The Old Roads of major US and State route arterials that still exist

[roadman65]

I love to look at maps and check out all the old and defunct alignments of old highways that have now been made into local roads or demoted to a county level.  Then I always try to look up or read about how that particular roadway was indeed the original route of the one now that is nearby on either a bypass or better quality road.  With GSV now sometimes a picture can be painted in your mind which can be quite fascinating to say the least.

Anyway are there any specific old roads that were once US or even major state routes that you find yourself interesting? I know that there are many of them out there and I am not asking you to make a list of them, just the ones you like.  Also US 66 does not count for this nor do any defunct US routes replaced by interstates.  The ones that have been replaced by either bypassed arterials or roads now that are common suburban main drags that have a parallel road that was once serving the function of that particular road.

For me I find both CR 25A and CR 200A in Marion County, FL to be most fascinating as now the current US 301 & 441 concurrency replaced what both of those two individual roads once were.  CR 25A was the old alignment of US 441 from Ocala to Reddick while CR 200A was the old alignment of US 301 from Ocala to Citra.  I find it interesting that at the current US 301 & 441 intersection with NW 20th Street in Ocala was where the concurrency between US 301 & 441 dissolved instead of several miles to the north as it does now.

When looking at the Google Map you can pretty much see where how it all happened then, especially at the north end of CR 25A.  You see how it is in such a straight line with the current US 441 (that moves out of the way at that terminus).

Then with US 30 in Camden, NJ where before I-676 was built the expressway alignment of Admiral Wilson Boulevard used to default into a one way couplet entering Downtown Camden.  WB US 30 used Linden Street while EB US 30 used Penn Street from CR 537 to the toll plaza for the Ben Franklin Bridge. 

If you go to GSV you can easily see how Admiral Wilson Boulevard used to split up to form both Penn and Linden Streets at what is now the dead end at the east end of Penn Street.  Plus Linden Street is still to this day striped for three lanes to carry the traffic once now the modern freeway bypass now carries.  In fact many of you know you can still follow the old route by taking the LAST EXIT BEFORE TOLL on US 30 Westbound that makes the WB trek still available to us now.

Interesting enough at that location you can also see how the CR 537 overpass was before all of that took place too as the span over the US 30 lanes is still like it was years ago with side girders and smaller crossbeams underneath the roadway above it splitting from the two load bearing girders on the sides while the parts over the elongated ramp to Linden Street and a collector ramp on the EB side have modern freeway are typical modern bridges.  However, NJDOT did a great job in making the old 1930's era bridge match the 1070's era bridge construction, but still easy to track to the eye of what the bridge originally looked like pre I-676.  Considering that the railroad to the west of it did not make their lengthening of their overpass modern looking as the two additions at both end look just like the original shorter bridge over US 30 not making it obvious that the current Admiral Wilson Boulevard at that particular point was not originally narrower.

Right now these are my top two lately.  What are your fascinations of old roads that are now used for other purposes?  It does not have to be a mind or visual characteristic either, something else about the alignment that you like could be shared too.

[ajlynch91]

I too love looking for old alignments and whatnot, not just with state roads but roads in general. In the Chicago area, it's pretty obvious that Plainfield Rd and Boughton Rd were once the same road, but in the early part of the 20th century, a subdivision was built in Darien and the road was split into two. I would love to know why. Just as fun is looking for abandoned railroads, the right of way is usually pretty easy to spot.

I also like doing it because very often, at least in Illinois, old alignments of routes that are still state-maintained are given an unsigned designation, and I love finding evidence of that, although I've never been able to find them referenced in any IDOT logbooks, other than Route 967 in Woodson, IL.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

In northeastern Minnesota US 61 used to take a different path to the Canadian border until the early 1960s; on this alignment it deviated inland on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation and crossed the Pigeon River into Ontario about 12 miles west of the current border crossing. The old road is still there (albeit not a drive for the faint of heart) and I drove it this fall. The road goes all the way to the river although the bridge is obviously no longer there. It is designated as Cook County 17 and Cook County 89 in part, and the final stretch to the river is not maintained at all.

[roadman65]

I found another one in Clarks Summit, PA that shows that PA 407 and US 6 & 11 were once one continuous alignment. 

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Clarks+Summit,+PA+18411/@41.481135,-75.6854827,17z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x89c4d804146f71f3:0x871e825be81c019c

Look at Old S. Abbington Road how it fits perfectly between US 11 east of the NE Ext trumpet and after PA 407 straightens out upon starting off from US 6 & 11.  Need I say more.

[Zeffy]

PA 611 / Old US 611 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania is interesting to look at, mainly because it almost looks like Main Street (the old alignment of US/PA 611) would've been the alignment before they bypassed it to the west.

[empirestate]

Not exactly applicable as it's not a currently existing route, but I've always been fascinated by Old State Road that runs from west of Angelica, NY up to Dalton. North of there it's NY 408 (and there's a neat old alignment of that between Dalton and Nunda), continuing the air-line trajectory up to Mt. Morris.

But south of Dalton, this road was never NY 408, and to my knowledge has never been numbered. So if it was a state road once, it stopped being such by 1920s. The southernmost stretches are now part of Allegany CRs 15 and 16 (though largely on relocated segments), but the arrow-straight section through most of that county is town-maintained gravel highway. As it probably was when it was actually state-maintained, which is a pretty cool thought to me.

There's a photo of it here (bottom of page), along with an old alignment of US 15 (to bring this post on-topic):
http://empirestateroads.com/photos/steuben/

[Takumi]

There's a very old alignment of what was US 17-1 (now US 301) south of Petersburg. It runs to the west of 301 between Stony Creek and just north of I-95's exit 41 as several secondary routes along with part of VA 40 Business. It went through Stony Creek and Carson while 301 skirts their eastern edges. It's one of my favorite driving roads in the area.

[Pete from Boston]

I had a lot of fun chasing down old US 30 (Lincoln Highway) alignments in PA.  In places there are three generations of road, and some of the oldest seem barely able to accommodate two passing cars–amazing for a cross-country route.

[GaryV]

I took some pictures of the old-old junction of US-41/US-141 (originally US-102) back in 2006: http://www.usends.com/Focus/Covington/index.html

[US71]

I'm interested in the historical aspects, especially any old bridges or other unique features. I'm always looking for old sections of highways. There are a couple old sections of US 67 west of Teaxarkana with some old bridges but are only accessible on foot.

I have found parts of old US 71 here in Arkansas that have been totally abandoned and overgrown.

It's hard to point to any one road.  One interesting note is along US 412/old AR 68 near Huntsville: The roadway was straightened and a new bridge built in the 1940's with the old 1920's bridge left intact as a county road. When 412 was widened a couple years ago, the 1940's bridge was removed, but the 1920's bridge remains (though the county road is narrow, unpaved with a couple inclines)

[nexus73]

Plenty of old US 101 still is around from Reedsport OR to Crescent City CA.  Drive it and you'll see why the new routing was built.  It took forever and a day to go anywhere!

Rick

[roadman65]

I remember now the entrance driveway into the State Line Overlook on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Alpine, NJ was once a concrete surface.  The concrete pavement would split from the roadway and continue along the top of the cliff overlooking the Hudson River into a pedestrian walkway.  The point of deviation from the motor road from the grading was left where it was evident that the road after it was added at a later time because it becomes asphalt and poured out up to the edge of the concrete grading.

I later found out that before the PIP was built this road and pedestrian walkway was the original US 9W alignment.  In fact the abandoned roadway terminates at US 9W right at the NJ- NY Border.  The curve you see just south of the state line is where the old road heads off as it once continued straight at the curve which may explain why the WELCOME sign for entering NJ was on the left as it might of been on the right before the PIP was built.

EDIT: I am not deviating from the OP as US 9W is STILL an arterial.  It is just the PIP freeway did cause US 9W to move, but it did not replace it.

[BrianP]

Thanks for sharing.  I'd guess that they changed the alignment since the old road looks narrow and possibly dangerous being near the cliff.  So it was impractical to widen to modern standards. 

South end:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.986797,-73.90664,3a,75y,19.85h,78.65t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sAG81KbBn-BWwB4lZSGB1Hg!2e0

North end:
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.000547,-73.911578,3a,75y,140.24h,68.15t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1svoyiR7sJf8NjCaK-os-iww!2e0

Look how the road narrows as it approaches the cliffs from the north:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.9911417,-73.9064271,46m/data=!3m1!1e3

[thenetwork]

Some of my favorite former alignments were in or near Ohio, and I pretty much clinched them all at one time or another while I still lived there:

- Old US-21 (SR-21, Cleve-Mass Rd., Old 21, SR-821).  Plus the old alignments of US-21 all the way down to SC.
- Old US-25 (SR-25, Dixie Highway, CR 25-A). And the old US-25 alignments north into MI.
- Old US-30 (Much was a part of the Lincoln Highway).

So many little towns every 5-10 miles and the scenery was always interesting.

[vtk]

Various old US 33s (or really old SR 31 in at least one case) in central Ohio

[thephantomcheese]

There's a section of Old US 70/NC10 east of Black Mountain, North Carolina, that is only accessible by foot- the Point Lookout Trail. It's 3 1/2 miles uphillfrom the church parking lot, so bring your hiking boots.

[Buck87]

I suppose my favorite would have to the street I live on, which was once an alignment of US 20.

[bzakharin]

I used to live on old NJ-24 (now CR-510). The interesting thing about that portion of it is that it wasn't actually replaced by anything when the 24 Freeway was built, so it's almost as important today as it was before its demotion, and, naturally, people still call it "Route 24".

Although GSV is not good enough here (https://www.google.com/maps/@40.788807,-74.546104,3a,75y,330.46h,73.51t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s3a3fE4x4GusuP0io5cx0JQ!2e0!5m1!1e1), that brown pole along Patriot's Path (a long hiking trail in the area) says "Route 24". I doubt Morris County is going to replace it any time soon.

[cpzilliacus]

Much of present-day Md. 144 was once U.S. 40 through quite a few counties west of Baltimore.

Mike Pruett of MDROADS discusses it on this page.

East of Baltimore, much of present-day Md. 7 was once U.S. 40, which Mike also discusses here.

If you are not in a hurry, Alternate U.S. 40 between Frederick and Hagerstown is a nice and slow-paced alternative to U.S. 40 or I-70, and if you go back in time far enough, it was U.S. 40.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I recently drove an old alignment of MN 23 just west of Mora, MN near Fish Lake (the road is marked as OLD MN 23). It's only about 4-5 miles long. But what surprised me was when I went back to find when the section was bypassed. It was bypassed no later than 1955!

[bugo]

If I listed all of the old alignments that I know of I'd be here all night. There are a lot of them in Missouri and Oklahoma, not so many in Arkansas.

[sbeaver44]

In northeastern Minnesota US 61 used to take a different path to the Canadian border until the early 1960s; on this alignment it deviated inland on the Grand Portage Indian Reservation and crossed the Pigeon River into Ontario about 12 miles west of the current border crossing. The old road is still there (albeit not a drive for the faint of heart) and I drove it this fall. The road goes all the way to the river although the bridge is obviously no longer there. It is designated as Cook County 17 and Cook County 89 in part, and the final stretch to the river is not maintained at all.

I just looked this up on Google Maps and it looks very interesting!  I'd like to see MN 61 at some point in my life, and maybe this too.

I always enjoy taking old US 15 segments south of Harrisburg.  Actually, come to think of it, I've had an address on each of Old US 15, Old US 11, and had US 15 as one of my property borders at some point in my life.  When I had my learners permit 11 years ago, my mother would have me drive to Gettysburg on Old US 15 and return on Current US 15.  It was a good mix of road types.

[slorydn1]

Old US-70 (SR-1005) in Craven County NC that runs from its intersection with the west end of the current US-70 freeway in Jones County just SW of the town of Dover to the point where it intersects NC-55 at Beamon's Fork is a 2 lane straight as an arrow facility that is in really decent shape.

South of New Bern between James City and Havelock there is Old Cherry Point Rd that parallels US-70 about a block east of it until it ties back in as a service road in the 4600 block of US-70 East, that was a former alignment of 70 as well (and before that NC-10).

Southwest of New Bern there is US-17 Business, which was the mainline until about 3 years ago. Just SW of the stoplight at New Bern High School there is a 2 lane road that branches off to the right called Rocky Run Road that people say was once part of the old alignment of US-17 many moons ago, although I have not seen anything proving that.

On the Bridgeton side of the Neuse River after you come off the Neuse River Bridge and the speed limit drops down to 45 turn left onto D St on what looks like a misplaced dual carriageway. After a gentle curve to the right the road suddenly ends at the intersection of Purifoy Rd. The remaining 20 feet or so of crumbling pavement was the north end of the old Neuse River Bridge, that's where US-17 and NC-55 used to come across from New Bern until 1999. The intersection just to the east of that where A St heads north, Bernhurst Rd heads south and Blueberry Lane heads east is where NC-55 used to split off to head to Pamlico County. Those roads are all driveable, but are crumbling fast, none have been repaved since the early 80's.
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.1161687,-77.0165251,16z?hl=en

[iBallasticwolf2]

In northern KY you can find numerous old arterials for State Route 17

Here's some

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.966206,-84.543424,3a,75y,346.25h,84.41t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s2RAZR9a5WrV_rUK5wV6zHg!2e0

This 4 digit state route was once state route 17

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.989951,-84.533054,3a,75y,317.76h,88.73t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sGowdLun2FbbWa9DQ6eBkig!2e0

The old arterial for state route 17 went along that shabby two lane road

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.910271,-84.546758,3a,75y,198.05h,81.76t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1skIovWSQZiHVnZznWQUGROA!2e0

Another piece

[cjk374]

LA 7 (now known as US 371) has a former alignment...Webster Parish road 10...that runs from Cotton Valley south to Dixie Inn.  It has several name changes as you go south:  Old Hwy 7, Couchwood Rd., Doc Steed Rd., and Gifford Hill Rd.

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.7486441,-93.3753713,14z