Smallest Cities Served by 3DI's

[briantroutman]

Personally, I would base "smallest cities"  on metro area served. In the I-176 example, If the city of Reading had never existed and Cumru Township was a rural outpost in a largely uninhabited portion of Berks County, I don't think anyone here would argue that I-176 would have been built. Without question, I-176 exists to serve Reading, even if it does not actually cross the city's borders.

[empirestate]

My understanding of the spirit of the thread was that the OP was looking for the smallest maximum city size for a given three-digit Interstate.

That's a succinct way of putting it. And I also don't believe the spirit of the thread was to limit the answer only to municipalities specifically called cities, but rather to include any like municipality, or even an unincorporated settlement, if such constitutes the largest place served by the route. It's likely that it didn't even occur to the OP that this might not be a so-called "city" (like Hennepin, IL, to my mind still the clear winner).

[golden eagle]

Lake Charles, LA - I-210

I-510, which serves Chalmette, LA in a bit of an I-535 situation (starts in New Orleans but doesn't really serve it as much as existing to funnel traffic to/from Chalmette) has that beat, with Chalmette only having 16,751 people as of 2010.

One of the control cities for I-310 is Boutte, an unincorporated area of just over 3000. Houma was later added as a control.

[Billy F 1988]

As stated before, I-115 in Butte and this "pseudo" I-315 in Great Falls. I call I-315 a pseudo short 3DI interstate because there are no signs with I-315 on them. It's a short chute just off I-15 at exit 278. There is an exit 0 that connects 14th Street SW but once you approach 6th Street SW and Fox Farm Road, it defaults as I-15 Business.

[DandyDan]

How about South Sioux City, NE for I-129?  Only 13,353 people.  Dakota City, on the south side of I-129, only has 1,919.

[empirestate]

How about South Sioux City, NE for I-129?  Only 13,353 people.  Dakota City, on the south side of I-129, only has 1,919.

Yeah, but Sioux City has over 80,000. Still a small-ish city to have its own 3di, but not at the extreme end.

[jp the roadgeek]

I-395 in CT/MA's biggest city is Norwich, which has 40,000 people. Otherwise, most of the towns along it are tiny.  I-380 in PA really doesn't serve a city; it just acts as a connection between I-80 and I-81/I-84.

[hbelkins]

I would argue that I-380 serves Scranton.

[NE2]

I-395 arguably serves Worcester (the only reason it doesn't actually enter it is that the Masspike was built to bypass Worcester inside of along Route 9 through downtown, putting the Pike's Worcester interchange south of the city).

[cl94]

I-395 arguably serves Worcester (the only reason it doesn't actually enter it is that the Masspike was built to bypass Worcester inside of along Route 9 through downtown, putting the Pike's Worcester interchange south of the city).

Agree. It's effectively a southern extension of I-290.

I would argue that I-380 serves Scranton.

Agree. The interchange is 2 miles from the city line.

[wolfiefrick]

I-270 in St Louis serves Des Peres (8,466), Kirkwood (27,540), Green Park (2,622), Moline Acres (2,422), Town & Country (10,860), and Edwardsville (24,293).

[empirestate]

I-270 in St Louis serves Des Peres (8,466), Kirkwood (27,540), Green Park (2,622), Moline Acres (2,422), Town & Country (10,860), and Edwardsville (24,293).

...and St. Louis (319,294).

[wolfiefrick]

Should have been more clear. I-270 does not ever enter the city of St. Louis, it only stays in St. Louis county and serves the cities i mentioned. The population of the St. Louis metro area is somewhere from 3 to 4 million.


iPhone

[bassoon1986]

But isn't that missing the point of the thread? The loop was obviously built because the city of St. Louis exists.

[tdindy88]

I-270 actually does pass through the far northern tip of the St. Louis city limits on the north side right after crossing the Mississippi River.

[empirestate]

Exactly; I don't think there's any plausible argument that I-270 doesn't serve St. Louis, whether or not it enters the city limits. So you would definitely need to count it against the "smallest largest city" criterion.