Non-freeways that feel like freeways

[ftballfan]

I'm sure you have been on at least a few non-freeways that seem like freeways in spots.

US-31 between Holland and Grand Haven - even though it has a few stoplights
M-45 between Allendale and Walker - it's almost impossible to not go 70+ when crossing the Grand River or coming down the hills on either side to approach said bridge
US-127 between Ithaca and St. Johns - it even has a 65 mph speed limit and an interchange about halfway between the two towns mentioned
M-115 between Cadillac and Farwell - it doesn't help that a good portion of the road is four lanes undivided

[Ian]

US 301 on Maryland's eastern shore sure feels like a freeway. It has some interchanges as well as some at-grade intersections. No traffic signals either, most of the intersections have flasher beacons.

[JREwing78]

Virtually all of Wisconsin's expressways are like this; they're usually even posted for the same speeds as freeways. They are often later turned into freeways by removing right-of-way access and building overpasses and interchanges.

[3467]

Many of Illinois as well, especially the IL 110 /336 between Quincy and Macomb.It is very low volume and the side roads are very empty. The design of the roadway itself is Interstate in terms of curves ,shoulders etc,You notice the sideroads by turnlanes and signage not by crosstraffic.
Iowa and Missouri often use an exsiting road and do not always upgrade it so you dont get that interstate feel.

[intelati49]

US 71 north of Joplin to Kansas City.


Oh wait...

[mgk920]

US 2/41 on either side of Gladstone, MI.

Mike

[thenetwork]

US-50 between Whitewater (Grand Junction) and (North) Delta, CO.  About 25 miles of 4-lane divided highway through the desert landscape with hardly a crossroad.

[OCGuy81]

Had some friends in town from Portland, OR recently and was dropping them and their kids off at Disneyland.

Driving down S. Harbor Blvd in Anaheim generated the comment "Geez! Your boulevards are wider than most of our freeways!"

[1995hoo]

VA-123 south of Fairfax City (or really, south of the GMU campus might be a better description). Reasonably wide median, speed limits of 50 to 55 for much of its length, not very many traffic lights. I often use the cruise control on there to keep my speed down to about 60 to 62 mph.

US-29 from Charlottesville to Gainesville is another; the speed limit is 60 for most of the portion between Ruckersville and Opal with one exception near Madison.

US-15 from Frederick for most of the way to Harrisburg (part of it near Gettysburg is a controlled-access freeway with a 65-mph limit; the part in Maryland is wide and similar to VA-123 described above but with fewer lights, and the part north of the bypass around Gettysburg is more like an arterial for several miles)

VA-7 from Round Hill to Winchester and from Leesburg to VA-28. The Round Hill to Winchester part especially feels like a freeway because it's more rural and has very few lights.

MD-210 from the Beltway south to Accokeek (perhaps beyond, but I can't really picture the part south of Accokeek). This road can be somewhat dangerous because some people go so fast on there. It's a dual-carriageway with three lanes per side but it also has traffic lights and some roads intersecting without lights. It's not unusual to find people going 75 mph, but there's often just a bit too much traffic to allow that sort of speed since it's one of two main connections from southwestern Maryland to DC. Problem is, the people who go that fast are the type to weave in and out and tailgate. It's quite un-PC to say this, but because of the demographics of that area, a lot of the drivers you encounter on MD-210 are the types who reinforce certain racial stereotypes about driving.


Edited to add: I mention MD-210 being dangerous and then a story about another fatal crash on that road appears: http://www.wtop.com/?nid=41&sid=2547787

[Rover_0]

Well, Utah has plenty of non-Interstate freeways, but there's also a few roads that feel like freeways:

US-89/91 between the stoplights at Wellsville and Brigham City (AKA the Sardine Canyon portion)--there's a couple of at-grade intersections (UT-23, Mantua's north turnoff), but there's also the Brigham City and Mantua's south junctions, which have off- and on-ramps (Mantua's south jct. only has an off-ramp for NB traffic, while an on-ramp for SB traffic); they're even labled as "Exit," though no numbers are given.  I've compared its portions with jersey barriers to I-15 through the Virgin River Gorge before.  Its speed limit is 60 MPH (before dropping down to the Brigham City stoplight, where US-89 splits to the south and US-91 beelines to I-15/84, which is 55).

You also have UT-154 (AKA the Bangerter Highway). I've never driven on it before, but it's divided with somewhat reasonably freeway-like speed limits (55 MPH) and at-grade intersections.

I've even gone as far as listing UT-9 between Hurricane and I-15 as a "mini-freeway," as it has had acceleration lanes.  Of course, you have stoplights at just about every intersection nowadays, but when it was first built as such, you really didn't stop all that much.

You also have UT-265 (University Parkway) and the US-6/191 bypass near Price.

[jwolfer]

A lot of Florida divided US highways can feel like freeways where there hasnt been rampant development.  US 301 near Jacksonville is still pretty freeway-ish but every year there are more and more traffic lights.  US 1 bwtween  I-95 in  S. Jacksonville and St Augustine was wide open until about 10-15 years ago.   Now there is development all along the stretch. ( not quite like US 90 in Jax but it will be soon.)

Florida should have made these roads more limited access before sprwal

[vtk]

Seems to me most true expressways should feel like freeways.  In Ohio, the most noticeable differences between expressways and conventional divided highways are breakdown lanes and property access.  Few roads in Ohio blur the distinction between expressway and non-expressway, though US 23 in Pickaway and Delaware counties comes to mind...

Anyway the point I'm making is that, in Ohio, the distinction between conventional roads and expressways is usually more noticeable than the difference between expressways and full freeways.

[formulanone]

Florida should have made these roads more limited access before sprwal

US 27 from Griffin Road (FL 818) to Lake Placid is quite desolate, save the town of Clewiston (6-7 traffic lights). But South Bay and Moore Haven only have one each, so that makes about 80 miles of four-lane roads were you barely stop, only slowing to 35 in town limits, but otherwise 65 throughout.

[Bryant5493]

University Parkway (S.R. 316) feels like a freeway from I-85 (where it is a freeway) to Paul Broun Parkway (S.R. 10 Loop).

South Fulton Parkway (S.R. 14 Connector/U.S. 29 Alternate/S.R. 14 Alternate) feels like a freeway from I-85/285 (where it is freeway, up until the U.S. 29/Roosevelt Highway interchange) to the four-lane end, at Rivertown Road.

Camp Creek Parkway/Thornton Road/C.H. James Parkway (S.R. 6, portions of it are also signed as U.S. 278) feels like a freeway in certain high-speed sections, between East Point and Lithia Springs; between Lithia Springs and Hiram; and west of Hiram to Cedartown. The section of U.S. 278 between Dallas and Rockmart is signed at 65 mph and is very, very rural. When reaching Rockmart, the speed limit drops down to 55 and stays that way to Cedartown; it should go back up to 65, though, once passing Rockmart.


Be well,

Bryant

[TheStranger]

The six mile stretch of Route 35/Skyline Boulevard between Sloat Boulevard in San Francisco and Hickey Boulevard in Daly City/Pacifica has four lanes (mostly divided) with a 50-55 MPH speed limit, and very few intersections.  There is one short freeway segment that consists of one interchange with the Route 1 freeway.

Major intersections are about a mile or more apart in that stretch: Route 1 interchange, Westmoor Avenue, Westridge Avenue, John Daly Boulevard (former Route 1), John Muir Drive, and Lake Merced Boulevard.

[ftballfan]

The six mile stretch of Route 35/Skyline Boulevard between Sloat Boulevard in San Francisco and Hickey Boulevard in Daly City/Pacifica has four lanes (mostly divided) with a 50-55 MPH speed limit, and very few intersections.  There is one short freeway segment that consists of one interchange with the Route 1 freeway.

Major intersections are about a mile or more apart in that stretch: Route 1 interchange, Westmoor Avenue, Westridge Avenue, John Daly Boulevard (former Route 1), John Muir Drive, and Lake Merced Boulevard.

Is John Daly Blvd named for the famously obese drunk golfer?

[WillWeaverRVA]

As VA 144 forms the northern boundary of Fort Lee for some of its length between US 1/301 and VA 36, it is a high speed corridor with only one intersection between Puddledock Rd and VA 36, built to rather high standards. The intersection with VA 36 is a semi-interchange, with ramps to and from westbound VA 36 but not to and from eastbound (control for traffic headed that way is provided by a traffic signal).

US 460 between US 1 near Petersburg and some point not too far east of Lynchburg also carries 55 or 60 mph speed limits and has relatively few intersections, with some exceptions (Rice, Crewe, etc). US 460 east of Petersburg not so much, though, as it has high speed limits but is not a divided highway until it reaches Suffolk.

[froggie]

US-29 from Charlottesville to Gainesville is another; the speed limit is 60 for most of the portion between Ruckersville and Opal with one exception near Madison.

Except for the bypasses, I disagree with this one.  The tendency for one direction to be hilly (i.e. the original 1930/40s-era grading) plus the large number of driveways, especially near Opal and north of Warrenton, decidedly make it NOT feel like a freeway to me.  From the Culpeper bypass up to Remington is closer...no driveways here...but this segment still has 4 traffic signals.

[1995hoo]

US-29 from Charlottesville to Gainesville is another; the speed limit is 60 for most of the portion between Ruckersville and Opal with one exception near Madison.

Except for the bypasses, I disagree with this one.  The tendency for one direction to be hilly (i.e. the original 1930/40s-era grading) plus the large number of driveways, especially near Opal and north of Warrenton, decidedly make it NOT feel like a freeway to me.  From the Culpeper bypass up to Remington is closer...no driveways here...but this segment still has 4 traffic signals.

I figured you'd disagree, but to me it feels no worse than many of Pennsylvania's freeways. For obvious reasons I've spent a lot of time on that part of 29 over the years, although these days we usually use the other route via Orange and Gordonsville.

I might have listed US-15 between Orange and Gordonsville except that it's just too short a segment (9 miles). In my younger and dumber days I once ran that segment in five minutes....

[hbelkins]

Corridor D (US 50) between Clarksburg and Parkersburg, WV. Also the new section of Corridor H (US 48) in West Virginia.

[agentsteel53]

long stretches of US-101 and US-395 in California have some at-grade crossings but no traffic lights.

also, now that I think about it, I think CA-99 has a few at-grades left but I barely can remember them since they never slow me down.

[MDRoads]

MD 175 between US 29 and I-95: 6-8 lanes, several interchanges with a few signals interspersed.
Also undeveloped stretches of MD 2/4 in northern Calvert County, and US 50 (Ocean Gateway) on the eastern shore, again outside the developed areas near towns.
The western part of MD 43 in Perry Hall would be too but for the curbs and no shoulders, which give it more the feel of a DC area parkway.

[Duke87]

US11/15 between Duncannon an Selinsgrove (PA). Four lanes, 55 MPH limit, and not a single solitary signal the whole way.

[kj3400]

Hilton Pkwy, the alternate route for trucks wanting to use US 1 or US 40, between Edmondson Av, and North Av., feels like a freeway, despite the 35 MPH speed limit, which most everyone ignores anyway.

[DeaconG]

US 1 between Titusville and Edgewater.  North of there, it urbanizes quickly.  Also, SR 50 from Titusville to Bithlo at the SR 50/528 split.