Looking for highway projects that sat on maps and in plans for decades with no work done, only to finally and somewhat randomly be completed many years later.
It seems like it's more the rule than the exception that, if a new highway plan sits for too long and languishes due either to local opposition or funding constraints, it eventually just dies.
The example I'm thinking of is US 90 between I-610 and Beltway 8 in Houston. That sat for something like 50 years, with ghost ramps at the I-610 interchange and a cleared ROW at Beltway 8. But it was finally built.
I think I-105 in the LA area would also qualify. That was planned in the 60's but wasn't completed (and it really isn't totally complete) until the early 90's, post-"Speed".
What else?
I-476 Blue Route in PA.
US 20 across Iowa being converted from 2 lane to 4 lane. They were working on it in the 80s (or sooner?) and it's still not done.
The Intercounty Connector in Maryland was originally envisioned decades before it opened in 2011.
I-95 between Vero Beach and PGA Boulevard.
The middle "missing link" section of I-696 between M-10 and I-75 in metro Detroit.
There were overpasses to nowhere at Thruway Exit 26/I-890/NY 5S for decades before the bridge across the Mohawk to create the NY 890 extension to Glenville/NY 5 was finally completed in the 90's.
US 53 Eau Claire Bypass. Was planned in the 1960s and completed in the mid 2000s
A few in CT that actually DID get built after many years:
Two parts of the old I-291 beltway in the Farmington and South Windsor areas. The I-84 stack sat there unused for over 20 years before a couple of its ramps were used and the portion from CT 175 to the stack was built in 1992 as part of CT 9 (portion of CT 9 from there to CT 72 was actually a separate connector which was planned at the same time but opened first in 1985). In 1994, after 36 years, Windsor-Manchester portion was completed when CT 291 (built in 1958) was extended beyond US 5, a direct interchange with I-91 and CT 218 was built, and the whole thing was upgraded to an interstate.
The CT 9 piece from the Berlin Turnpike to I-91 took 20 years to finally get built after the CT 9 expressway was built to I-91 in 1969.
The Brookfield bypass portion of US 7 opened in 2009, 33 years after the rest of the expressway north of I-84 was built.
I-691 west of Exit 4 took almost 17 years to complete after the CT 66 (formerly US 6A) expressway was built. The latter opened in pieces from 1966-1971, while the portion from Exit 4 to exit 3 opened in 1985 and the rest to I-84 opened in 1988.
The 7-11 connector by Youngstown, Ohio. The ghost ramps were there at I-80 and OH11 to complete it. MLK Blvd had the freeway stub from I-680 to US422. Finally finished years later. Aptly numbered, State Route 711.
Strangely, there's one in the District of Columbia.
An interchange was completed at the junction of I-295, I-695 and D.C. 295 at the south end of the 11th Street Bridge. This project has (after decades of controversy) allowed all movements between all three of these highways, as well as Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, S.E.
The legendary East End Connector in Durham NC (in a few years, at least...).
In Scotland, the M8 gap (due to be complete next year) probably qualifies.
The South Mountain Freeway segment of Loop 202 in Phoenix was originally approved as part of the 1985 election that passed a 1/2 cent sales tax to fund transportation, and just broke ground earlier this year.
Soon we can add the South Lawrence Trafficway (freeway portion of Kansas State Highway 10 to replace a surface-street segment through Lawrence) to this list.
US30 bypass around Missouri Valley IA has been talked about since the 60s. I think there was a tentative plan at one time to run from the I29 interchange south of Missouri Valley, then NE up the Boyer Valley and connecting back up with US30 just east of Logan IA.
Integrating the bypass with some flood control levees may have both enhanced the desirability of the project and delayed it substantially.
Quote from: Jardine on August 16, 2016, 11:22:27 PM
US30 bypass around Missouri Valley IA has been talked about since the 60s. I think there was a tentative plan at one time to run from the I29 interchange south of Missouri Valley, then NE up the Boyer Valley and connecting back up with US30 just east of Logan IA.
When was this completed?
The South Beltline Freeway near Grand Rapids, proposed in the 1960s, planned in the 1970s, and then finally built 30 years later as M-6
It's not a freeway, but I believe US 34 between I-29 and US 75 in Iowa and Nebraska, which was finished a couple years ago, was planned in the 90's, if not earlier. I believe it was supposed to be an extended I-480 originally, but that never happened.
Dutch A4 between Delft and Schiedam.
For an extreme example, there is a road linking two German towns through Swiss territory. The first treaty to build it dates back to the 19th century, but the road itself wasn't completed until a couple years ago.
Perhaps the missing link between Indiana's I-265 and Kentucky's I-265 around Louisville, though I've seen it argued that filling in that gap was not part of the original plan.
Also in Wisconsin, not a freeway, but the long-planned west bypass of Waukesha, soon to begin construction.
Mike
I would add I-355 in the Chicago burbs. The ghost ramps at the end of the IL-53 spur off of I-290 were there ever since I'd say the 60's, then in the late 80's the first part of I-355 was completed. The second part was held up for an additional 15 years because (I think I have the info correctly) of an endangered butterfly.
How about SR 836 in Miami-Dade County. The western end ended in ghost ramps at the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike forever. SR 836 was extended what 25 years later?
Quote from: cpzilliacusStrangely, there's one in the District of Columbia.
An interchange was completed at the junction of I-295, I-695 and D.C. 295 at the south end of the 11th Street Bridge. This project has (after decades of controversy) allowed all movements between all three of these highways, as well as Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, S.E.
I'd call that a 15-ish year dormancy, though. The original plans for the DC Interstate system never envisioned a direct connection between the SE Freeway and DC 295. Such a connection wasn't proposed or planned until the ca. 1996 Barney Circle Freeway plan.
The SR 400 extension inside I-285 in Atlanta was planned for decades before it was finally constructed in the early 90's. It was the reminant of the proposed N-S freeway that would had connected to I-675 south of town. The 400 extension had lots of opposition before it was finally constructed, especially within Atlanta.
Quote from: froggie on August 17, 2016, 12:13:22 PM
Quote from: cpzilliacusStrangely, there's one in the District of Columbia.
An interchange was completed at the junction of I-295, I-695 and D.C. 295 at the south end of the 11th Street Bridge. This project has (after decades of controversy) allowed all movements between all three of these highways, as well as Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, S.E.
I'd call that a 15-ish year dormancy, though. The original plans for the DC Interstate system never envisioned a direct connection between the SE Freeway and DC 295. Such a connection wasn't proposed or planned until the ca. 1996 Barney Circle Freeway plan.
The Barney Circle project was all ready to advertise for bids (an FEIS had been written and approved), and the D.C. Sierra Club, Capitol Hill Restoration Society and a group called Stop it Again (I think Capitol Hill NIMBYs) got to the Mayor-for-Life.
He ordered it cancelled, but after he left office, it became clear that
something had to be done (in part because of heavy midday truck traffic on H Street, N.E. and Benning Road, N.E.).
I do not recall the Sierra Club or Stop it Again being involved the second time, but the Capitol Hill Restoration Society was very much opposed, though I do not recall a lawsuit being filed, and as you know, it was eventually built.
California examples:
The Route 99 full freeway conversion north of Fresno to Merced, proposed in the 1950s as part of the original I-5 plan, but constructed 2013-2015.
Route 210 (former Route 30) between San Dimas and San Bernardino, proposed in the 1950s/1960s, constructed early 2000s.
Route 15 through Mid-City San Diego, proposed since the late 1960s as an extension of the city-constructed Wabash Boulevard freeway, competed early 2000s.
The High Desert Corridor proposal in the Antelope Valley that just finished the environmental review process is parallel to the long-planned Route 138/18 freeway concept connecting the Palmdale area with Interstate 15.
Route 4's alignment from Antioch southeast to Brentwood had been proposed since the 1960s but did not open until ca. 2012-2013.
Route 125 between Route 94 and Route 905 through Chula Vista had been proposed since at least 1963, with the segment from Route 54 to Route 905 opening in 2007.
Quote from: PHLBOS on August 16, 2016, 06:17:45 PM
I-476 Blue Route in PA.
I never knew this one was so contentious. Was the construction actually partially completed throughout the delay, or was the delay all fighting and then one big construction push at the end?
Quote from: cpzilliacus on August 17, 2016, 12:27:46 PM
Quote from: froggie on August 17, 2016, 12:13:22 PM
Quote from: cpzilliacusStrangely, there's one in the District of Columbia.
An interchange was completed at the junction of I-295, I-695 and D.C. 295 at the south end of the 11th Street Bridge. This project has (after decades of controversy) allowed all movements between all three of these highways, as well as Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, S.E.
I'd call that a 15-ish year dormancy, though. The original plans for the DC Interstate system never envisioned a direct connection between the SE Freeway and DC 295. Such a connection wasn't proposed or planned until the ca. 1996 Barney Circle Freeway plan.
The Barney Circle project was all ready to advertise for bids (an FEIS had been written and approved), and the D.C. Sierra Club, Capitol Hill Restoration Society and a group called Stop it Again (I think Capitol Hill NIMBYs) got to the Mayor-for-Life.
He ordered it cancelled, but after he left office, it became clear that something had to be done (in part because of heavy midday truck traffic on H Street, N.E. and Benning Road, N.E.).
I do not recall the Sierra Club or Stop it Again being involved the second time, but the Capitol Hill Restoration Society was very much opposed, though I do not recall a lawsuit being filed, and as you know, it was eventually built.
Was I-695 signed within DC as 695 before this interchange was completed?
I saw something on the Wikipedia page that mentioned it was an unsigned interstate until recently, but GSV shows a 695 shield on the BGS at its western origin. What did that sign show before?
The US 20 bypass of South Bend and Elkhart, Indiana was first planned and construction begun in the early 1960s. By the early '70s the portion around the west side of South Bend to US 31 on the south side was done, but the ghost ramps to the east went idle for decades. In the meantime, the completed portion of the freeway was incorporated into the US 31 bypass around South Bend and Niles, Michigan in the early '80s.
Finally, in the '90s the long-awaited US 20 bypass was finally completed to the east around South Bend, Mishawaka, and Elkhart.
Quote from: coatimundiWas I-695 signed within DC as 695 before this interchange was completed?
Technically, yes. The first of the modern I-695 shields started appearing before the 11th St Bridge (and this interchange) project were completed, about 5 years ago.
QuoteI saw something on the Wikipedia page that mentioned it was an unsigned interstate until recently, but GSV shows a 695 shield on the BGS at its western origin. What did that sign show before?
If you're referring to this overhead sign set (https://goo.gl/maps/GhjZc7kJMhy), it looked like this (http://www.jdland.com/dc/quickgallery.cfm?quickdate=100309) in 2010.
The first one that popped into my head when I saw this thread was the segment of SR 113 around Woodland (California). For many years in the 70's and '80's the freeway ended south of Woodland and fed directly into a narrow 2 lane road that went through a really neat "tree tunnel" and into downtown Woodland. North of Main Street a very brief segment of freeway connected Main Street to I-5 (2 lanes north bound on and 1 lane southbound off, with a low but noticeably raised asphalt "curb" paved over the concrete surface with a double yellow line painted on it and yellow plastic tube delineators attached every so many feet closing off the left lane. Looking ahead south bound you could clearly see a clear pathway through the growing subdivisions for a future freeway but until the late '80's there was no indication that such a freeway might actually be built.
Signage from I-5 southbound simply said "Main St." and the freeway entrance from Main Street was signed simply as I-5 (shield) NORTH Redding. Interestingly, looking around on Google Streetview (May 2016) there are still no mentions of SR 113 Northbound from Main Street, nor is there a SR 113 reassurance shield posted along SR 113 north of the on ramp from Main Street. (The "Freeway Entrance" assembly northbound from Main Street shows only I-5 and no mention of SR 113 either.)
I suppose I recall this particular stretch freeway so well because I and my father stayed so frequently at the Motel 6 there all through the '70's and '80's on numerous trips between Portland and either the Bay area or further south and I always wondered when / if that gap in the freeway would ever be filled.
I believe it was on a trip in 1988 or 89 that we finally saw that they were constructing this segment and I believe we drove on the completed freeway in May of 1990. I know it was completed no later than 1991 as both I and my father traveled together on it and he passed away in August of 1991. (Interesting but completely off-topic side note: On that trip in May 1990 regular was 78.9 and unleaded was 84.9 at the Arco on the west side of hwy. 99 in downtown Modesto.)
Quote from: coatimundi on August 17, 2016, 01:17:08 PM
Quote from: PHLBOS on August 16, 2016, 06:17:45 PM
I-476 Blue Route in PA.
I never knew this one was so contentious. Was the construction actually partially completed throughout the delay, or was the delay all fighting and then one big construction push at the end?
The concept of the Blue Route, named for the color-coded alignment on a planning map, actually dates back to 1929. It was once planned to be the
Chester Extension of the PA Turnpike circa 1954 but once the Interstate Highway Act was signed circa 1956; the then-proposed road became part of the Interstate (originally as I-495, then as I-480, and then as the present I-476 circa 1964).
The highway was originally planned to be fully built (6-lanes all the way) and opened to traffic by 1976 (early construction of the road started as far back as 1967) but the NIMBYs (mainly in Swarthmore) complained and were successful in delaying the project (through litigation) for well over a decade. Only the 2-mile stretch between I-76 & Chemical Road opened in 1979.
In 1985, all lawsuits were dismissed but a portion of the highway was downsized to 4-lanes (between PA 3 & MacDade Blvd.). The piece from I-95 to MacDade opened in 1987 (the BGS' at I-95 only listed
MacDade Blvd.). The remaining pieces of I-476 opened in late 1991 (MacDade Blvd. to I-76) and 1992 (Chemical Road to I-276).
Wiki Account of I-476 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_476)
I-990, which apparently had been in plans in various forms since the 1950s wasn't constructed until the early 1980s, and extension (by about a measly mile) in the early 90s. Aside from the US-219 extension, it is the latest new freeway project in the Buffalo area, and probably the last for a long time.
I'm surprised that no one has mentioned I-630 In Little Rock yet. It was first planned as a "crosstown route" as early as the 1930s and 1940s. It wasn't until 1958 that the City of Little Rock petitioned the Arkansas Highway Commission to designate the East-West, or Eighth Street Expressway, as a part of the state highway system.
It wasn't until March 1970 that the Ark. Highway Commission asked the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to accept the 7.4 mile "8th St Expressway" into the Interstate Highway System. After a few setbacks, and the assistance of U.S. Rep. Wilbur Mills (D-AR), the route was added to the system in November 1970 and would be designated as "Interstate 630," making it eligible for 90/10 Federal funds.
In November 1973, a local group, Arkansas Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) filed a suit in Federal court, stating that parts of the I-630 Environmential Study was inadequate on the eastern section of the highway, from Dennision St to Interstate 30. As a result, construction was halted on that particular section while construction proceeded on the section that stretched to Interstate 430.
Once a new Environmential study was prepared and approved in May 1979, the injunction was lifted from the State and construction proceeded on the eastern section of I-630. The work to be done included 12 overpasses as well as the I-630/I-30 interchange. The final section of I-630 opened to traffic on September 30, 1985, completing a major chapter in Little Rock history.
Cleveland, OH:
-- The I-480 missing link between I-71 and I-77...Took a little over a decade to complete.
-- The Jennings Freeway [SR 176] -- Connecting I-90 with I-480...that was an unfinished project for over 30 years.
I-287 in New Jersey. The northernmost 20+ miles (US 202 to NJ 17) was planned in the 1960s, didn't open until late 1993.
Quote from: wanderer2575 on August 16, 2016, 08:51:47 PM
The middle "missing link" section of I-696 between M-10 and I-75 in metro Detroit.
And also the completion of I-96 into Detroit.
Another, the completion of I-69 from Charlotte to Lansing.
The highway that US 31 runs on dead ends right before crossing over I-94 in Michigan. I saw that they are finally planning to continue it, but unfortunately it's not connecting to the end of I-196. I don't know much about it though.
I believe I-355 was supposed to have the extension back in the 90s but due to environmental problems and some other stuff delaying it until like 2005
Cross County (now Ronald Reagan) Highway in Cincinnati. Completed in the early 1960's from Galbraith Road in Reading to Montgomery Road in Montgomery. A western section from I-275 to US 27, Colerain Ave., was completed in 1975. It wasn't until 1997 when the section from Colerain Ave. to Galbraith Road was finished, completing the entire highway.
Quote from: ILRoad55 on August 19, 2016, 05:48:31 PM
The highway that US 31 runs on dead ends right before crossing over I-94 in Michigan. I saw that they are finally planning to continue it, but unfortunately it's not connecting to the end of I-196. I don't know much about it though.
If you're interested, here's the thread about it: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=18276.0
Quote from: Buffaboy on August 17, 2016, 11:27:30 PM
I-990, which apparently had been in plans in various forms since the 1950s wasn't constructed until the early 1980s, and extension (by about a measly mile) in the early 90s. Aside from the US-219 extension, it is the latest new freeway project in the Buffalo area, and probably the last for a long time.
And at the other end, I feel like NY 531 was a line on a map for quite some time before it was actually built, albeit far short of its intended destination.
Now, when we actually see the Nashua bypass, well then...
iPhone
I-485, the beltway around Charlotte, NC had its first section built as a connector from US 29 to I-85 in 1967. The planning began for what eventually became 485 sometime in 1975. The last section between I-77 and I-85 was finished in June 2015.
I-670 in Columbus: the western mile and a half had a very conspicuous stub ending at Grandview Ave for something like four decades.
Was the portion of I-295 in NJ that opened in 1994 part of the original 1956 plan? If so, that would be 38 years, though the construction of I-295 was more or less ongoing throughout this time, so maybe dormant isn't the right word.
The Vine Street Expressway (I-676) in Center City Philly languished for a few decades before being "completed" in early 1991.
I'll leave it to others to debate whether it is truly completed to date though..
NJ Route 55 was the first thing to come to mind. For many years it was a just a freeway bypass of the Vineland / Millville area until they finally completed the northern extension to Route 42, providing a continuous freeway from the Philadelphia area to southern Cumberland County. Growing up, I used to look over my Franklin Maps of Gloucester County with the multiple dashed proposed routings of 55 (which one will it be?) and later got to watch the construction progress. Yes, it's still not technically "complete", but I doubt I'll live to see any further extension to the south.
Quote from: Roadrunner75 on August 22, 2016, 09:02:19 PM
NJ Route 55 was the first thing to come to mind. For many years it was a just a freeway bypass of the Vineland / Millville area until they finally completed the northern extension to Route 42, providing a continuous freeway from the Philadelphia area to southern Cumberland County. Growing up, I used to look over my Franklin Maps of Gloucester County with the multiple dashed proposed routings of 55 (which one will it be?) and later got to watch the construction progress. Yes, it's still not technically "complete", but I doubt I'll live to see any further extension to the south.
Similar to NJ 18. Parts completed in the 1960s and a missing link completed in the 1990s and like 55 an incomplete beginning, that will most likely never be complete.
Has NJ completed anything as originally planned? I say this facetiously but NJ has so many partial complete freeways, stubs, missing links and highways to nowhere.. Even 195 which seems complete is the compromise of plans for route 37 and 38 freeways
The last mile of I-90. No, not that one, not the extension in Boston, the one on the other end in Seattle.
It even dates to before the Interstate system. Around the time the first bridge across Lake Washington was built in 1940, US 10 was routed across it and continued west on a proto-freeway to Rainier Avenue before taking surface streets from there to downtown. The plan in the 50's (before I-5 was built) was to continue the freeway from there to the Alaskan Way Viaduct. They never got that far (at least in part because the Kingdome got in the way), but come 1992 (40 or so years later), they finally connected I-90 to I-5 and Fourth Avenue, three to four blocks shy of the original proposal.
It's not yet complete, but work has begun on the Central Susquehanna Valley Thruway–the continuation of the US 11-15 freeway bypass of Selinsgrove, PA to connect to the PA 147 freeway above Northumberland. The current stub end of the freeway has been sitting fallow since 1977, and the CSVT is currently projected to open in 2024. It's odd to think of the unused pavement finally being pressed into service after 47 years (though I expect that the unused concrete surface will be resurfaced before cars actually touch it).
^ As I understand it, most of that unused pavement will get tore up as the current CSVT proposal has a slightly different alignment immediately north of the bridge over existing US 11/15.
^ When PennDOT was evaluating various alternatives about ten years ago, some of them would have crossed the existing surface US 11-15 at a slightly different angle, requiring the replacement of the overpass, relocation of existing ramps, and realignment of the through lanes.
The alternative that was eventually selected is the closest to the original 1977 routing (at least in the interchange vicinity), and from what I can tell on the publicly available project map, it appears to utilize the same alignment of the pavement at least up and including the overpass as well as the original ramp alignments. It appears that roughly 500' from the north end of the overpass, the alignments begin to diverge, however, so that by the time the unused pavement ends about 1,500' further north, the future southbound carriageway will be roughly where the existing northbound pavement is today.
But still, it appears roughly as much (~1,500') currently unused northbound pavement, including the unused overpass bridge, could be re-used.
(https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8505/28891547530_da073e2935_b.jpg)
Quote from: jwolfer on August 22, 2016, 11:37:57 PM
Quote from: Roadrunner75 on August 22, 2016, 09:02:19 PM
NJ Route 55 was the first thing to come to mind. For many years it was a just a freeway bypass of the Vineland / Millville area until they finally completed the northern extension to Route 42, providing a continuous freeway from the Philadelphia area to southern Cumberland County. Growing up, I used to look over my Franklin Maps of Gloucester County with the multiple dashed proposed routings of 55 (which one will it be?) and later got to watch the construction progress. Yes, it's still not technically "complete", but I doubt I'll live to see any further extension to the south.
Similar to NJ 18. Parts completed in the 1960s and a missing link completed in the 1990s and like 55 an incomplete beginning, that will most likely never be complete.
Has NJ completed anything as originally planned? I say this facetiously but NJ has so many partial complete freeways, stubs, missing links and highways to nowhere.. Even 195 which seems complete is the compromise of plans for route 37 and 38 freeways
Yes - 18 is very similar. Part of the unused right-of-way at the southern end is now a nice little meandering bike path through the woods. Since that extension is never gonna happen, they really need to widen NJ 35 to four lanes between 34 and 138, much of which is a parking lot throughout the day. I'm surprised there's not more of a push to get this done, especially with NJ 70's widening immediately to the south (essentially the same corridor) a few years ago.
Also, sometimes when NJ 'completes' a freeway project they completely bungle it, as with the long awaited completion of the NJ 33 Freehold bypass which was built as a divided Super 2. I can't stand two lane freeways to begin with, but at least give me the ability to pass (regardless of whether traffic will ever allow it).
^^ With that angle, the bridges can be reused, but not the unused pavement north of them.
Quote from: froggie on August 23, 2016, 01:11:51 PM
^^ With that angle, the bridges can be reused, but not the unused pavement north of them.
Right–I was referring to the roughly 1500' of northbound pavement that's south of the overpass.
I-580 in Nevada.
Overall planning began in the 1950s, AASHTO approval came in 1978 for open sections in Reno and 1984 for the eventual extension down to Carson City. The last link between existing freeway segments in south Reno and Washoe Valley was finally completed in 2012.
Quote from: TheStranger on August 17, 2016, 01:02:23 PM
California examples:
The Route 99 full freeway conversion north of Fresno to Merced, proposed in the 1950s as part of the original I-5 plan, but constructed 2013-2015.
Route 210 (former Route 30) between San Dimas and San Bernardino, proposed in the 1950s/1960s, constructed early 2000s.
Route 15 through Mid-City San Diego, proposed since the late 1960s as an extension of the city-constructed Wabash Boulevard freeway, competed early 2000s.
The High Desert Corridor proposal in the Antelope Valley that just finished the environmental review process is parallel to the long-planned Route 138/18 freeway concept connecting the Palmdale area with Interstate 15.
Route 4's alignment from Antioch southeast to Brentwood had been proposed since the 1960s but did not open until ca. 2012-2013.
Route 125 between Route 94 and Route 905 through Chula Vista had been proposed since at least 1963, with the segment from Route 54 to Route 905 opening in 2007.
Also in California: SR-85, on planning maps from at least 1952; the northern part (Mountain View to Cupertino) opened in the mid-1960s, but the southern part (Cupertino to South San Jose) did not open until 1994 (amazingly enough, they kept the right-of-way almost completely clear during that time.
The upgrade of the US 322 freeway from Harrisburg to State College. Two gaps exist: a 1 mile gap from US 11/15 to the Clarks Ferry Bridge, and a 17 mile gap Milroy to PA 45.
This originally started in 1953 whenever portions of US 322 became divided highway. In 1958, the freeway bypass of Lewistown was in the works, and completed in 1961. Throughout the 1960s, more sections of freeway opened, replacing the old four lane divided highway sections, and changing US 322 to bypass Lewistown. In 1971 the other portion of the freeway, the State College Bypass was being constructed and it wasn't until 1991, 20 years later, that this section was complete. However, there was the most dangerous gap to complete the original plan: the Lewistown Narrows. This was not complete until 2008, after a whopping 50 years of construction.
However, there are plans now to fill the Potters Mills gap. The gap at US 11/15 will probably not be filled in because of the businesses.
The Eastern Half of the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge it took 24 years to complete from the planning stages during the Loma Prieta Quake era to its 2013 completion.
In Dayton, OH, the 4-level stack interchange at I-75 and US-35 (the only such stack in the state?) had a stub-end going west for years; the exit just make an abrupt right turn to a surface street. When the first section of the new westward US-35 opened in 1991 IIRC, at the ribbon-cutting they had 30 cars drive it first, one from each model-year since '61, to symbolize the 30 years it took to get it built. The rest of the highway was eventually built, but with several at-grade intersections as opposed to the full freeway it was apparently originally planned as.
Also, in Beaverdam, OH, there was a ghost ramp at US-30 and I-75 for a long time. But when US-30 was upgraded to the east of there, I think a slightly different alignment was taken.
And in Brownsville, PA, a ghost ramp for a highway heading east was in place for, what, 40 years? A toll road going east was eventually built, but on a new alignment to the south. As such, the half-interchange was converted to a 4-way at-grade intersection.
Quote from: lepidopteran on September 29, 2016, 10:15:00 PM
In Dayton, OH, the 4-level stack interchange at I-75 and US-35 (the only such stack in the state?)
Nope: http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=41.48023,-81.66202&z=15&t=M (http://mapper.acme.com/?ll=41.48023,-81.66202&z=15&t=M)
But speaking of stub ends....