What are some old freeway/interstate alignments that are still visible today?
The two that come to mind for me are along I-44 in Missouri and Oklahoma:
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=37.936684,-91.949644&spn=0.036961,0.051413&gl=us&ui=maps&t=k&z=14
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=36.177445,-95.740013&spn=0.035888,0.051413&gl=us&ui=maps&t=k&z=14
The abandoned PA Turnpike is another great example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandoned_Pennsylvania_Turnpike
Quote from: Henry on July 24, 2013, 10:34:22 AM
The abandoned PA Turnpike is another great example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandoned_Pennsylvania_Turnpike
Interesting!
On a side note: what a weird intersection for 70/76 at Breezewood, looks like 70 traffic has to drive through town to get on 76.
This might be covered by this old thread:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=932.0
Quote from: thisdj78 on July 24, 2013, 10:47:54 AM
Quote from: Henry on July 24, 2013, 10:34:22 AM
The abandoned PA Turnpike is another great example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandoned_Pennsylvania_Turnpike
Interesting!
On a side note: what a weird intersection for 70/76 at Breezewood, looks like 70 traffic has to drive through town to get on 76.
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Quote from: 1995hoo on July 24, 2013, 10:50:47 AM
This might be covered by this old thread:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=932.0
Oops, I did a search for old freeways, old alignments and didnt come across it. Mods can delete if necessary.
QuoteQuote from: thisdj78 on July 24, 2013, 10:47:54 AM
Quote from: Henry on July 24, 2013, 10:34:22 AM
The abandoned PA Turnpike is another great example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandoned_Pennsylvania_Turnpike
Interesting!
On a side note: what a weird intersection for 70/76 at Breezewood, looks like 70 traffic has to drive through town to get on 76.
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Old news?
Interesting. I thought I was the only strange dude who was interested in old, unused highways other than US66. I am glad to know I am not alone. I am old so maybe that is the reason I am interested. But come to think of it I don't remember when I wasn't. Uh, can't remember :hmmm: Old :crazy:
I'd be okay at keeping this as a separate thread so that we can review freeways without them getting lost in the endless lists of two-lane old alignments. I'd expand it slightly to dual-carriageway expressways, since they are still fairly rare and interesting to see.
there is a bit of US-99 expressway in the Grapevine. one can drive it from the Templin Highway exit up to a barrier, at which point one can walk/bike another 2-3 miles.
there's US-66 expressway in Cajon Pass - two lanes still in use; two lanes have been barricaded off.
Two junctions come to mind.
1. I-295 in Short Pump, VA
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=&ll=37.655481,-77.604815&spn=0.006056,0.011362&fb=1&gl=us&hq=short+pump&cid=0,0,2003172028521955311&t=h&z=17&iwloc=A
2. I-278 in Staten Island, NY
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=&hl=en&ll=40.61019,-74.110433&spn=0.00584,0.011362&t=h&hnear=Staten+Island,+Richmond,+New+York&z=17
3. Then, there is Centralia PA, in which everything is abandoned. The last 10 residents lost their appeal in court and are now being forced to leave. I find the story very interesting. All but a few houses & businesses have been demolished, leaving nothing between the blocks of streets.
http://goo.gl/maps/a0sFH
http://goo.gl/maps/0ddg3
If you look in the trees around it, you can see the outline old streets even more neglected.
http://goo.gl/maps/nTF4a
Then, of course, there is the charred and heavily graffitied abandoned section of PA 61
http://goo.gl/maps/hw0z0
Manchester, CT: I-84 (I-86) used to follow the path of the I-384 to I-84 W ramp. The ramp itself is where the eastbound carriageway used to be, the westbound followed the gap in the trees to the left. https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.773872,-72.586327&spn=0.000512,0.338173&t=m&z=12&layer=c&cbll=41.773868,-72.585985&panoid=ZSon5eUnqW2SrM-59lvSHw&cbp=13,90.34,,0,-2.56 (https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.773872,-72.586327&spn=0.000512,0.338173&t=m&z=12&layer=c&cbll=41.773868,-72.585985&panoid=ZSon5eUnqW2SrM-59lvSHw&cbp=13,90.34,,0,-2.56)
Berlin, CT: Before the section of CT 9 from the Berlin Turnpike to I-91 was completed, CT 72 (as it was then) used to turn a little left here (as shown in the picture) and connect with the frontage road on the left, which is now CT 372. There was an interchange with the Berlin Turnpike that incorporated the current CT 9 southbound exit 21, the ramp from northbound Berlin turnpike to CT 372, and a ramp slightly north of CT 9 for CT (3)72 east. https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.625965,-72.743912&spn=0.055689,0.338173&t=m&z=12&layer=c&cbll=41.625922,-72.74382&panoid=TZPC7WysdSJn5pVJzcyMiw&cbp=11,86.53,,0,0
Plainville, CT: Used to be ramps for Exit 34. EB from Woodford Ave in the middle where the wide grass strip is. https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.670395,-72.841072&spn=0.003478,0.021136&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=41.670395,-72.84107&panoid=sg3e7W-TjuteMu5FtDJHAQ&cbp=11,270,,0,0 (https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=41.670395,-72.841072&spn=0.003478,0.021136&t=m&z=16&layer=c&cbll=41.670395,-72.84107&panoid=sg3e7W-TjuteMu5FtDJHAQ&cbp=11,270,,0,0)
Quote from: thisdj78 on July 24, 2013, 11:30:27 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on July 24, 2013, 10:50:47 AM
This might be covered by this old thread:
https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=932.0
Oops, I did a search for old freeways, old alignments and didnt come across it. Mods can delete if necessary.
Not a big deal. I don't like the idea of "search Nazis" who harp about every old thread. Often whether you find an old thread depends heavily on the search terms you used and the terminology used in the prior thread. The thread I linked says "Abandoned Freeways," for example, whereas you said "Old/Unused." So that's a reason for not finding the old thread. Since I was aware of it, I thought I'd mention it simply as a convenient way of adding more information without having to repeat things I'd said before.
Quote from: thisdj78 on July 24, 2013, 11:30:27 AMQuoteQuote from: thisdj78 on July 24, 2013, 10:47:54 AM
Quote from: Henry on July 24, 2013, 10:34:22 AM
The abandoned PA Turnpike is another great example:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandoned_Pennsylvania_Turnpike
Interesting!
On a side note: what a weird intersection for 70/76 at Breezewood, looks like 70 traffic has to drive through town to get on 76.
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
Old news?
Breezewood is rather notorious! The term "breezewood" (with a lowercase "b") is quite common on this forum to denote a place where you connect from one freeway to another via what you might call a "surface street." Another example in Pennsylvania is the connection from I-76 to I-81 (requires use of US-11); an example in Florida is the connection between I-95 and the Turnpike at Fort Pierce, where you have to drive a short distance on FL-70.
Two recent ones near Orlando:
http://openstreetmap.org/?lat=28.55437&lon=-81.27924&zoom=15&layers=M
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=28.551467,-81.268616&spn=0.028988,0.056691&gl=us&t=k&z=15
408 originally cut the corner at "Frontage Road" to end at 50. Until a couple years ago that roadway remained as two of the ramps at the 408-417 interchange.
http://openstreetmap.org/?lat=28.64973&lon=-81.53836&zoom=15&layers=M
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=28.648622,-81.538188&spn=0.014481,0.028346&gl=us&t=k&z=16
429 used to cut through the brownfield to 451.
www.alpsroads.net/roads/nj/nj_58 - stub of what became I-280 through Newark
www.alpsroads.net/roads/ma/i-95/2.html - former I-95 NB in northern Mass.
Check out the diagonal portion of OH 158 near Kirkersville. Originally, for a few years in the 60s, it was US 40 and I-70. There was, at the time, an interchange where it meets the existing US 40. Then I-70 was extended west to Columbus, and US 40 moved back to the old road, and this diagonal bit of freeway became part of OH 158. Although no longer smoothly tied in with I-70, this part of OH 158 remained a short freeway with an interchange at US 40 for many more years. Now only the former eastbound lanes are still in use (as two-way, two-lane OH 158) and only a bit of grading remains from the old interchange at US 40. Somewhere I've got pictures taken from a bridge over the former freeway.
There are several bypassed old alignments of autobahns in Germany that are pretty stark, too, especially a couple of lengthy sections of the A4 just east of the former Iron Curtain border crossing that were recently realigned.
Mike
Quote from: mgk920 on July 25, 2013, 01:24:11 AM
There are several bypassed old alignments of autobahns in Germany that are pretty stark, too, especially a couple of lengthy sections of the A4 just east of the former Iron Curtain border crossing that were recently realigned.
Mike
I've found a former two lane piece of autobahn in southern Germany on google maps. It bypasses Gebrazhofen.
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=47.781126,9.955544&spn=0.022839,0.038581&t=h&z=15
It looks like part of the old highway has been reused as a local bypass of the town.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unused_highways (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unused_highways) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unused_highways_in_the_United_States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unused_highways_in_the_United_States)
Note that some of the items there need updating. For example, the 3-level interchange for the Richmond Parkway --> Korean War Veterans Parkway terminus at the Staten Island Expressway (I-278) was finally demolished last year, after standing unused for decades.
What about the infamous "Goat Path" in Lancaster County, PA?
Quote from: BrianP on July 25, 2013, 10:30:22 AM
I've found a former two lane piece of autobahn in southern Germany on google maps. It bypasses Gebrazhofen.
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=47.781126,9.955544&spn=0.022839,0.038581&t=h&z=15
It looks like part of the old highway has been reused as a local bypass of the town.
Interesting.
If you look at the map overlay, it appears they have removed the overpasses at K7905 and K7907. And if you pan off to the East, it appears the BMVBS has actually broken up and removed the pavement beyond the new at-grade intersection with Zollstraße.
Other than in a sensitive natural area or urban space (such as what is happening now with Doyle Drive in the Presidio) can you think of any examples in the US where bypassed rural highway pavement was actually taken out?
Quote from: briantroutman on July 25, 2013, 05:34:20 PM
Other than in a sensitive natural area or urban space (such as what is happening now with Doyle Drive in the Presidio) can you think of any examples in the US where bypassed rural highway pavement was actually taken out?
The two Orlando-area examples I gave above. Also I-44 in Missouri where the frontage roads remain.
And if you don't need a freeway, there are many cases of realignments, as well as places where the local government has removed pavement to save on costs (most notably parts of old US 10 in ND).
Quote from: lepidopteran on July 25, 2013, 05:06:11 PM
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unused_highways (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unused_highways) and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unused_highways_in_the_United_States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unused_highways_in_the_United_States)
Note that some of the items there need updating. For example, the 3-level interchange for the Richmond Parkway --> Korean War Veterans Parkway terminus at the Staten Island Expressway (I-278) was finally demolished last year, after standing unused for decades.
What about the infamous "Goat Path" in Lancaster County, PA?
I haven't been by Staten Island since the demolition - I think the stub still remains to the south, just not the ramp structures themselves. But for both examples - these are not old freeway alignments, they're unbuilt extensions.
A chunk of the original 1960s-era WI 29 freeway in Chippewa Falls, WI was bypassed in the early '00s' and repurposed as a local street. It's the part between the interchange an roundabout:
http://goo.gl/maps/erhpZ
Mike
Quote from: leroys73 on July 24, 2013, 12:17:35 PM
Interesting. I thought I was the only strange dude who was interested in old, unused highways other than US66. I am glad to know I am not alone. I am old so maybe that is the reason I am interested. But come to think of it I don't remember when I wasn't. Uh, can't remember :hmmm: Old :crazy:
Trust me, you're far from the only person who cares about abandoned highways. Many if not most of the members of this forum are into abandoned highways.
The abandoned stretch of the Will Rogers Turnpike (I-44) in Catoosa was the showcase of the Tulsa roadmeet I hosted a few years ago. Unfortunately, the Fart Smock bridge has been demolished.
Just to the east of Illinois 50 (Cicero Ave) you can see Railroad tracks that were to be the ROW of the Crosstown Expressway. It was to be a huge 8 lane project with a city in the median but its later version was some sort of 4 lane rout that could fit in that ROW so that is why some thought about doing something keeps coming up and some sort of project exists in the MPO plan just in case
You can see the ROW for part of the Elgin Ohare and IL 53 but those will be built.
In its more visionary days IDOT bought a 4 lane ROW when it rebuilt a 2 lane . You can see it on US 34 near Galesburg and parts of US 50. There are of course tons of the old replaced 2 lanes
Are we talking IL Route 50 (South Cicero Avenue) by the Bedford Park city line, a few blocks south of Midway Airport (MDW)? I've walked over a huge railroad bridge in that area a couple of times.
You are thinking of the big overpass on IL 50. That is just south of where the crosstown would have turned east. The old and still current ROW is just to the east of Cicero. If you use Google Maps satellite you can go to say IL 50 and the I-290 and looks about 2 to 4 blocks east and you can see it. It looks like it is being used partially by the Railroad now
I'm confused. Those railroads have been there for many decades.
Chicago used or added on to RR ROW to build the Kennedy and the Stevenson in particular to minimize neighborhood destruction and that is what they planned for the Crosstown . The plan was to use existing transportation ROW. It was a RR with Kennedy and the Sanitary and Ship canal for the Stevenson
South of the Stevenson(I-55) Chicago had bought all the ROW out for 8 plus lanes when the Crosstown was abandoned from the Interstate funding in 1980 that land was gradually sold back but the center line has remained taunting transportation planners,roadgeeks and occasionally politicians for 30 years
I'm still confused. What exactly is visible today? Just the rail right-of-way that was there before the Crosstown was planned?
Yes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-City_Transitway
So it's not really an unused freeway alignment. It's more of an underused rail alignment that was once proposed to have a freeway.
QuoteSo it's not really an unused freeway alignment. It's more of an underused rail alignment that was once proposed to have a freeway.
Agree with this, and given the examples the original poster cited, it looks like he was looking for old segments that were actually built, either in full or partially. The Chicago Crosstown wouldn't apply since nothing was actually BUILT for it.
Quote from: mgk920 on July 25, 2013, 01:24:11 AM
There are several bypassed old alignments of autobahns in Germany that are pretty stark, too, especially a couple of lengthy sections of the A4 just east of the former Iron Curtain border crossing that were recently realigned.
Mike
Staying in Germany there is also the former routing of today's A115 south of Berlin where it was rerouted from its old alignment. Said old alignment is still quite visible from the air, mostly due to its bridges over water and under a railway. Old alignment can best be seen in the historic imagery from 1953 in GE.
And of course, the old alignment of the A6 that went straight to what today still is Ramstein Air Base. Part of it are still used for traffic on the base, though the majority it sits empty or is buried under tarmac.
There is also an area in western Germany where the A44 in the triad area with the A46 and A61 south of Mönchengladbach was abandoned to allow the coal that is under them to be mined. But this and other planned 'abandonments' there are only temporary as the mining company is being required to restore the highways as they complete their mining work.
http://goo.gl/maps/wQqAT
Mike
I wonder how the abandoned FL 408 & FL 417 connector that was closed in favor of another connection at the two route interchange proper will look when completed? I see on Google maps that a new surface street is being placed where the alignment once was, but will it show evidence that a freeway once existed before? If it shows that their is reminents of the old road, then it would then be a mention for this forum topic.
Quote from: bugo on July 27, 2013, 11:40:57 AM
The abandoned stretch of the Will Rogers Turnpike (I-44) in Catoosa was the showcase of the Tulsa roadmeet I hosted a few years ago. Unfortunately, the Fart Smock bridge has been demolished.
You know, the name is just too good to pass into history. I move that we designate the entire segment of abandoned I-44 in Tulsa as the "Fart Smock Memorial Highway".
It's a small example, but at least before the construction in southern Davidson/Northern Rowan County, you could see an old alignment of I-85 (now I-85 Business) before the 1983 realignment of I-85 between Lexington and Jamestown. A trumpet-type interchange now carries northbound traffic onto I-85Business/US 52/29/70, but you can see the way I-85 used to turn at that junction.
A portion of NY 93 in Lockport (the bypass, to be specific) was originally intended to be part of I-990. Didn't come to fruition, obviously.
(bump) In San Francisco, most of the old Central Freeway (US-101) route is still parking lots, despite huge demand for housing. This is the section which was condemned after the 1989 earthquake:
http://goo.gl/maps/H68jT
In Michigan, I-96 was originally supposed to be routed southeasterly from the interchange with I-696 in Novi and Farmington Hills along an alignment to follow Grand River Avenue. Instead, it was realigned to follow I-275 southward and then east along a rail ROW in Livonia (the Jeffries Freeway). The former routing used in Farmington Hills and Farmington is now M-5.
Quote from: bulldog1979 on August 19, 2013, 04:42:51 AM
In Michigan, I-96 was originally supposed to be routed southeasterly from the interchange with I-696 in Novi and Farmington Hills along an alignment to follow Grand River Avenue. Instead, it was realigned to follow I-275 southward and then east along a rail ROW in Livonia (the Jeffries Freeway). The former routing used in Farmington Hills and Farmington is now M-5.
I-96 was built on the ROW of Schoolcraft Road (which was a wide boulevard) between I-275 and Outer Drive. The closest rail line parallels it 1/2 mile to the south.