Freeways that were once arterials

[JREwing78]

The Beltline in Madison, WI was once merely a divided highway around the south side. It was upgraded in piecemeal to freeway, with overpasses and frontage roads eliminating side road and driveway access.

[qguy]

In Pennsylvania the whole entire I-78 and US 22 duplex was a four lane divided with a concrete strip in the middle instead of double line and with rumple strips before freeway.  It was a newer alignment for US 22 that was once a narrow two lane road  you can still find nearby.  It had intersections and driveways (the Roadside America Little Village in Shartlesville had entrances from US 22 before I-78) that were removed.  Only the Grimes Interchange (Exit 12) is the only intersection that was not given an overpass, but changed into a right in and right out as you can see was once a complete intersection.  That also explains why no wide median here.

All true. PennDOT District 5 decided to construct I-78 on the US 22 alignment; District 8 decided on an all-new alignment. The line between the two districts is the Lebanon-Berks county line, precisely where I-78 veers away from US 22 (travelling westbound).

[roadman65]

Part of the Garden State Parkway in Woodbridge, NJ was US 9 where the toll road ran to the sides of US 9.  When NJ 440 was built it was reversed to its current configuration.  The New Brunswick Avenue Interchange was originally with the GSP and US 9 was in the middle of it with no connections.

How about Exit 89 on the Garden State Parkway?  It has a hook ramp exiting SB to another road and from WB CR 528 to NB GSP you have a jughandle.

[WillWeaverRVA]

I-95 from VA 35/VA 156 to just north of Jarratt was built out of part of US 301; specifically, I-95's southbound lanes are the former northbound lanes of a previously 4-lane divided US 301.

[nyratk1]

The West Babylon to Shinnecock Hills portion of NY 27 was converted from an arterial to a freeway in the 1980s and 1990s.

[roadman65]

I am not sure on this one, but I think the NB I-95 local lanes in Fort Lee, NJ were once the westbound lanes of NJ 4 in the pre-interstate days. 

[MeanMeosh]

The US-80 freeway east of Dallas was originally a 4-lane arterial from Big Town Blvd. in Mesquite to somewhere east of Forney before later being upgraded to a freeway.

In general, many sections of Texas freeways were just upgrades of existing arterials.  The most notable sections were US-66 east of Amarillo, which became I-40, and US-80 west of Abilene, which became I-20.  US-59 north of the Houston airport to north of Splendora was also built as an arterial with frontage roads, and was gradually upgraded to a freeway beginning in the late 70s, with the last project finally completed in 2009 to close the crossovers between Porter and Splendora.

The most famous example in Texas, though, is the Gulf Freeway (I-45) between Houston and Galveston.  Although completed in its entirety by 1952, it was an arterial from just south of I-610 the rest of the way to Galveston.  The freeway upgrade wasn't complete until the late 70s.  Supposedly, there were no traffic lights the entire length - I'd have to imagine some of those crossings must have been pretty scary.

[agentsteel53]

Supposedly, there were no traffic lights the entire length - I'd have to imagine some of those crossings must have been pretty scary.

in this case, we are looking at a "freeway which was once an expressway" - slightly different than previously being an arterial, though in practice both styles of road get upgraded.

US-101 and US-99 in California were originally built as a mix of expressway and arterial.  I believe the last traffic light on 101 between San Francisco and Los Angeles was in Gilroy and removed around 2002.  it is, however, still expressway in particular places, with some at-grade crossings.

the last traffic light on 99 between Sacramento and I-5 was taken out sometime around 1998, but there are still a few at-grade crossings, especially around Atwater.  Nowhere near as many as on 101, though.  I believe 99 south of San Francisco is a freeway for all but about a 30 mile segment of its length.

another road that is receiving this treatment is 395 north of the 14 split.  I think the upgrade is intended to go up to Reno eventually, but right now north of Lee Vining or so the majority of the road is two-lane.  Even south of there, there are still several isolated two-lane segments, maybe 15 miles total, (Olancha comes to mind) and traffic lights (Independence, Bishop, etc). 

[NE2]

I believe 99 south of San Francisco is a freeway for all but about a 30 mile segment of its length.

If I'm not mistaken, the only remaining at-grades are just south of Merced for about 10 miles.

[TheStranger]

US-101 and US-99 in California were originally built as a mix of expressway and arterial.  I believe the last traffic light on 101 between San Francisco and Los Angeles was in Gilroy and removed around 2002.  

The Gilroy bypass (South Valley Freeway) was complete by the late 1980s though there are some CalTrans-standard signs left on Monterey Road in Morgan Hill when this was still not entirely completed.

IIRC, the last stoplight on 101 between I-5 in Los Angeles and Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco was removed in 1992 in Santa Barbara.  I recall reading that in the 1980s, there were signs alerting drivers to turn off their engines in that section due to the extreme backups that existed at the time.

If I'm not mistaken, the only remaining at-grades are just south of Merced for about 10 miles.

Correct (I drove by there in October 2008).  There's also a very awkward left-exit interchange near Atwater (due to a lack of right of way created by a parallel railroad).

Overhead view of the at-grade area, over the community of Athlone:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Athlone,+CA&hl=en&ll=37.208047,-120.356941&spn=0.020576,0.040083&sll=37.207329,-120.35913&sspn=0.020576,0.040083&t=h&z=15

[1995hoo]

I was looking at a map and was reminded that back during the 1980s, a portion of I-295 in New Jersey for several miles north of the US-130 split near Gibbstown was an arterial highway despite the I-295 designation; I seem to recall there were a number of businesses that fronted directly on the highway with driveways and the like. It's since been upgraded.

[vtk]

As noted by Hot Rod Hootenanny, the West Innerbelt (then at least partially OH 782, thence I-71, now OH 315) was built over Sandusky Street, which reportedly was the main drag of the Franklinton neighborhood of Columbus.  One block of Sandusky Street remains just east of OH 315, between Rich Street and Town Street, serving primarily as a connecting road in a split-diamond interchange.  Furthermore, it looks to me as though the portion of the South Innerbelt (now I-70/71) where it crosses the Scioto River evolved out of some kind of Mound Street viaduct.

Circa 1952, US 33 was realigned for a few miles west of Dublin, and between Canal Winchester and Carroll.  Apparently the road on these new alignments was only two lanes.  The section west of Dublin is now a full freeway, upgraded circa 1968.  The section between Canal Winchester and Carroll is now a 4-lane expressway (or divided arterial, depending on a judgement call), upgraded circa 1959.  There is an ongoing effort to remove at-grade intersections from this section, to make it a full freeway.  Both of these cases have the advantage of being fairly new, if not necessarily access-controlled, roads at the time a freeway/expressway upgrade was implemented.

From circa 1970-1974, OH 161 was upgraded-in-place to expressway grade from just west of OH 3 to Big Walnut Creek, just east of Sunbury Road.  Except for an at-grade crossing with a residential street (which may or may not have existed initially, but did by 1978) that section would be a full freeway.  (Interestingly, the 1969 Ohio Map shows a proposed OH 161 bypass around New Albany, which disappeared on future editions of the map, eventually being built about 30 years later.)

Finally, it looks to me like a chunk of I-75 on the north side of Dayton was built over something.  Whatever it was, however, it wasn't US 25.

[DeaconG]

The Vine Street Expressway in Philadelphia used to be a 12-lane boulevard between 16th Street and Franklin Square (eastbound traffic to the Ben Franklin would get diverted to Race Street for two blocks and was four lanes wide, westbound was on Vine Street and was four lanes).  The inner six lanes are now the sunken freeway and the outer lanes are the arterials and two lanes wide.

[brownpelican]

Independence Boulevard in Charlotte comes to mind; the part from Uptown to the old Coliseum has been a freeway since 1996 or so.

Wasn't the northern side of I-277 part of Brookshire Blvd?

[NE2]

Finally, it looks to me like a chunk of I-75 on the north side of Dayton was built over something.  Whatever it was, however, it wasn't US 25.

Which part? I don't see anything here, though it could predate whatever was built: http://historical.mytopo.com/getImage.asp?fname=Dayton06sw.jpg&state=OH

[vdeane]

I-88 between NY 7 (exit 1) and Port Crane used to be just NY 7 as a local road.

[vtk]

Finally, it looks to me like a chunk of I-75 on the north side of Dayton was built over something.  Whatever it was, however, it wasn't US 25.

Which part? I don't see anything here, though it could predate whatever was built: http://historical.mytopo.com/getImage.asp?fname=Dayton06sw.jpg&state=OH

Thanks for that picture.  It really sheds some light on the situation.  It looks to me like, from just southeast of Ebenezer to just east of Chambersburg, I-75 runs exactly halfway between two section lines, one of which is US 25.  There are a couple of short roads on that map following this midway line, which very likely forms property boundaries almost everywhere.  It's quite possible that by the 1950's there were more roads built along that line, which would have eventually been torn up to make room for the Interstate.  This is what I see when I try to interpret the present situation.

[NE2]

Voila! There was a four-lane surface expressway up to US 40 (the extreme south end survives as Keats Drive): http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=7.73527831156564E-05&lat=39.8027596950786&lon=-84.189578459976&year=1956
And it was US 25, according to the ODOT maps from 1946 on: http://web.archive.org/web/20100803161217/http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/TransSysDev/Innovation/Prod_Services/TransMap/Pages/default.aspx

[NJRoadfan]

In New Jersey as we speak, Hoes Lane in Piscataway is being upgraded to be NJ 18.

This is not going to be a freeway. Its simply going to be upgraded to meet state highway standards. Would have been nice if that highway was built as planned, the routes between US-22 and I-287 through Piscataway/North Plainfield all stink.

[vtk]

Voila! There was a four-lane surface expressway up to US 40 (the extreme south end survives as Keats Drive): http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=7.73527831156564E-05&lat=39.8027596950786&lon=-84.189578459976&year=1956
And it was US 25, according to the ODOT maps from 1946 on: http://web.archive.org/web/20100803161217/http://www.dot.state.oh.us/Divisions/TransSysDev/Innovation/Prod_Services/TransMap/Pages/default.aspx

That line style on the 1946 map doesn't necessarily mean it was an access-controlled expressway -- I don't know if ODOT even had any access control practices at the time -- but given that it was on a new alignment there were probably very few (if any) direct frontage accesses, and any that did exist were probably removed by the mid-50's.  That roundabout on the south end of this "new" roadway is interesting; I didn't know ODOT ever built roundabouts like that in the mid-20th century.  (Actually, the junction of routes 257 and 750 may have originally been a roundabout, closer in size to a modern one...)  Anyway, it's nice to see an answer to why SB exit 57B is the way it is.  I still think there may have been a residential street on the alignment of that 1946 "expressway" for at least a short distance near its south end where the road is aligned with the residential blocks that crowd it.

[NE2]

I doubt they would have made any changes between 1946 and 1956, especially because in the 1956 aerials you can see the full freeway being built north of US 40.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

As noted by Hot Rod Hootenanny, the West Innerbelt (then at least partially OH 782, thence I-71, now OH 315) was built over Sandusky Street, which reportedly was the main drag of the Franklinton neighborhood of Columbus.  One block of Sandusky Street remains just east of OH 315, between Rich Street and Town Street, serving primarily as a connecting road in a split-diamond interchange.  Furthermore, it looks to me as though the portion of the South Innerbelt (now I-70/71) where it crosses the Scioto River evolved out of some kind of Mound Street viaduct.

You are correct. When the original Mound-Sandusky interchange was constructed in the 1950s, the "original" Mound Street bridge was incorporated into the approach to the interchange, being used for WB traffic, while a new bridge was built for east bound traffic.
When the interchange was rebuilt in the early 70s (to allow for I-70 to continue through) the Mound Street bridge was demolished and the current I-70(71) bridge for WB traffic was built.

From circa 1970-1974, OH 161 was upgraded-in-place to expressway grade from just west of OH 3 to Big Walnut Creek, just east of Sunbury Road.  Except for an at-grade crossing with a residential street (which may or may not have existed initially, but did by 1978) that section would be a full freeway.  (Interestingly, the 1969 Ohio Map shows a proposed OH 161 bypass around New Albany, which disappeared on future editions of the map, eventually being built about 30 years later.)

Plans for the widening of Oh 161 (Dublin Granville Rd) were first mentioned in the Dispatch back in 1967, again in 1970, and one last time in September 1971, never to be heard about again for another 20 years (until Les Wexner and friends brought it back as part of his Easton/New Albany development).
Those last articles from 1971 were about shifting funding from constructing the New Albany bypass to widening (and realigning) Oh 161 from Cleveland Ave to Sunbury Road.
Soon after the OPEC oil embargo and resulting recession of 1973/4 seemingly wiped the 161 bypass (and arterial route into Licking County) off the books.

[vtk]

...

Were you going to actually say something?

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

...

Were you going to actually say something?

Yes. Don't interupt me when I'm writing.

[NE2]

Rude...