no end sign in Calumet for US-41.  The end is 45 miles up the peninsula in the unincorporated community of Copper Harbor.  The end sign in the circle is there, even in the snow.

I may have said it wasn't - it wasn't there when I drove through there in March 2014 en route to the St Louis meet, and the center circle appeared to be used as snow storage, but maybe that's not representative of normalcy.

[cappicard]

Similarly, US 385's south end is at the entrance of Big Bend National Park, in Texas.

Pretty much the opposite of random.

US 20 ends at Yellowstone National Park's west entrance, then resumes at the east entrance.  US 287 is like that too.


iPad

[jwolfer]

Is it true that the END US 41 is taken out when it snows in Calumet?  I heard that somewhere, maybe on here.

I still can't believe it's a third of the distance from Calumet to Detroit Airport as it is for the entire length of US 41 (Copper Harbor is 603 miles from Detroit...Miami, FL, 1990 miles from Copper Harbor)

479 miles in Florida too

[jwolfer]

Is it true that the END US 41 is taken out when it snows in Calumet?  I heard that somewhere, maybe on here.

I still can't believe it's a third of the distance from Calumet to Detroit Airport as it is for the entire length of US 41 (Copper Harbor is 603 miles from Detroit...Miami, FL, 1990 miles from Copper Harbor)

No, there is no end sign in Calumet for US-41.  The end is 45 miles up the peninsula in the unincorporated community of Copper Harbor.  The end sign in the circle is there, even in the snow.

Michigan is the biggest state east of the Mississippi River, and the Mackinac Bridge is only about halfway between Copper Harbor and Monroe.

I think Georgia is bigger. Michigan, Florida and Maine seen to be much underestimated in their size by most people.

People think they can stay in Miami and pop up to Disney for a day trip