Completely useless U-turn ramps

[NE2]

Here's exit 6B on I-295 north in Rhode Island:


It would have led to I-84 west, but now it's a completely redundant U-turn ramp (there are no partial interchanges to the south that need this to make them full). Yet it's fully signed:

(The cones were temporary; it's since been reopened.)

Are there any other ramps like this?

[Duke87]

The north end of NY 135 has two loop ramps which allow traffic on NY 25 in either direction to make a U-turn. But, like with your example, this is the location of a freeway stub and the ramps would have been more meaningful if the highway had been finished.

A better question is, where are there useless U-turns on a freeway which were built with such an intent, not merely the result of unfinished construction?

I can think of one former example, here, on the Taconic State Parkway (these ramps are not striped or signed anymore and not, in theory, legal for the public to use, but they once were). The SB to NB U-turn wouldn't be useless since it would allow full access to NY 141. But there are no interchanges at all between here and Kensico Circle, so the NB to SB U-turn would have been quite useless indeed.

[hbelkins]

US 119 at the access ramp to KY 194.

http://goo.gl/maps/Eq2NE

[mcdonaat]

Off-topic, but in the photo, I-295 is shown as one thru lane of traffic. Is that normal?

[Kacie Jane]

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=wall,+nj&ll=40.171143,-74.071058&spn=0.004452,0.010568&hnear=Wall+Township,+Monmouth,+New+Jersey&gl=us&t=h&z=17

Southern end of NJ 18.  The cloverleaf in the northeast quadrant serves only as a u-turn for NJ 138.

[bassoon1986]

I think there used to be one on I-35W southbound in north Fort Worth before it got more populated. Possibly where TX 170 is now?

[wtd67]

I think there used to be one on I-35W southbound in north Fort Worth before it got more populated. Possibly where TX 170 is now?

There was one in north Fort Worth, it is where Basswood Blvd crosses over I-35W.  It was for traffic coming south from US287 to go North on I-35W since there was no direct connection.  It was converted to a normal interchange sometime around 2000.

[Ian]

Off-topic, but in the photo, I-295 is shown as one thru lane of traffic. Is that normal?

Looks to be a collector/distributor ramp.

[NE2]

None of these examples quite qualify - with US 119 it's only the tiny separated right turn, while for NJ 18 and NY 135 it allows traffic on the surface road to U-turn.

[jeffandnicole]

US 1 North at Scudders Mill Rd (County Rt 614) near Princeton, NJ. 

http://goo.gl/maps/xcqRq

While I would understand its usefulness if there weren't many places to make U-turns, the next possible place to make a u-turn is barely a quarter-mile away!

NJ also has quite a number of jughandles for u-turns only as well, although these are at-grade and usually (but not always) controlled by a traffic light.

[bugo]

There used to be a U turn ramp from NB US 65/167 to SB US 65/167 south of Little Rock at the 65/167 split but it was removed a few days after I-530 was commissioned.

[NE2]

There used to be a U turn ramp from NB US 65/167 to SB US 65/167 south of Little Rock at the 65/167 split but it was removed a few days after I-530 was commissioned.

Far from useless, since it provided a missing movement.

[realjd]

While not completely useless (it provides local access to a rail yard), there's a bidirectional U-turn ramp on US52 in Lafayette, IN.

http://goo.gl/maps/ReEXc

[empirestate]

The Lake Ontario State Parkway has three pairs of purpose-built, wholly redundant U-turn ramps. Here's the middle pair: http://goo.gl/maps/19BhZ

While this kind of ramp isn't unusual in park-like settings, it's redundant in this case because all of the U-turn movements can be made at adjacent interchanges, and the parkway itself is fully limited-access: there isn't anything you can get to directly on the parkway that these ramps might facilitate. The only way to use them is to be driving along, looking at the parkway itself, and then to say, "OK, I've had enough. Time to just bang a U-ey and go home, and I haven't the patience to go half a mile to and exit and turn around that way."

[Kacie Jane]

None of these examples quite qualify - ... while for NJ 18 ... it allows traffic on the surface road to U-turn.

Right, but there's a pure U-turn just to the west (and immediately after where it would first be necessary), and another U-turn opportunity at the next intersection east.

Granted this is a remnant of NJ 18 being planned to extend south (similar to the OP), but as it stands now, there's no reason for the cloverleaf ramp to exist.

[KEVIN_224]

Off-topic, but in the photo, I-295 is shown as one thru lane of traffic. Is that normal?

Looks to be a collector/distributor ramp.

It is indeed a C/D road. That's the east side of Johnston, RI, not too far from the Providence city line. Just north of that ramp is where US Route 6 West merges in and becomes part of I-295 North for all of one exit. When US Route 6 leaves the road 1/3 mile up, one turns right at the end of that ramp for US Route 6 West towards the Scituate Reservoir and Connecticut. A left turn at the light would put you onto US Route 6A East (Hartford Avenue). My guess is that US Route 6A was US Route 6 itself until the expressway out of Providence was built.

[Alps]

One of the two shown here. (US 22 WB to EB)

[wriddle082]

Western terminus of TN 840 at I-40 near Dickson has a useless U-turn loop ramp going from TN 840 east to I-40 east.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=burns.+tn&hl=en&ll=36.020781,-87.264147&spn=0.034641,0.084543&sll=33.624497,-80.926614&sspn=4.564048,10.821533&hnear=Burns,+Dickson,+Tennessee&t=m&z=14

If 840 is ever extended further north, the ramp would become useful.

[NE2]

Western terminus of TN 840 at I-40 near Dickson has a useless U-turn loop ramp going from TN 840 east to I-40 east.

And it's fully signed with an overhead. Nice one.

[Roadsguy]

Western terminus of TN 840 at I-40 near Dickson has a useless U-turn loop ramp going from TN 840 east to I-40 east.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=burns.+tn&hl=en&ll=36.020781,-87.264147&spn=0.034641,0.084543&sll=33.624497,-80.926614&sspn=4.564048,10.821533&hnear=Burns,+Dickson,+Tennessee&t=m&z=14

If 840 is ever extended further north, the ramp would become useful.

Yeah, it looks like it'd be an expressway spur to Dickson.

But zooming out, it looks like 840 is an incomplete outer beltway around Nashville... Cool.

[roadman65]

In Mountainside, NJ US 22 has one extra U Turn ramp that really is not needed.  There are three going WB.  One is needed for those leaving all establishments along US 22 WB from CR 509 SPUR to that point as there are no u turns anywhere in between.  The other is needed to access Mountain Avenue as it is a right in/ right out on the EB side, but the third is a waste.   You have the New Providence Road intersection less than a quarter of a mile away further with complete jughandles, so you have another reason to only have two turn arounds. 

[Kacie Jane]

In Mountainside, NJ US 22 has one extra U Turn ramp that really is not needed.  There are three going WB.  One is needed for those leaving all establishments along US 22 WB from CR 509 SPUR to that point as there are no u turns anywhere in between.  The other is needed to access Mountain Avenue as it is a right in/ right out on the EB side, but the third is a waste.   You have the New Providence Road intersection less than a quarter of a mile away further with complete jughandles, so you have another reason to only have two turn arounds. 

One of the two shown here. (US 22 WB to EB)

Sorry roadman, you were beaten to the punch there.

[rickmastfan67]

Here's one at the interchange of US-422 & PA-356.

At first, this ramp didn't exist (well, wasn't paved, but was graded from a canceled Butler bypass, hence why the interchange is overpowered now instead of being, say, a normal Diamond interchange).  However, several years ago, they were doing a major reconstruction of US-422 that required both sides of the highway to be closed (first EB side, then WB side, or the opposite way, can't remember for sure) putting one lane in each direction on one side of the highway.  During that reconstruction, it required the PA-8 ramps the be closed on the side that was being rebuilt.  So, they finished paving the loop @ PA-356 to allow people to complete the closed off movements @ PA-8.  Once the US-422 project was completed, they just left the loop ramp in place.

[roadman65]

In Mountainside, NJ US 22 has one extra U Turn ramp that really is not needed.  There are three going WB.  One is needed for those leaving all establishments along US 22 WB from CR 509 SPUR to that point as there are no u turns anywhere in between.  The other is needed to access Mountain Avenue as it is a right in/ right out on the EB side, but the third is a waste.   You have the New Providence Road intersection less than a quarter of a mile away further with complete jughandles, so you have another reason to only have two turn arounds. 

One of the two shown here. (US 22 WB to EB)

Sorry roadman, you were beaten to the punch there.

I forgot Steve is from NJ.  I should know that he would notice things like this as he is big on his observations of mistakes made by road agencies.  That is why I like Alps Roads so much.