AARoads Forum

Freeways, or tolled freeways, or high-quality expressways. My city is Atlanta, and the freeway is I-75-85 from I-85 on the south side to University Avenue, c.1966. From a post I made on another forum:

Quote from: Tom958This photo fascinates me. It's I-75 on the south side of Atlanta, looking south, immediately after completion of the I-85 Airport Connector in 1964. Note the yield sign at the foot of the ramp from 85! The highway that became I-75 here was completed by 1952 to a rather primitive standard-- actually, all of Atlanta's pre-Interstate freeways were infamous for their dead-yield onramps, and about a mile south of here, I-75 had an at-grade intersection that survived into the '80's.

I was born in 1958, I've lived in Atlanta all my life, and for as long as I've been cognizant of such things, the concurrency of I-75 and I-85 through downtown had been six lanes until the massive widening during the '80's. However, there was circumstantial evidence that the part from I-85 south to University Avenue wasn't six laned until at least 1966. This is the only photo I've ever seen that confirms that. The segment from University Avenue north to Georgia Avenue (now Ralph D. Abernathy Boulevard) was built as six lanes and opened in 1957.

Image from myajc.com, Atlanta's major newspaper

This photo was taken within the limits of the interchange between GA 166 and I-75-85. The collector-distributor roads that connected the Interstates south of their convergence to 166 hadn't been started yet, but on the southbound side you can see a stub for the CD to enter 85 south, and bridges carrying 85 over the as-yet-unbuilt CD road. 166 was known as the Lakewood Freeway because part of it overlaid Lakewood Avenue, which had a simple diamond interchange with the freeway. The Lakewood Freeway interchange used a type of guardrail that didn't come into use until 1966 or so, but there was also a bridge built in the same style as those on the 85 Airport Connector carrying Fair Drive over the freeway. I surmise that the Fair Drive bridge was built in order to provide a detour for while the Lakewood Avenue interchange was demolished and rebuilt, and it was probably well advanced in construction or finished when this photo was taken. That same 1966ish guardrail style appeared rather incongruously on a bridge that carried 75-85 over a railroad immediately south of University Avenue, strongly suggesting that the six laning of 75-85 from University to the 75-85 split was done when the Lakewood Freeway, not 85, was built. So that yield sign must've bedeviled Atlanta motorists for a significant amount of time.

Here's the Google Maps link for the area. You'd think that it'd have little relevance today since the entire highway was completely reconstructed in the '80's, but in fact the current layout is quite similar to that when the original 166 interchange was completed, though with a bigger footprint. The biggest difference is that now the CD's extend south to Cleveland Avenue.

No freeways in my city.  I'll write about Oregon instead.  Our last widening in a city was I-5 in Salem from the Kuebler interchange to the Salem Parkway interchange.  4-lanes to 6-lanes.  It was really needed!

Rick

IN Green Bay, US/I-41 was recently (2011-16) widened from 4 lanes to 6-10 lanes in segments.

I-95 Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike

I-95 has 6 lanes throughout the Richmond area; it was built with 6 lanes from the Maury Street interchange northward, and with 4 lanes southward of there; and the 22-mile-long section from Maury Street to the I-85 interchange in Petersburg was widened to 6 lanes from 1974 to 1978.

Widening I-95 from Maury Street in South Richmond to the I-95/I-85 interchange in Petersburg, plus other improvements to the Turnpike, including a new ramp at the Broad Street interchange in downtown Richmond, a complete reconstruction of the VA-150 Chippenham Parkway interchange, improvements to the VA-10 interchange, and a complete reconstruction of the Washington Street interchange and I-95/I-85 interchange in Petersburg, and reconstruction of the I-95 highway mainline in Petersburg to lessen several curves.  This new interchange complex between I-95 and Washington Street, Wythe Street and I-85 in Petersburg, was called the "Little Mixing Bowl" by the highway designers and planners.

Within the Minneapolis city limits, I'm going to take a wild guess and say US-12 heading out of downtown, in the process of becoming I-394.

Not 100% sure about Columbia, SC, but I'm thinking it's the entirety of I-126 which was likely widened in the early 80's.  Could also be I-26 from Malfunction Junction (I-20) to I-77, which I think was done by "˜86.

As for Nashville (my hometown), I think I-65 from TN 255 to Wedgewood Ave was widened in around "˜85 or "˜86 in conjunction with the original construction of I-440.  I-24 was also widened from I-40 to TN 255 by "˜86, and I think I-40 from TN 155 to just east of I-440 was widened by "˜86 or "˜87.

In my immediate area, I think it would be the widening of the original western stretch of I-696 (between I-96/I-275 and M-10) from four lanes to eight lanes in 1989.  I think the widening of I-75 in northern Oakland County happened after that.

Chicagoland there's a lot of local ones that I'm sure I'll miss, but I'd have to say maybe the Tri-State tollway during the 80s? My first widening experience was the southern Tri-State during the mid-2000s

EDIT: Just realized I answered the question wrong  :pan: :pan:

I-540 needs it desperately, but ARDOT will never do anything besides upgrade the bridges, They were supposed to replace the Arkansas River bridge 4 years ago, but opted to use that money for some pet project near Little Rock.

Quote from: Tom958 on December 04, 2018, 08:44:20 PM
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.myajc.com%2Frf%2Fimage_lowres%2FPub%2Fp8%2FMyAJC%2F2017%2F03%2F31%2FImages%2F851964.jpg&hash=861d915f6eaf3fe9b87d49b1f1b2206adcb31e16)
Image from myajc.com, Atlanta's major newspaper

Slightly off topic here, but I noticed what looks like a route marker assembly over there on the northbound side with two square (i.e. presumably non-Interstate) shields on it. These would, I presume, be US 19 and US 41; when this freeway initially opened, those routes were moved onto it, with the old route (up to Lakewood Ave) being Business 19/41 according to GDOT maps of the era. The US highway mainlines were returned to the old route somewhere around this time, though I can't quite pinpoint exactly when. The June 1963 map shows them on the freeway co-signed with I-75, with I-85 under construction and the Lakewood Freeway apparently not yet started, but they'd been moved back by January 1966.

Quote from: DJ Particle on December 05, 2018, 01:38:46 AM
Within the Minneapolis city limits, I'm going to take a wild guess and say US-12 heading out of downtown, in the process of becoming I-394.

Wayzata Blvd wasn't a freeway before that point, though.  There were at-grades at Xerxes, Cedar Lake Rd, and Penn until ca. 1970, and even after that point there were RIRO's at Cedar Lake Rd until construction on I-394 began in the mid-80s.  I'm reading the OP's intention as the first already-existing freeway to be widened in a given city.

Which within the Minneapolis city limits would technically be WB 62 on the Crosstown Commons.  The original ramp to WB 62 from SB 35W was a single lane.  It was widened to 2 lanes ca. 1968.

In the Twin Cities as a whole, it was I-494 along the Bloomington Strip.  Opened in 1959 as 4 lanes, it became burdened with traffic so quickly it was widened to 6 lanes between MN 100 and today's MN 77 by 1965.

Quote from: wriddle082 on December 05, 2018, 07:00:54 AMAs for Nashville (my hometown), I think I-65 from TN 255 to Wedgewood Ave was widened in around "˜85 or "˜86 in conjunction with the original construction of I-440.  I-24 was also widened from I-40 to TN 255 by "˜86, and I think I-40 from TN 155 to just east of I-440 was widened by "˜86 or "˜87.

My guess for Nashville would be the 24-40 concurrency, though I don't know when it happened since they apparently managed to cram another two lanes onto roadways built for six without widening any of the bridges. I couldn't find anything on bridgereports.com, anyway.

From what I've seen/found from the Columbus Public Library online photo collection; I-71 north from Ft. Hayes (nowadays I-670) to I-270.

I believe the first freeway widening in the Philadelphia area was the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Norristown (Germantown Pike) to Bensalem (US 1).

Quote from: Roadsguy on December 05, 2018, 11:02:58 AM
I believe the first freeway widening in the Philadelphia area was the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Norristown (Germantown Pike) to Bensalem (US 1).

That would be the first major widening of a freeway in the Philadelphia area, at least on the Pennsylvania side.

Technically we might cite the Schuylkill Expressway between US-1 Roosevelt Expressway and Montgomery Drive, one lane each way added in the mid-1970s project to reconfigure and expand the interchange between the Schuylkill Expressway and the US-1 Roosevelt Expressway.

Quote from: Beltway on December 05, 2018, 11:10:53 AM

Quote from: Roadsguy on December 05, 2018, 11:02:58 AM
I believe the first freeway widening in the Philadelphia area was the Pennsylvania Turnpike from Norristown (Germantown Pike) to Bensalem (US 1).

That would be the first major widening of a freeway in the Philadelphia area, at least on the Pennsylvania side.

Technically we might cite the Schuylkill Expressway between US-1 Roosevelt Expressway and Montgomery Drive, one lane each way added in the mid-1970s project to reconfigure and expand the interchange between the Schuylkill Expressway and the US-1 Roosevelt Expressway.

Ah yes, I forgot about that. I don't think there was an earlier widening on the PA side. The Turnpike widening was only done in the 1980s.

I have no idea about any widenings on the NJ side.

Quote from: Roadsguy on December 05, 2018, 11:35:06 AM

Quote from: Beltway on December 05, 2018, 11:10:53 AM
Technically we might cite the Schuylkill Expressway between US-1 Roosevelt Expressway and Montgomery Drive, one lane each way added in the mid-1970s project to reconfigure and expand the interchange between the Schuylkill Expressway and the US-1 Roosevelt Expressway.

Ah yes, I forgot about that. I don't think there was an earlier widening on the PA side. The Turnpike widening was only done in the 1980s.
I have no idea about any widenings on the NJ side.

Recollection is hazy, but several miles of I-295 was widened from 4 to 6 lanes in the mid-1970s, just north of I-76/NJ-42, and maybe a couple miles south of there.

For the Greater Boston area, I would have to say MA 128 (now I-95/MA 128) between MA 9/Wellesley (current Exit 20) and US 1/S. Lynnfield (current Exit 44) sometime between 1958 and 1962 based on viewing Historic Aerials.   It changed from a 4-to-6 lane highway to the current 6-to-8 lane highway.

The Quad Cities' first freeway widening is going on now with the I-74 bridge project. All freeways are 4 lanes, but within the next few years, the majority of I-74 through town will be 6 lanes.

I'm not even sure any of the freeways built in SF ever were widened at any point:

Bayshore Freeway had 8 lanes through Hospital Curve as early as opening day (based on the photos I've seen from the 1950s)
San Francisco Skyway seems to have always been in its 6 lane configuration between 5th Street and the Central Freeway
The Central Freeway was realigned ca. 2005 to end at Market Street but with no capacity changes between Van Ness Avenue/Duboce Avenue and Market/Octavia.
The north part of the Junipero Serra Freeway (Route 1 from 280 to Font Boulevard) is pretty much the same configuration as when it opened

I haven't seen any construction era photos of the Southern Freeway portion of 280 (originally built as Bypass US 101) - HistoricAerials doesn't show any of it complete in 1956, but looks to be in its current configuration by 1968?

The US 101 freeway through the Presidio was 6 lanes in its 1937-2015 configuration as Doyle Drive, and still 6 lanes on the Interstate-standard modern Presidio Parkway that replaced it.

Because of its cobbled-together nature, it would be difficult to pin down a widening of the Beltline in Madison.  Much of it wasn't yet a freeway as the third lane was added.  Or it was constructed with the lanes it has today when it was upgraded to freeway. (Like the Yahara Causeway).

So I should focus on the interstate for an earliest freeway widening.  Back then, it was just I-90/94, but the expansion from four to six lanes north of the Badger Interchange went down in the late 80's into the early 90's.  I recall seeing newly reconstructed bridges and stuff on road trips as a young kid, particularly at the Badger Interchange itself.

In Milwaukee, I'm more confident about the first freeway to get more lanes.  It was I-43 at Silver Spring Dr. in the early 90's.  The reconstruction of that interchange extended the six lane configuration north maybe a mile.  It's noteworthy, because it involved repealing a moratorium on any freeway expansion in Milwaukee that managed to make it onto the books about 10 years earlier.

Well, Statesville doesn't technically have freeways, but I-40 was the first, and not a moment too soon at that.

Quote from: OracleUsr on December 05, 2018, 09:32:38 PM
Well, Statesville doesn't technically have freeways

What do you mean by that? Unless OpenStreetMap and Wikipedia both have the city boundaries wrong, it has both I-40 and I-77.

Quote from: ET21 on December 05, 2018, 08:22:47 AM
Chicagoland there's a lot of local ones that I'm sure I'll miss, but I'd have to say maybe the Tri-State tollway during the 80s? My first widening experience was the southern Tri-State during the mid-2000s

EDIT: Just realized I answered the question wrong  :pan: :pan:

I was thinking the (intown) Dan Ryan and Kennedy expressways were widened in the early 90s, because I remember coming home from college one summer and seeing construction crews work on them around the clock. When the project was finished, they sure looked a hell of a lot better than before!

I think Cincinnati's first widening was part of I-75 through the Lockland area in 1967.  It went from 4 to 6 lanes.   In about five years, that portion will go to 8 lanes.

I-49 here in NWA just this year.  It has been so overdue, that they went from a standard 2x2 straight to 4x4 for a few miles of it.  3x3 for most of the rest of NWA, except for another stretch of 4x4 between the US-71B and US-62 exits up at Bentonville/Rogers.  What's sad is it's still the only contiguous freeway in this corner of Arkansas, despite almost cracking the Top-100 MSAs in population.  Except that it really isn't because of the missing link into Missouri (BVB).

Quote from: Tom958 on December 05, 2018, 10:42:51 AM

Quote from: wriddle082 on December 05, 2018, 07:00:54 AMAs for Nashville (my hometown), I think I-65 from TN 255 to Wedgewood Ave was widened in around "˜85 or "˜86 in conjunction with the original construction of I-440.  I-24 was also widened from I-40 to TN 255 by "˜86, and I think I-40 from TN 155 to just east of I-440 was widened by "˜86 or "˜87.

My guess for Nashville would be the 24-40 concurrency, though I don't know when it happened since they apparently managed to cram another two lanes onto roadways built for six without widening any of the bridges. I couldn't find anything on bridgereports.com, anyway.

I thought about that one and deduced that 24/40 was originally six lanes but was widened to eight via re-striping and eliminating shoulders at some point in the 80's either concurrently with or just after the widenings I previously mentioned.

Also, the south, west, and north portions of the Downtown Loop were all six lanes when they were originally constructed in the early 70's, but the older mid-60's vintage eastern portion (I-24 now, I-24/65 at that time) was widened to six lanes I think around 86 or 87.

Oh yeah, the Silliman Evans Bridge over the Cumberland River *may* have been widened in the late 70's.  If that is true, I think it qualifies as the first widening.

Duluth was probably the southbound truck lane on I-35 between Central and US 2 West. The 2x2+auxiliaries between Mesaba/Superior and I-535 came when the freeway was extended.

Quote from: wriddle082 on December 06, 2018, 02:29:33 PMAlso, the south, west, and north portions of the Downtown Loop were all six lanes when they were originally constructed in the early 70's, but the older mid-60's vintage eastern portion (I-24 now, I-24/65 at that time) was widened to six lanes I think around 86 or 87.

I didn't know that, and I find it surprising- - I assumed that the whole downtown loop had been built as six lanes. According to http://bridgereports.com/1499226 , the I-24 bridge over Spring Street was widened in 1985, so you're right on the date.

Quote from: wriddle082 on December 06, 2018, 02:29:33 PMOh yeah, the Silliman Evans Bridge over the Cumberland River *may* have been widened in the late 70's.  If that is true, I think it qualifies as the first widening.

Actually, http://bridgereports.com/1499231 says the bridges were built in 1963 and "reconstructed," which I presume means widened, in 1973! How strange that they'd widen from six lanes to eight when the connecting freeway to the north would remain only four lanes for more than a decade longer.

I hesitate to give credit as a widening since it's essentially just auxiliary lanes, but I'm glad we had this conversation.

Locally in my area, CA-24 was rebuilt as a freeway with BART down the median and widened to 4-5 lanes in each direction in the early 70's.  The original Benicia Bridge was widened around 1988 from 2-lanes in each direction to 3-lanes in each direction by cantilevering off of the original deck.  I-680 was widened to 3 lanes in each direction between the Benicia Bridge and CA-242 around the same time.  A 4th HOV lane was then added to that same stretch of I-680 around 2003.  CA-242 (originally signed as CA-24 until the mid 80's) was widened to 3 lanes in each direction around 2000.  The stretch of I-680 between CA-242 and CA-24 was rebuilt and widened in the mid 90's when the 680/24 interchange was rebuilt.

The period between 1985 and 2000 saw a LOT of highway expansion throughout Contra Costa County.  In the early 80's, I-680 was still 2 lanes in each direction with the old oleander median.  At this point, it is 4-7 lanes in each direction with HOV (soon to be HOT), narrow to non-existent left shoulders.

Quote from: Tom958 on December 06, 2018, 04:56:11 PM

Quote from: wriddle082 on December 06, 2018, 02:29:33 PMAlso, the south, west, and north portions of the Downtown Loop were all six lanes when they were originally constructed in the early 70's, but the older mid-60's vintage eastern portion (I-24 now, I-24/65 at that time) was widened to six lanes I think around 86 or 87.

I didn't know that, and I find it surprising- - I assumed that the whole downtown loop had been built as six lanes. According to http://bridgereports.com/1499226 , the I-24 bridge over Spring Street was widened in 1985, so you're right on the date.

Quote from: wriddle082 on December 06, 2018, 02:29:33 PMOh yeah, the Silliman Evans Bridge over the Cumberland River *may* have been widened in the late 70's.  If that is true, I think it qualifies as the first widening.

Actually, http://bridgereports.com/1499231 says the bridges were built in 1963 and "reconstructed," which I presume means widened, in 1973! How strange that they'd widen from six lanes to eight when the connecting freeway to the north would remain only four lanes for more than a decade longer.

I hesitate to give credit as a widening since it's essentially just auxiliary lanes, but I'm glad we had this conversation.

I believe the reason it was reconstructed so early in the 70's was due to having flimsy metal railings that were considered very hazardous as they provided little protection to vehicles falling off the bridge and going into the river, and quite a few did.  So this early 70's widening/retrofit replaced the railings with one of the earliest Jersey parapets in TN with a metal rail along the top, along with the connecting ramps at the 40 junction to the south.  Sometime in the last 10-15 years, during a rehab project, the metal railing on top was replaced with a concrete extension, making it look similar to other tall Jersey barriers throughout TN.

An example of this flimsy metal railing style that TN used in this period still exists today here, over I-40 in Dickson County: https://goo.gl/maps/P5m5qvwFTAr

Probably (former) CT 15/I-86 and (current) I-84 from East Hartford to Union.  Went from four lanes to six from about 1978 to 1989, the last portion finished being the stretch from the current end of CT 15 to I-384.

Quote from: jdbx on December 06, 2018, 06:37:58 PM

I just want to say, every time I see one of your posts, I think agentsteel53 (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=1) is back on the forum–just because of your avatar.

Per Houston Freeways, it was the northern section of the Gulf Freeway.

The NYCRoads crew says theirs was probably the Grand Central Parkway between Horace Harding Blvd (a.k.a. the LIE) and Kew Gardens.

Nope, that didn't happen until the '60's. The first widenings were of the Belt Parkway (all of it, I guess) and the Bronx section of the Hutchinson River Parkway, both in the late '40's. Unlike earlier parkways, these had been built with good-sized medians, making widening them cheap and easy.

Cleveland is a real enigma because most of the freeways that were built in the 60s and 70s were built for the future traffic counts in mind. 

Which leaves us with the freeways that were around in the 50s.  Both the West Shoreway (SR-2/US-6/US-20) and the Willow Freeway (I-77/US-21) started out as 2x2s.  Then somewhere in the late 60's/early 70s,  they "added" a 3rd lane in each direction by reducing the width of the existing lanes and shoulders.  Not sure which of those freeways added a 3rd lane first.

As far as physically widening a freeway, my guess is the East Shoreway (I-90/SR-2) from Dead Mans Curve to Bratenahl had a permanent 3rd lane added in the mid 70s as well as an auxillary lane between DMC and E. 55th St.  Prior to that, I believe the East Shoreway squeezed in a 3rd lane by narrowing the lanes & shoulders like it's West Shoreway neighbor.

In the mid 90s, I-71 through Strongsville was one of the original 2x2s that was first widened to accommodate a 3rd lane for the first time -- this was part of the major 3-laning of I-71 from Cleveland to Columbus project.

I also remember the I-75 Detroit-Toledo Expressway being given a 3rd lane widening between the two cities in the mid 1970s.  Took another 10-15 years before Ohio widened I-75 to 3 lanes between the state line and I-280.  I remember how weird it was to see a 6 lane freeway in rural SE Michigan reduce to 4 lanes when entering urban Toledo there.  Usually it is the other way around.

In Wichita, the answer to this question hinges on what is considered to be a freeway.

What is now the Kellogg Avenue (US 54-400) freeway was originally built in the early 1950's as an expressway with a combination of interchanges and flat intersections.  From west to east, from I-235 to the present Turnpike interchange, the original configuration was as follows:

West:  flat

Edwards/Meridian:  grade-separated

Vine:  flat (closed in the 1980's)

Seneca/Sycamore:  grade-separated

Main/Market/Broadway/Topeka:  flat

Washington:  grade-separated

Hydraulic/George Washington Boulevard:  flat

Hillside:  flat

Bluff:  flat

Oliver:  flat

Edgemoor:  flat

Woodlawn:  flat

Armour:  flat

Rock:  flat

Cypress:  flat

To the extent that any of the segments of Kellogg that existed prior to the beginning of significant improvements circa 1980 can be considered freeway, then they were widened in the mid-1990's and formed the first segments of freeway in Wichita to be widened.  But if they are not considered freeway, then the first proper widening is almost finished and consists of the addition of an extra lane in each direction on I-235 between Kellogg and Central.

Quote from: Henry on December 06, 2018, 01:05:18 PM

Quote from: ET21 on December 05, 2018, 08:22:47 AM
Chicagoland there's a lot of local ones that I'm sure I'll miss, but I'd have to say maybe the Tri-State tollway during the 80s? My first widening experience was the southern Tri-State during the mid-2000s

EDIT: Just realized I answered the question wrong  :pan: :pan:

I was thinking the (intown) Dan Ryan and Kennedy expressways were widened in the early 90s, because I remember coming home from college one summer and seeing construction crews work on them around the clock. When the project was finished, they sure looked a hell of a lot better than before!

Ah yes, Don't Shout, Re-Route (or Don't Shoot, Re-Route, depending on your preferred pronunciation).

If the criteria for "first widening" is the first time a freeway was expanded beyond its original configuration, then here in the South Bay (Santa Clara County) the first of those would be US 101 from Old Oakland Road (former CA 238) north to the San Mateo county line; the widening from 6 to 8 lanes commenced around 1965 north of the then-new CA 85 merge in Mountain View, was continued south from there by 1973-74 and was completed around 1979-80.  South of Old Oakland the freeway remained 6 lanes but shrunk to 4 under the old Santa Clara St./Alum Rock Ave. overcrossing, built as part of the original Bayshore Highway project.   The overcrossing was replaced and that section of freeway expanded to 8 lanes (with slip lanes added later) in the early '90's.   

^^ I recall the Kennedy reconstruction when I was at Great Lakes in 1994, but that wasn't a widening...just a reconstruction.  The Kennedy's Express Lanes date back to its original construction.

Albany area was PROBABLY I-87 north of NY 9P, which was done by the early-mid 70s.

Buffalo is almost certainly I-90 between Exits 53 and 55, which was originally 4 lanes and is the only significant freeway section in the region to be widened post-construction.

Quote from: wanderer2575 on December 05, 2018, 07:49:54 AM
In my immediate area, I think it would be the widening of the original western stretch of I-696 (between I-96/I-275 and M-10) from four lanes to eight lanes in 1989.  I think the widening of I-75 in northern Oakland County happened after that.

for the Detroit area, it was I-94 between Michigan Ave and Willow Run Airport in the early 60s, as that was built as 4 lanes in the 1940s  (as M-112) and widened out to 6 lanes and brought up to interstate standards.

Quote from: froggie on December 05, 2018, 10:28:48 AM
Wayzata Blvd wasn't a freeway before that point, though.  There were at-grades at Xerxes, Cedar Lake Rd, and Penn until ca. 1970, and even after that point there were RIRO's at Cedar Lake Rd until construction on I-394 began in the mid-80s.  I'm reading the OP's intention as the first already-existing freeway to be widened in a given city.

Ah...see I thought it was freeway from downtown to MN-100 between 1970 and I-394's incorporation (I knew of the old exit at Wirth...didn't know of the RIROs)

QuoteWhich within the Minneapolis city limits would technically be WB 62 on the Crosstown Commons.  The original ramp to WB 62 from SB 35W was a single lane.  It was widened to 2 lanes ca. 1968.

I thought the commons were technically in Richfield, though....

QuoteIn the Twin Cities as a whole, it was I-494 along the Bloomington Strip.  Opened in 1959 as 4 lanes, it became burdened with traffic so quickly it was widened to 6 lanes between MN 100 and today's MN 77 by 1965.

I guess they didn't figure Met Stadium (built 1956) was about to have 2 pro sports teams call it home in 1961  *heh*

Quote from: DJ Particle on December 11, 2018, 03:04:49 AM

Quote from: froggie on December 05, 2018, 10:28:48 AM
Which within the Minneapolis city limits would technically be WB 62 on the Crosstown Commons.  The original ramp to WB 62 from SB 35W was a single lane.  It was widened to 2 lanes ca. 1968.

I thought the commons were technically in Richfield, though....

Upon further review, the ramp I mentioned is indeed in Richfield, albeit just barely.  In that case, first widening within the city limits would probably be when MnDOT redid the Dartmouth Bridge on I-94 and added the auxiliary lanes between Riverside & the U of M exit ca. 1997.  First widescale widening in Minneapolis proper would be the Crosstown Commons project that finished in 2010.

Quote

QuoteIn the Twin Cities as a whole, it was I-494 along the Bloomington Strip.  Opened in 1959 as 4 lanes, it became burdened with traffic so quickly it was widened to 6 lanes between MN 100 and today's MN 77 by 1965.

I guess they didn't figure Met Stadium (built 1956) was about to have 2 pro sports teams call it home in 1961  *heh*

They didn't figure that Bloomington would mushroom the way it did.  The population jumped from 9,902 in 1950 to over 50,000 in 1960.

The I-40 and I-75 split in Knoxville, started in 1982 just in time for the World's Fair.  It desperately needed it-the junction was the biggest roadblock travelers from the Great Lakes states heading to Florida had to face for more than 25 years.

I-640 was completed just as the widening of Malfunction Junction started and I-75 was routed onto it as an encouragement for travelers to use the bypass instead.

http://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/junction-for-malfunction-ep-360224674-356724351.html/ (http://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/junction-for-malfunction-ep-360224674-356724351.html/)

Quote from: mrcmc888 on December 11, 2018, 04:00:01 PM
The I-40 and I-75 split in Knoxville, started in 1982 just in time for the World's Fair.  It desperately needed it-the junction was the biggest roadblock travelers from the Great Lakes states heading to Florida had to face for more than 25 years.

I-640 was completed just as the widening of Malfunction Junction started and I-75 was routed onto it as an encouragement for travelers to use the bypass instead.

http://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/junction-for-malfunction-ep-360224674-356724351.html/ (http://archive.knoxnews.com/news/local/junction-for-malfunction-ep-360224674-356724351.html/)

I can remember seeing all the construction in Knoxville passing through there in 1979. I-75 followed what is I-275 now to get to I-40.


iPhone

In Charlotte it was I-85. They started widening it in 1984 or 85. They've been widening it through NC ever since except for the section between Exits 87 and 118. That opened as a 6 lane section in 1984.


iPhone

Quote from: thenetwork on December 09, 2018, 11:29:52 AM
I also remember the I-75 Detroit-Toledo Expressway being given a 3rd lane widening between the two cities in the mid 1970s.  Took another 10-15 years before Ohio widened I-75 to 3 lanes between the state line and I-280.  I remember how weird it was to see a 6 lane freeway in rural SE Michigan reduce to 4 lanes when entering urban Toledo there.  Usually it is the other way around.

When I-75 was widened between Detroit and Toledo, was this when the Summit Street interchange got switched from right-on, left-off to how it is today?

In the Toledo area, if I recall correctly, it was I-75 that was first widened.  By widening I-75 to 3 lanes in each direction from the Michigan line to I-280, it straightened out a really nasty curve that turned into a skating rink in winter and an accident collector in every other season!

Quote from: countysigns on December 15, 2018, 06:58:38 PM

Quote from: thenetwork on December 09, 2018, 11:29:52 AM
I also remember the I-75 Detroit-Toledo Expressway being given a 3rd lane widening between the two cities in the mid 1970s.  Took another 10-15 years before Ohio widened I-75 to 3 lanes between the state line and I-280.  I remember how weird it was to see a 6 lane freeway in rural SE Michigan reduce to 4 lanes when entering urban Toledo there.  Usually it is the other way around.

When I-75 was widened between Detroit and Toledo, was this when the Summit Street interchange got switched from right-on, left-off to how it is today?

Yes.  The Flyover off-ramps were constructed at the time of the addition of the 3rd lane.  Then in the late 80s/early 90s the entire stretch was gradually rebuilt -- both the original 2 lanes and the 3rd lanes were ripped out and replaced.

I got to thinking about Greensboro, NC, with its fairly ancient express highway system. According to http://bridgereports.com/1326863 , the bridge carrying I-40 and US 29-70-220 over MLK Jr. Drive (former US 421) was widened in 1966, having been built in 1954. Much of the freeway west of there has a Jersey barrier median, which... that seems early. I'd guess that the Jersey barrier was installed some years after the widening.

Also, per http://bridgereports.com/1326840 , the Elm Street-Eugene Street bridge over the freeway was also widened in 1966, having been built in 1955. I don't see any compelling reason for that bridge to have been widened at the same time as the freeway unless it was used as a detour while some other road was closed, the most obvious candidate for closure being Randleman Road, which was US 220 at the time.

Around the Denver metro, it looks like the first freeway to be widened was the Valley Highway, which was US 87 (with some overlaps), and I-25 by the time it was expanded. CDOT lists 1958 as the completion date for the Valley Highway from Evans Ave north to 48th Ave–generally two lanes each way–after the initial project began in '48. Their "Highways to the Skies"  says "federal funding expands the Valley Highway"  in 1964; that was at least in part associated with the opening of the 46th Ave Freeway portion of I-70. Looking at Historic Aerials, much more had been widened by 1971.

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Heading south, Colorado Springs was predictably I-25, too; I think the first single project that added lanes through multiple interchanges was a widening from Bijou St north to Fillmore St in the 1998-2000 timeframe, but, together, the projects putting in what's now the MLK Bypass (US 24), and widening from that south to the middle of a rebuilt Circle Dr interchange may have beaten it, for a total widening from S Nevada Ave to the Circle Dr bridges. Not sure exactly when that finished; Historic Aerials and Google Earth show the Circle interchange under construction in 1999, done by '03.

Since I-25 was the obvious answer for Colorado Springs as its only freeway of appreciable length, I was curious if any of its other fragmented limited-access roads had been widened. I considered those to be the MLK Bypass, S Academy from I-25 through Proby Pkwy at Hancock, and Powers Blvd from Voyager Pkwy south to whatever cross street suited my purposes (Research, Woodmen, Dublin).

I'm inclined to say that none of those have been widened since their interchanges were built, but the other, even shorter limited-access section of S Academy Blvd from Hwy 115 to Venetucci Blvd was twinned in the late "˜00s. It's probably too generous to call it a freeway in its before or after setup, but that may be the closest the Springs has got to a non-I-25 freeway widening. The old study for Powers from Woodmen to I-25 calls for six lanes, so north of Woodmen may be the next one. (For one last, even less relevant non-example, Powers Blvd south of Platte Ave was widened to six lanes Instead of having a former "˜top priority' interchange added at Stewart Ave.)