"Oxbow" Highways

[Zeffy]

That thread title might be a bit misleading, but the link below will help you understand what I mean. How many freeways form a "U" shaped path around a city because of (I'm guessing here) public opposition?

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0866291,-76.7029766,13.88z

This is on MD 32 in Odenton, MD. Notice how the freeway forms a near perfect parabola (I think that's what it is anyway) to avoid most of Odenton. How many more examples can you find like MD 32?

[Big John]

US 18/151 around Verona WI: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9976724,-89.5183219,13.25z

[JakeFromNewEngland]

I-91 around Northampton, MA forms a sort of oxbow coincidentally just north of The Oxbow in the CT River.

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.3255297,-72.6287247,13z

[Zeffy]

Good examples, that's what I'm looking for. I found another near Odessa, DE:

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.4496913,-75.6659538,14.21z

[Ian]

US 1 around Belfast, ME forms a pretty large oxbow, although its proximity to the waterfront is the main cause for this one.

Also, I-95 around Wakefield, Mass.

[hotdogPi]

I-495 (MA) with both Lawrence and Haverhill.

Exits 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, and 46 all lead to central Lawrence.
Exits 48, 49, 50, 51, and 52 all lead to central Haverhill. (53 leads to a different part of Haverhill.)
[Exit 47 is a freeway.]

[Alex4897]

Two in one area here; I-78 oxbows around Alpha and US 22 oxbows around the Easton Cemetery.

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.677199,-75.178661,14z

[JakeFromNewEngland]

MA 25 has an oxbow around Wareham/Buzzards Bay.

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7726623,-70.6188233,13z

[Zeffy]

NY 17 in Wurtsboro, NY:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5619536,-74.4796352,13.06z?hl=en

[realjd]

Those types of roads are often not due to local opposition but rather due to the construction of a bypass and reroute of the numbered highway. I don't know the situation for your original link but the first place that comes to mind for this is NSW in Australia where they regularly build a 4-lane bypass around a town when they upgrade the highway. See the A1 here: https://www.google.com/maps/@-30.1107467,153.1905774,13z

[SteveG1988]

i72 at Decatur IL

[NE2]

I-90 around Yellowstone.

[texaskdog]

I 40 in Memphis

[dfwmapper]

There are literally dozens of examples of this in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Most of the Interstates were built as in-place upgrades of the existing rural sections of US routes with new-terrain bypasses of towns along the way.

[national highway 1]

I-95 around Washington DC on its overlap with I-495

[vtk]

In Ohio, from memory:
US 23 at Upper Sandusky
US 33 at Bellefontaine, Lancaster, and Nelsonville
US 35 at Xenia and Washington Court House
OH 2 at Sandusky

I don't think these are as pronounced as the example in the OP, though.

[pianocello]

I-55 in Illinois does this several times between Springfield and Joliet. Come to think of it, the old US-66 alignment in most of those towns do this as well.

[vdeane]

Perhaps the most noticable: I-83 at York

NY 17 in Wurtsboro, NY:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5619536,-74.4796352,13.06z?hl=en

I think this one is a function of terrain.

[SteveG1988]

I69 at Union City TN might be doing it once they're done.

TN22 at Martin TN

[Duke87]

NY 17 in Wurtsboro, NY:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5619536,-74.4796352,13.06z?hl=en

I think this one is a function of terrain.

It is. As is US 22 in Easton. In both cases a straighter alignment would have been too steep for a freeway.

NY 17 could have been considerably straighter if it were tunneled through the ridge east of Wurtsburo rather than built through a pass over it, but the extra expense of doing that would not have been justifiable then or now.

[noelbotevera]

I-83 makes a 3/4 oxbow around Harrisburg, but it enters the city limits. I-81 here, dodges Harrisburg and goes through Enola, Colonial Park, etc.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/I-81/@40.2744172,-76.923061,12.62z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x8834d6f1e8bed3b7:0xd786063cd4d540fa

[Bruce]

These are pretty weak examples, but they surely must count:

US 2 around Snohomish, WA
SR 410 around Sumner, WA
SR 16 around Purdy, WA
I-5 around Bellingham, WA

[briantroutman]

If we're taking "oxbow"  to mean "any time a freeway's path bends around a town instead of plowing straight through it" , the supply of examples is nearly limitless. Even without any NIMBY pressure, there are many practical considerations (cost of ROW acquisition, ability to bypass local traffic, etc.) that would suggest that a freeway go around rather than through.

I do know of at least one "reverse oxbow" –where an alignment bypassing town was originally considered, but an alternative going directly through town was selected instead. According to a 2004 Sun-Gazette article which was reposted on m.t.r, the presiding PennDOT 3-0 district engineer was originally in favor of routing I-180 on the northern outskirts of Williamsport north of Four Mile Drive and Grampian Boulevard. However traffic studies suggested that the northern alignment would be less effective at removing traffic from city streets.

Also, it's not mentioned in the article, but I suspect that Hurricane Agnes in 1972 was instrumental in clinching the current alignment. The flood waters destroyed blocks of downtown buildings on the former Front and Second streets, thereby essentially clearing the ROW that was needed to build the freeway. At the same time, the Army Corps of Engineers was studying levee solutions that could prevent future flooding, and fill needed for the I-180 alignment was able to double as a flood barrier.

[cl94]

NY 17 in Wurtsboro, NY:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5619536,-74.4796352,13.06z?hl=en

I think this one is a function of terrain.

It is. As is US 22 in Easton. In both cases a straighter alignment would have been too steep for a freeway.

NY 17 could have been considerably straighter if it were tunneled through the ridge east of Wurtsburo rather than built through a pass over it, but the extra expense of doing that would not have been justifiable then or now.

Agree. While the Pennsylvania Turnpike and Northeast Extension tunneled under that same ridge, it wasn't done here. Old NY 17 (CR 171 and 172) takes the west side straight and it's quite steep. The east side required a hairpin. Unlike PA, New York avoided tunnels whenever possible, to the point where you have cases like the Shawangunk Ridge/Kittatinny Mountain/Blue Mountain where it goes up nearly 1,000 feet to avoid a tunnel. This is the case in a few locations along NY 17/I-86 and it results in some sharp curves and much longer routings elsewhere. Whether or not Wurtsboro is there or not has any impact on the location of the freeway because it's stupid to build a 1,000 foot high viaduct across the valley.

[cpzilliacus]

That thread title might be a bit misleading, but the link below will help you understand what I mean. How many freeways form a "U" shaped path around a city because of (I'm guessing here) public opposition?

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.0866291,-76.7029766,13.88z

This is on MD 32 in Odenton, MD. Notice how the freeway forms a near perfect parabola (I think that's what it is anyway) to avoid most of Odenton. How many more examples can you find like MD 32?

Md. 32 is routed that way because it is a relatively new freeway, and Maryland SHA did not want to have to route it through "downtown" Odenton.