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?
US 18/151 around Verona WI: https://www.google.com/maps/@42.9976724,-89.5183219,13.25z
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
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
US 1 around Belfast, ME (https://www.google.com/maps/@44.4246627,-68.9949747,7688m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en) forms a pretty large oxbow, although its proximity to the waterfront is the main cause for this one.
Also, I-95 around Wakefield, Mass. (https://www.google.com/maps/@42.5158765,-71.0583288,7935m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en%5B/url)
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.]
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 (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.677199,-75.178661,14z)
MA 25 has an oxbow around Wareham/Buzzards Bay.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7726623,-70.6188233,13z
NY 17 in Wurtsboro, NY:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5619536,-74.4796352,13.06z?hl=en
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
i72 at Decatur IL
I-90 around Yellowstone.
I 40 in Memphis
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.
I-95 around Washington DC on its overlap with I-495
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.
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.
Perhaps the most noticable: I-83 at York
Quote from: Zeffy on July 25, 2015, 10:34:56 PM
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.
I69 at Union City TN might be doing it once they're done.
TN22 at Martin TN
Quote from: vdeane on July 26, 2015, 04:19:41 PM
Quote from: Zeffy on July 25, 2015, 10:34:56 PM
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.
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
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
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 (https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/northeastroads/conversations/topics/1886), 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.
Quote from: Duke87 on July 26, 2015, 05:48:08 PM
Quote from: vdeane on July 26, 2015, 04:19:41 PM
Quote from: Zeffy on July 25, 2015, 10:34:56 PM
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.
Quote from: Zeffy on July 25, 2015, 10:03:52 PM
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.
Quote from: vtk on July 26, 2015, 08:18:48 AM
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.
I don't think so, either, as many were designated as "bypasses" around said cities. In fact SR-2 around Sandusky (and Port Clinton for that matter) were purposely designed to bypass both cities (Sandusky to skirt Cedar Point traffic and Port Clinton to bypass a drawbridge on the original OH-2 alignment just west of downtown PC). There may have been some NIMBY opposition on the segment of SR-2 around Huron as US-6 came out of the west side of Huron on a limited access highway built in the 60s, while SR-2 connects with it by Rye Beach Road -- about 2 miles west of the start of the US-6 "freeway".
A better example is I-77 around Fairlawn, OH. The NIMBYs in this affluent Akron suburb definitely won the battle over ODOT and I-77 had to tie into the existing SR-21 freeway further south & west than what they wanted to. In hindsight, the current oxbow provides better access to SR-18 West through traffic (connecting with I-71 and points west) over it's original planned alignment.
I'll also throw in I-96 on the west side of Metro Detroit -- another interstate that had to tie into another freeway (I-275) to reach its point of continuation.
How about I-95 around Boston?
Quote from: bzakharin on July 27, 2015, 09:36:02 AM
How about I-95 around Boston?
I guess this fits the OP's criteria, but seems like it shouldn't because a different freeway serves the city.
I-40 around Greensboro used to be that way, but then they rerouted it back through the city.
Quote from: briantroutman on July 26, 2015, 06:55:36 PM
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 (https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/northeastroads/conversations/topics/1886), 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.
I think the numbers dwindle when you take out freeways that just curve by. I'm thinking the definition is one that make a half-circle around.
Quote from: spooky on July 27, 2015, 09:46:25 AM
Quote from: bzakharin on July 27, 2015, 09:36:02 AM
How about I-95 around Boston?
I guess this fits the OP's criteria, but seems like it shouldn't because a different freeway serves the city.
A similar argument can be made regarding I-95 running along the eastern half of the Capitol Beltway.
Back to the topic at hand: I-95 in Pawtucket, RI (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Pawtucket,+RI/@41.8790605,-71.3842548,14z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x89e45ca9a7f00329:0x640fc26cc3b4feb4)
Here's one in Rock Springs, WY.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@41.5937726,-109.2156848,14.52z
Quote from: texaskdog on July 26, 2015, 12:16:46 AM
I 40 in Memphis
I-40 has a much larger one in western Arizona/eastern California around Oatman, Laughlin and a mountain range.. I always wondered why that alignment was taken considering how odd it looks.
Wis 29 around Abbotsford
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.9440968,-90.3133,14.17z?hl=en
Wis 29 around Wittenberg
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.8255705,-89.162668,14.17z?hl=en
Wis 151 around Columbus
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.3309991,-89.0067105,13.36z?hl=en
US 151 around Beaver Dam
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4511249,-88.7914414,13.03z?hl=en
Wis 16 around Oconomowoc
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1257574,-88.4826807,12.95z?hl=en
Wis 11 around Monroe
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6000856,-89.6305128,14.31z?hl=en
I-43 around Delavan
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6271323,-88.6081533,13.29z?hl=en
US 41 around Peshtigo
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.0544784,-87.7451865,13.26z?hl=en
Quote from: peterj920 on July 30, 2015, 06:17:17 PM
Wis 29 around Abbotsford
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.9440968,-90.3133,14.17z?hl=en
Wis 29 around Wittenberg
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.8255705,-89.162668,14.17z?hl=en
Wis 151 around Columbus
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.3309991,-89.0067105,13.36z?hl=en
US 151 around Beaver Dam
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.4511249,-88.7914414,13.03z?hl=en
Wis 16 around Oconomowoc
https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1257574,-88.4826807,12.95z?hl=en
Wis 11 around Monroe
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6000856,-89.6305128,14.31z?hl=en
I-43 around Delavan
https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6271323,-88.6081533,13.29z?hl=en
US 41 around Peshtigo
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.0544784,-87.7451865,13.26z?hl=en
US 41 around Oconto kind of makes an Oxbow.
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.8910039,-87.8685979,14.52z?hl=en
Doesn't I-15 "oxbow" around Great Falls or Helena or one of those cities in Montana?
Quote from: hm insulators on August 05, 2015, 06:26:39 PM
Doesn't I-15 "oxbow" around Great Falls or Helena or one of those cities in Montana?
Nope, but it does make a sort of "Reverse Oxbow around Great Falls.
https://www.google.ca/maps/@47.4993063,-111.2846435,13.68z