Roads that none of us will live to see built

[thenetwork]

In Colorado:   Some 470 northwest Denver bypass completing the loop.

In Utah:  As was mentioned on a thread about a year ago, a proposal to connect/extend I-17 from Flagstaff, through Moab to I-70 then up towards Salt Lake City.

[Bickendan]

The Newberg-Dundee Bypass in Oregon (Oregon 99W), however at the current rate of progress the "Columbia River Crossing" (replacement of the Interstate Bridge/I-5 between Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA) might be up there too.

They're already tearing down houses in the ROW for the bypass in Newberg, so I think it will eventually get built. It just seems like it will never get done!

But I'm starting to agree with you on the CRC . . . .

I'm hoping the CRC DOESN'T get built myself. The project deserves to die for the planners failing to account for and outright ignoring the Coast Guard and commercial river traffic that require the Interstate Bridge to be raised to its full 178' clearance in favor of coddling the Pearson Air Field -- which doesn't have problems with the current Interstate Bridge as is!

Speaking of I-5, though... here's one I don't think I'll see fixed anytime soon: The Eastbank Freeway bottleneck.

[OCGuy81]

Speaking of I-5, though... here's one I don't think I'll see fixed anytime soon: The Eastbank Freeway bottleneck.

After several trips to Portland, I think it'd be nice to see the CRC complete.  I-5 is such a vital corridor that not making this change is only going to lead to increased bottlenecks daily in North Portland.  I'd say the afternoon traffic on that stretch is some of the worst I've seen, and that's coming from a resident of southern California! 

On that note....will Oregon ever make a freeway that has more than 3 lanes in each direction?  I know there are a few places where extra lanes are added for an interchange, but will there ever be any long stretches of 8 lane freeways?  Will I-5 in the Terwilliger curves always be substandard?  Will I-5 in Portland narrow down to 2 lanes by the Rose Garden always?  I think even with a population swell, the freeways will remain unchanged.

[PHLBOS]

In southeastern PA:

US 202 as a continuous limited-access highway from the DE state line to the NJ state line.

West Philadelphia Expressway
Cobbs Creek & Crosstown (South St.) Expressway (I-695)
Lansdowne Expressway
Woodhaven Expressway Extension (PA 63)
Manayunk Expressway
US 1 as a continuous limited-access highway between Kennett Square and Media
A wider replacement bridge for the Burlington-Bristol Bridge
Further west, US 30 upgraded to a limited-access highway between Lancaster (PA 462) and Coatesville (Between Bus 30 merge and PA 10)
PA 41 between US 1 and US 30

In Massachusetts:

A highway connector linking MA 128 (just east of I-95) to Salem
A highway connector linking the above-Salem Connector to Vinnin Square (Salem/Swampscott/Marblehead line)
Northeast Expressway extension between Revere & Peabody (the originally-planned I-95)
US 1 between MA 60 in Revere to I-95 North (beyond I-95/MA 128 interchange) in Peabody upgraded to a limited-access highway
Southwest Expressway extension between Canton & Boston (also the originally-planned I-95)
The Inner Belt (originally-planned I-695)
A direct highway link between I-90 (Mass Pike) and the Worcester Regional Airport.
A connector highway linking MA 25 and MA 3 just north of Cape Cod
The so-called Boston Bypass (BB circa late 80s) that would have paralleled the Southeast Expressway (I-93)
US 3 south of I-95 built or upgraded to a limited-access highway
MA 2 freeway extended from the Alewife Station (Cambridge/Arlington) to either I-93 or I-90 (Mass Pike)
MA 146 completely upgraded to a limited-access highway

In Rhode Island:

The Burma Road corridor along the Aquidneck Island (Portsmouth/Middletown/Newport) upgraded to an expressway (RI 24 extension/originally-planned I-895)
A parallel span to the Mount Hope Bridge (RI 114 - part of orginal I-895 plan)
RI 138 freeway extended west of US 1 cloverleaf (part of I-895 plan)
US 6 freeway extended west of I-295 (old I-84 planned extension)
RI 146 completely upgraded to a limited-access highway

[deathtopumpkins]

You do realize the OP said roads that are seriously proposed, right? The majority of those Massachusetts roads you mentioned were either canceled decades ago for good or I, for one, have never even seen proposed anywhere before.

[myosh_tino]

The Newberg-Dundee Bypass in Oregon (Oregon 99W), however at the current rate of progress the "Columbia River Crossing" (replacement of the Interstate Bridge/I-5 between Portland, OR and Vancouver, WA) might be up there too.

They're already tearing down houses in the ROW for the bypass in Newberg, so I think it will eventually get built. It just seems like it will never get done!

But I'm starting to agree with you on the CRC . . . .

Wouldn't one large earthquake take care of the Interstate Bridge and hasten the construction of the CRC?  Of course, if Portland were to experience a large earthquake, the loss of the Interstate Bridge would probably be the least of your worries... 

[roadman]

You do realize the OP said roads that are seriously proposed, right? The majority of those Massachusetts roads you mentioned were either canceled decades ago for good or I, for one, have never even seen proposed anywhere before.

The only Massachusetts road upgrade on PHILBOS' list that to my knowledge has not been officially cancelled is the US 1 Revere Route 60 to Lynnfield I-95 upgrade.  However, it is unlikely that the original plan to depress the mainline US 1 in a trench, with cantilevered service roads to provide business access, will ever happen.  There is a plan afoot to widen the MA 60 to MA 99 section to three lanes each way, but that is apparently contingent on a private development going in at the old Saugus quarry site.

Much of the remaining embankment (the part that didn't collapse in the mid-1970s) that would have carried I-95 (Northeast Expressway) across the Lynn-Saugus Marsh has since been removed - the sand was "re-planted" onto Revere Beach in the 1990s.

Also, the "Boston Bypass" (B.B.) was never an official design sanctioned by either MassHighway or the City of Boston, or any local government group.  Rather, the idea, which calls for a long bypass causeway crossing Boston Harbor and part of Massachusetts Bay, had been proposed by a North End resident who objected to the Big Dig.

As for other planned MA improvements that are unlikely to see the light of day, I nominate these two:

I-95 (MA 128)/I-93 Woburn interchange conversion to directional flyover ramps - extensive local opposition.
I-95 (MA 128)Reading to Peabody widening to four lanes each way - funding issues, some local opposition and recent sound wall installations.

[PHLBOS]

deathtopumpkins, I only listed those cancelled projects because the long-cancelled Somerset County Expressway (original I-95) in NJ was mentioned without rebuke.

And since someone (not sure in jest or not) mentioned the PA Turnpike/I-95 interchange; I would also add upgrades to the other I-95 (MA 128)/I-93 (US 1) interchange (to full fly-over ramps) in Canton.

[Beltway]

You forgot the Pulaski Highway!!  :-)

[freeway connecting I-95/Betsy Ross Br. to US-1 Roosevelt Blvd.]

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
In southeastern PA:

US 202 as a continuous limited-access highway from the DE state line to the NJ state line.

West Philadelphia Expressway
Cobbs Creek & Crosstown (South St.) Expressway (I-695)
Lansdowne Expressway
Woodhaven Expressway Extension (PA 63)
Manayunk Expressway
US 1 as a continuous limited-access highway between Kennett Square and Media
A wider replacement bridge for the Burlington-Bristol Bridge
Further west, US 30 upgraded to a limited-access highway between Lancaster (PA 462) and Coatesville (Between Bus 30 merge and PA 10)
PA 41 between US 1 and US 30
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[ftballfan]

US-31 in Berrien and Ottawa counties
US-127 completely upgraded to freeway between St. Johns and Ithaca
The Jackson-Toledo corridor
US-131 south of Kalamazoo

Is it just me or do NIMBYs prefer traffic jams on existing roads and do not realize that the road(s) they are blocking may actually HELP them?

[BamaZeus]

the US 7 freeway between Norwalk and Danbury and beyond

[roadman65]

How about many of the NJ Roads like US 206 and NJ 31 that need widening in many areas.  Then US 9 south of Lakewood is in dyer need of widening that will never happen.

[bugo]

I'm starting to wonder if we'll see the Gilcrease Expressway/Turnpike in Tulsa completed.  Also, I doubt the Tisdale will be extended to Skiatook.  The Riverside Freeway is dead which is good.  I'm pro-freeway 99% of the time, and the Riverside Freeway would help me get downtown faster, but it would have been too damaging to the area.

[hbelkins]

The Foothills Parkway around the north side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

[Rover_0]

It's safe to say that any I-17 northern extension to I-15 in Utah isn't going to happen for a long time, regardless of what side of Lake Powell it stays on. Maybe it's a possibility, but that's a ways off. I'll probably be on my deathbed by the time it happens.

Also, any east-west Interstate* from I-15 to I-17, should 17 go through eastern Utah, might not happen in my lifetime--and I'm one of the younger people on these boards!

The most likely case that rural southern Utah/northern Arizona (east of Hurricane, UT) gets any freeway (Interstate or otherwise) is an east extension of the Southern Parkway (UT-7) that acts as an east-west spur to I-15, but there's not much need for it.

*Some on these boards call it I-48, locals refer to it as I-66.

[Perfxion]

Houston, Texas highways:
--Completed loop of the Grand Parkway. It took them almost 30 years to complete Beltway 8.
--SH249 from Spring Cypress to FM1774.
--SH288 "express lanes/toll lanes".
--Completed Gulf Freeway(started in the 40s, still under construction).
--"Katy freeway" treatment of North freeway. Added 5 total lanes and its still congested, what other room is left?

CT:
--Merritt Parkway to US7 interchange.
--"Super 7" from Norwalk to Danbury
--ANY double deck, tunnel, bridge in the sound extension of I-95 in Fairfield county.

[vtk]

The Foothills Parkway around the north side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

You're probably right.  Somehow I find that more depressing than any of the urban highways mentioned so far.

[Bickendan]

Speaking of I-5, though... here's one I don't think I'll see fixed anytime soon: The Eastbank Freeway bottleneck.

After several trips to Portland, I think it'd be nice to see the CRC complete.  I-5 is such a vital corridor that not making this change is only going to lead to increased bottlenecks daily in North Portland.  I'd say the afternoon traffic on that stretch is some of the worst I've seen, and that's coming from a resident of southern California! 

The main bottleneck -- Delta Park -- has been eliminated. The bridge itself isn't much of an issue (until the span goes up...), but that doesn't happen too terribly often because it is an Interstate. This leaves two bottlenecks on I-5: Salmon Creek/Hazel Dell to I-205 (and WSDOT is actively working on eliminating it) and the Eastbank Freeway. ODOT wants to fix this, but has no timeline in place.

The CRC is simply a boondoggle that doesn't serve the needs of all the parties (notably, the Coast Guard and several manufactures that need the Interstate Bridge's clearance of 170'). Kill the project and fix the Eastbank. Build another Columbia River bridge, between Camas and Troutdale, for example.

On that note....will Oregon ever make a freeway that has more than 3 lanes in each direction?  I know there are a few places where extra lanes are added for an interchange, but will there ever be any long stretches of 8 lane freeways?  Will I-5 in the Terwilliger curves always be substandard?  Will I-5 in Portland narrow down to 2 lanes by the Rose Garden always?  I think even with a population swell, the freeways will remain unchanged.

Don't count on long continuous 8 lane stretches in Oregon. It's unlikely they'll every be needed, either.
Realigning the Curves is on ODOT's long-term to-do list, as is the Eastbank Freeway. Just don't hold your breath.

[sp_redelectric]

They're already tearing down houses in the ROW for the bypass in Newberg, so I think it will eventually get built. It just seems like it will never get done!

They tore down houses for the Mount Hood Expressway, too.  :-)

Today they are nicely landscaped parking lots popular for "For Sale" cars, drug dealers, prostitutes, TriMet park-and-ride lots, and sometimes for kids to ride their skateboards in.

[sp_redelectric]

fix the Eastbank

I bet the CRC will be done before the Eastbank.  The City of Portland would rather eliminate the freeway between the Marquam Bridge (and tear down that bridge) and I-84 and turn it into another Waterfront Park, and force I-5 traffic onto what is now I-405.

[Bickendan]

They're already tearing down houses in the ROW for the bypass in Newberg, so I think it will eventually get built. It just seems like it will never get done!

They tore down houses for the Mount Hood Expressway, too.  :-)

Today they are nicely landscaped parking lots popular for "For Sale" cars, drug dealers, prostitutes, TriMet park-and-ride lots, and sometimes for kids to ride their skateboards in.

I'm aware of only five properties that got razed for the Mt Hood Freeway -- three became Piccolo Park between SE 27th and 28th Aves where SE Ivon St would exist if it were a through street; the other two (somewhere between SE 39th and 50th Aves near SE Clinton St) became a community garden.

fix the Eastbank

I bet the CRC will be done before the Eastbank.  The City of Portland would rather eliminate the freeway between the Marquam Bridge (and tear down that bridge) and I-84 and turn it into another Waterfront Park, and force I-5 traffic onto what is now I-405.

That was under Mayor Vera Katz. Neither Mayor Tom Potter nor Mayor Sam Adams have made any real position regarding the Eastbank, and the group commissioned to study the I-5/405 Loop concluded that it was too vital for the city's economy to tear down, but it's current form was woefully inadequate. Their recommendation and preferred alternative was to reroute I-5 into a tunnel under the Willamette and the Inner Southeast Industrial District at around SE 7th-8th Aves -- roughly where Robert Moses had recommended the Inner Portland Loop back in '43. This also would have meant tunneling the Stadium Freeway out to SW Park Ave (SW 8th), and likely the Baldock Freeway to the southern point of the Ross Island Interchange at the northbound Exit 299A. The Marquam Bridge itself would be retained for local traffic (and presumably, bikes and pedestrians would have one of the two decks to themselves).
Another alternative included turning the loop into the world's largest traffic circle.

[sp_redelectric]

I'm aware of only five properties that got razed for the Mt Hood Freeway -- three became Piccolo Park between SE 27th and 28th Aves where SE Ivon St would exist if it were a through street; the other two (somewhere between SE 39th and 50th Aves near SE Clinton St) became a community garden.

What about where those parking lots are, from Foster out towards 82nd?  On the south side of Powell?

[cpzilliacus]

Is it just me or do NIMBYs prefer traffic jams on existing roads and do not realize that the road(s) they are blocking may actually HELP them?

Most anti-highway NIMBYs (and elected officials that pander to them) show up at public meetings and hearings regarding highway projects the same way that everyone else does - driving a single-occupant vehicle.  A few will make a show of car-pooling to the event, but most do not. 

The "reasoning" they seem to use involves the following:

(1) Other people can take mass transit (and funding for the highway project in question should be diverted to transit);
(2) Other people can  live in "transit-oriented" neighborhoods (but don't build any apartments in my backyard);
(3) The proposed project is "destructive" and other (usually unspecified) roads can carry the load or be upgraded (though the same people or groups are likely to show up to protest proposals to upgrade arterial roads);
(4) The same persons and groups will also (on occasion) cravenly oppose transit projects and demand that they be relocated away from their homes; and
(5) "Induced" demand for highway capacity (in other words, the proposed highway project will "make traffic worse") is a favorite argument.

I could go on, but I think you get the idea.

[Bickendan]

I'm aware of only five properties that got razed for the Mt Hood Freeway -- three became Piccolo Park between SE 27th and 28th Aves where SE Ivon St would exist if it were a through street; the other two (somewhere between SE 39th and 50th Aves near SE Clinton St) became a community garden.

What about where those parking lots are, from Foster out towards 82nd?  On the south side of Powell?

Mmm, forgot about those.

For those unfamiliar with the Mt Hood Freeway's (I-80N/US 26) routing, it began at the Marquam Bridge's (I-5) transition from the two-deck structure to the Eastbank Freeway in a set up similar to the I-405/US 30 interchange at the Fremont Bridge's southwestern end, ran southeast to SE Ivon St (one block south of SE Division St) at SE 12th Ave, with an interchange at OR 99E, then east to about SE 45th Ave, southeast to SE Powell Blvd (and would have run in a similar setup to I-35W/I-94 in Minneapolis with the proposed Laurelhurst Freeway, a routing for I-205), then east along Powell to what became I-205. This would have been an 8-lane freeway, complete with bus lanes, and would have disrupted the neighborhood fabrics. I agree with the post above that NIMBYs are counterproductive to a fault, but this is one case where they were right (though not their 'it will be obsolete already when it gets built argument) (and I'll even agree that projects like Manhattan's Midtown Expressway (I-495) and most of San Francisco's proposals would have harmed more than helped).
While I find traffic along Division to be particularly annoying during rush hour -- it's a fairly narrow two lane artery out to SE 60th Ave -- and SE Powell Blvd is fairly congested out to SE 39th Ave, the neighborhood's grid makes it easy to skirt by the traffic. The Mt Hood Freeway would have disrupted this.

That said, it may behoove ODOT and Portland to seriously looking at building the freeway, Big Dig style, and put it underground, preserving the neighborhood and street grids.

[bdmoss88]

I-85 extended to I-20/59.