Largest cities without Interstate service

[roadman65]

If we start citing examples of cities where the interstate passes nearby, but not within city limits (e.g. Racine, WI) , we'll be here for the next 5 years!   

Hopefully we can keep on track with the limiting phrase "Largest cities".

Heck, the City of Racine is the most populous municipality in Wisconsin without an interstate highway entering its corporate limits.



Mike

But it is still "served" by Interstate 94.  People in Racine absolutely use that road to get any distance north or south.  It's a short distance west of the city.  And Rochester, MN is "served" by I-90.  As I stated earlier, I know this from my own experience.  It's not far outside of town and is easily accessed via US-52. 

On the other hand, Fresno, CA isn't "served" by any interstate.  Nor are Dover, DE, Logan, UT, Kalispell, MT, Torrington, CT, Bend, OR, Marquette, MI, Minot, ND, Lynchburg, VA or Danville, VA.   

That reality is far more interesting to me than semantics involving whether the highway sneaks into a city's corporate limits or not. 

Yeah, but you have Lakewood, NJ that is the same distance away from Rochester, MN from the interstate system and you would not consider it served by I-195.  Also, you cannot say that Somerville, NJ is served by I-78 even though it is 4 miles (less than Rochester from I-90) from it.  Although, it is served by another interstate: I-287, but that is how you would say it is served.

[Road Hog]

I believe the largest municipality in Ohio without an Interstate is Hamilton, with a population of ~63,000.  Although, the ~9 mile long State Route 129 freeway connects its eastern city limits to Interstate 75.  Hamilton is also being swallowed up by Cincinnati & Dayton's suburbs, so maybe it 'doesn't really count.'
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Hamilton,+Ohio&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x8840464e3b405489:0x215a7220815dfea5,Hamilton,+OH&gl=us&ei=CK0CUd_LG6K_yQGI3YEw&ved=0CIMBELYD

Hamilton is a Dayton suburb as much as Freehold is a Philly suburb. Hamilton is much closer to Cincy.

[roadfro]

NV: currently unsigned Carson City, Ely, Fallon, Laughlin

You missed the mark completely on Nevada...

I-580 is now signed in Carson City, so that comes off the list. Thus, the largest populated area without Interstate service is actually Pahrump, which saw considerable growth in the last 10-20 years as a bedroom community to Las Vegas. Boulder City is another one to add to the list, and is larger than the remaining others.

I would say, however, that Ely and Fallon both have some significance geographically. Laughlin is small going by strict population standards, but would beat Pahrump when you factor in Bullhead City, AZ (where most of that area's population actually resides).

[corco]

I would say, however, that Ely and Fallon both have some significance geographically.

Ely is actually the southernmost city in Idaho. It's not really in Nevada. Just look at the license plates of all the cars coming in and out of town

[empirestate]

Ely is actually the southernmost city in Idaho. It's not really in Nevada. Just look at the license plates of all the cars coming in and out of town

As an aside, I have to say that it still surprises me a bit whenever I remember that Nevada and Idaho share a border. Somehow they just don't strike me as being neighboring states.

[roadman65]

Ely is actually the southernmost city in Idaho. It's not really in Nevada. Just look at the license plates of all the cars coming in and out of town

As an aside, I have to say that it still surprises me a bit whenever I remember that Nevada and Idaho share a border. Somehow they just don't strike me as being neighboring states.

That is because no major highways cross in between or the fact not many roads per square mile out there.

Another common misconception about borders is the fact that many do not realize that West Virginia is west of PA as well as south of.  I-70, as many of us here know, does enter 11 miles of the state en route to Ohio heading out of the Keystone State.  Some people when you tell them you go are traveling out west, when you lodge in or around Wheeling, and you inform those you tell that you are in West Virginia actually think you changed travel plans and headed south.

[vdeane]

I would say, however, that Ely and Fallon both have some significance geographically.

Ely is actually the southernmost city in Idaho. It's not really in Nevada. Just look at the license plates of all the cars coming in and out of town

According to Google, Ely is nearly 200 miles south of Idaho.  It's also well south of Nevada's portion of I-80.

[corco]

According to Google, Ely is nearly 200 miles south of Idaho.  It's also well south of Nevada's portion of I-80.

Yeah but once you get on 93 north out of Las Vegas, there's exactly four real towns in Nevada between Las Vegas and Idaho- Caliente, Pioche, Ely, and Wells and Caliente and Pioche are only there if you take the long way. The majority of the traffic on that road is Idaho traffic heading to Las Vegas- on any given weekend the number of Idaho plates outnumbers the number of Nevada plates 2:1 on 93, especially once you get up to Ely in the four or five times I've driven it. Nobody lives in that part of Nevada.

It's one of the more unique situations in the country when you get off I-15 onto 93 and you're 430 miles south of Idaho, but most of the cars have Idaho plates.

Ely itself is pretty much sustained as a fuel/food stop for Idaho->Vegas traffic. I was there a few weeks ago when Boise State was about to play in the Las Vegas bowl, and most of the businesses in town had some sort of sign to try to lure Idahoans into their establishments.

Hence the joke that it's actually the southernmost city in Idaho. If you go the fast way, Ely is the last town before Vegas.

[StogieGuy7]

According to Google, Ely is nearly 200 miles south of Idaho.  It's also well south of Nevada's portion of I-80.

Yeah but once you get on 93 north out of Las Vegas, there's exactly four real towns in Nevada between Las Vegas and Idaho- Caliente, Pioche, Ely, and Wells and Caliente and Pioche are only there if you take the long way. The majority of the traffic on that road is Idaho traffic heading to Las Vegas- on any given weekend the number of Idaho plates outnumbers the number of Nevada plates 2:1 on 93, especially once you get up to Ely in the four or five times I've driven it. Nobody lives in that part of Nevada.

It's one of the more unique situations in the country when you get off I-15 onto 93 and you're 430 miles south of Idaho, but most of the cars have Idaho plates.

Ely itself is pretty much sustained as a fuel/food stop for Idaho->Vegas traffic. I was there a few weeks ago when Boise State was about to play in the Las Vegas bowl, and most of the businesses in town had some sort of sign to try to lure Idahoans into their establishments.

Hence the joke that it's actually the southernmost city in Idaho. If you go the fast way, Ely is the last town before Vegas.

Eh, sorry but I'm not buying this.  If anything, Ely is far more closely tied to Utah and (having been there myself), you see as many UT plates as NV ones around there.  I don't recall ID being any more dominant there than it is in northern Utah.  Furthermore, the Elko area (though still small) is growing pretty quickly and is one of the places where folks from Ely would go shopping when they need something that they can't get in town.  Provo, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas would be for longer trips.  Boise and Twin Falls aren't on the list.

[corco]

I agree that the people of Ely are probably more tied to Utah than Idaho, but the 93 corridor itself is made up of largely Idaho plates and a large part of Ely's service economy is blatantly designed to carter to people travelling on the 93 corridor. Pull into McDonald's in Ely on a given day and count the number of Idaho plates to the number of Utah/Nevada plates. I'm certain of this. A map confirms it- why would any non-local traffic be on US-93 in eastern Nevada unless they were going from Idaho to Las Vegas/Phoenix/LA? It doesn't serve any other corridor.

People from Ely don't go to Idaho, that I agree with. But people from Idaho swamp Ely.

For some record, I grew up in Idaho (where all my family is) and just moved to Montana from Arizona four weeks ago and Ely was the logical overnight stop- I did that drive multiple times a year for the last couple years. Then my parents are doing the snowbird thing and alternate every three months between Phoenix and Idaho, and they've remarked on several occasions how weird it is how many Idaho plates there are on 93.

[vtk]

I agree that the people of Ely are probably more tied to Utah than Idaho, but the 93 corridor itself is made up of largely Idaho plates and a large part of Ely's service economy is blatantly designed to carter to people travelling on the 93 corridor. Pull into McDonald's in Ely on a given day and count the number of Idaho plates to the number of Utah/Nevada plates. I'm certain of this. A map confirms it- why would any non-local traffic be on US-93 in eastern Nevada unless they were going from Idaho to Las Vegas/Phoenix/LA? It doesn't serve any other corridor.

People from Ely don't go to Idaho, that I agree with. But people from Idaho swamp Ely.

By that logic, Lexington, Chattanooga, and Macon are the southernmost cities in Ohio every spring break.

Seriously, I was coming home from spring break once (my spring break was a week earlier than most people's that year) and in Chattanooga there was a traffic jam southbound where at least half of the license plates were from Ohio, with Michigan representing at least half the remainder.

[corco]

and if that's the case, I would say you can make that joke.  The difference I guess is that Ely is a tiny town so it really gets overrun, while Lexington/Chattanooga presumably have some population of there own

[kphoger]

And now for something completely different

[ftballfan]

I agree that the people of Ely are probably more tied to Utah than Idaho, but the 93 corridor itself is made up of largely Idaho plates and a large part of Ely's service economy is blatantly designed to carter to people travelling on the 93 corridor. Pull into McDonald's in Ely on a given day and count the number of Idaho plates to the number of Utah/Nevada plates. I'm certain of this. A map confirms it- why would any non-local traffic be on US-93 in eastern Nevada unless they were going from Idaho to Las Vegas/Phoenix/LA? It doesn't serve any other corridor.

People from Ely don't go to Idaho, that I agree with. But people from Idaho swamp Ely.

By that logic, Lexington, Chattanooga, and Macon are the southernmost cities in Ohio every spring break.

Seriously, I was coming home from spring break once (my spring break was a week earlier than most people's that year) and in Chattanooga there was a traffic jam southbound where at least half of the license plates were from Ohio, with Michigan representing at least half the remainder.

There would be more MI plates, but Michigan splits its Florida-bound traffic between 65/69/24 (GR, Lansing, Kalamazoo) and 75 (Detroit, Flint, Saginaw) north of Chattanooga while Ohio funnels most of its Florida-bound traffic onto 71/75.

Back on topic, the largest city that has never had an official interstate proposal in Michigan would probably be Marquette followed by Traverse City and Alpena.

[CrossCountryRoads]

If we were limiting this to just 2-digit Interstates, Pittsburgh,PA would be one of them.  I-79 runs close to it, but doesn't serve the downtown area and barely serves any suburbs either.  I-76 (PA Turnpike) runs northeast of it, and doesn't ever come closer than 13 miles to downtown.  However, Pgh does have I-279 and the recently expanded I-376, which existed for a while from Monroeville to downtown.  I know we were talking just Interstates in general and not just 2-digit ones, but I thought this might be worth noting.

[roadman65]

This I posted in another thread about US routes having the same by mistake.

Escanaba, MI and Mount Pleasant, MI.

Escanaba may have a small population, but given the area its in (as the UP only has less than 10 percent of Michigan's total population) it is the largest of its kind.

[PHLBOS]

If we were limiting this to just 2-digit Interstates

... the list of cities would be a lot longer. 

[sandwalk]

I believe the largest municipality in Ohio without an Interstate is Hamilton, with a population of ~63,000.  Although, the ~9 mile long State Route 129 freeway connects its eastern city limits to Interstate 75.  Hamilton is also being swallowed up by Cincinnati & Dayton's suburbs, so maybe it 'doesn't really count.'
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Hamilton,+Ohio&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x8840464e3b405489:0x215a7220815dfea5,Hamilton,+OH&gl=us&ei=CK0CUd_LG6K_yQGI3YEw&ved=0CIMBELYD

Hamilton is a Dayton suburb as much as Freehold is a Philly suburb. Hamilton is much closer to Cincy.

I didn't say Hamilton was a Dayton suburb.

[Speedway99]

If we were limiting this to just 2-digit Interstates, Pittsburgh,PA would be one of them.  I-79 runs close to it, but doesn't serve the downtown area and barely serves any suburbs either.  I-76 (PA Turnpike) runs northeast of it, and doesn't ever come closer than 13 miles to downtown.  However, Pgh does have I-279 and the recently expanded I-376, which existed for a while from Monroeville to downtown.  I know we were talking just Interstates in general and not just 2-digit ones, but I thought this might be worth noting.

San Jose would then be the largest if we limit to just 2dis. It has the US 101 freeway and severa
I-x80's, but no 2di.

[kphoger]

Hamilton is a Dayton suburb as much as Freehold is a Philly suburb. Hamilton is much closer to Cincy.

I didn't say Hamilton was a Dayton suburb.

That's how I read the following.  If a town is being swallowed up by suburbs, that kind of makes it a suburb too–geographically speaking.

Hamilton is also being swallowed up by Cincinnati & Dayton's suburbs, so maybe it 'doesn't really count.'

[roadman65]

Does anyone know if I-75 enters Tampa?  I know it bypasses the downtown several miles to the east of it, but does the city limits go out that far, especially with sprawl and annexation. 

[NE2]

Does anyone know if I-75 enters Tampa?

Google does.

[InterstateNG]

Not to mention Google Maps overlays of the city limits you searched for.

[empirestate]

USGS also knows: http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/

[roadman65]

Does anyone know if I-75 enters Tampa?

Google does.

I do not trust google completely.  I do not even trust locals.  You know how some people who live in Orlando do not know themselves if they are city or unincorporated.