Long-Dormant Freeway Projects That Were Completed

[cpzilliacus]

Strangely, there's one in the District of Columbia. 

An interchange was completed at the  junction of I-295, I-695 and D.C. 295 at the south end of the  11th Street Bridge. This project has (after decades of controversy) allowed all movements between all three of these highways, as well as Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, S.E.

I'd call that a 15-ish year dormancy, though.  The original plans for the DC Interstate system never envisioned a direct connection between the SE Freeway and DC 295.  Such a connection wasn't proposed or planned until the ca. 1996 Barney Circle Freeway plan.

The Barney Circle project was all ready to advertise for bids (an FEIS had been written and approved), and the D.C. Sierra Club, Capitol Hill Restoration Society and a group called Stop it Again (I think Capitol Hill NIMBYs) got to the Mayor-for-Life.

He ordered it cancelled, but after he left office, it became clear that something had to be done (in part because of heavy midday truck traffic on H Street, N.E. and Benning Road, N.E.). 

I do not recall the Sierra Club or Stop it Again being involved the second time, but the Capitol Hill Restoration Society was very much opposed, though I do not recall a lawsuit being filed, and as you know, it was eventually built.

[TheStranger]

California examples:

The Route 99 full freeway conversion north of Fresno to Merced, proposed in the 1950s as part of the original I-5 plan, but constructed 2013-2015.

Route 210 (former Route 30) between San Dimas and San Bernardino, proposed in the 1950s/1960s, constructed early 2000s.

Route 15 through Mid-City San Diego, proposed since the late 1960s as an extension of the city-constructed Wabash Boulevard freeway, competed early 2000s.

The High Desert Corridor proposal in the Antelope Valley that just finished the environmental review process is parallel to the long-planned Route 138/18 freeway concept connecting the Palmdale area with Interstate 15.

Route 4's alignment from Antioch southeast to Brentwood had been proposed since the 1960s but did not open until ca. 2012-2013.

Route 125 between Route 94 and Route 905 through Chula Vista had been proposed since at least 1963, with the segment from Route 54 to Route 905 opening in 2007.

[coatimundi]

I-476 Blue Route in PA.

I never knew this one was so contentious. Was the construction actually partially completed throughout the delay, or was the delay all fighting and then one big construction push at the end?

[coatimundi]

Strangely, there's one in the District of Columbia. 

An interchange was completed at the  junction of I-295, I-695 and D.C. 295 at the south end of the  11th Street Bridge. This project has (after decades of controversy) allowed all movements between all three of these highways, as well as Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue, S.E.

I'd call that a 15-ish year dormancy, though.  The original plans for the DC Interstate system never envisioned a direct connection between the SE Freeway and DC 295.  Such a connection wasn't proposed or planned until the ca. 1996 Barney Circle Freeway plan.

The Barney Circle project was all ready to advertise for bids (an FEIS had been written and approved), and the D.C. Sierra Club, Capitol Hill Restoration Society and a group called Stop it Again (I think Capitol Hill NIMBYs) got to the Mayor-for-Life.

He ordered it cancelled, but after he left office, it became clear that something had to be done (in part because of heavy midday truck traffic on H Street, N.E. and Benning Road, N.E.). 

I do not recall the Sierra Club or Stop it Again being involved the second time, but the Capitol Hill Restoration Society was very much opposed, though I do not recall a lawsuit being filed, and as you know, it was eventually built.

Was I-695 signed within DC as 695 before this interchange was completed?
I saw something on the Wikipedia page that mentioned it was an unsigned interstate until recently, but GSV shows a 695 shield on the BGS at its western origin. What did that sign show before?

[theline]

The US 20 bypass of South Bend and Elkhart, Indiana was first planned and construction begun in the early 1960s. By the early '70s the portion around the west side of South Bend to US 31 on the south side was done, but the ghost ramps to the east went idle for decades. In the meantime, the completed portion of the freeway was incorporated into the US 31 bypass around South Bend and Niles, Michigan in the early '80s.

Finally, in the '90s the long-awaited US 20 bypass was finally completed to the east around South Bend, Mishawaka, and Elkhart.

[froggie]

Was I-695 signed within DC as 695 before this interchange was completed?

Technically, yes.  The first of the modern I-695 shields started appearing before the 11th St Bridge (and this interchange) project were completed, about 5 years ago.

I saw something on the Wikipedia page that mentioned it was an unsigned interstate until recently, but GSV shows a 695 shield on the BGS at its western origin. What did that sign show before?

If you're referring to this overhead sign set, it looked like this in 2010.

[Thunderbyrd316]

   The first one that popped into my head when I saw this thread was the segment of SR 113 around Woodland (California). For many years in the 70's and '80's the freeway ended south of Woodland and fed directly into a narrow 2 lane road that went through a really neat "tree tunnel" and into downtown Woodland. North of Main Street a very brief segment of freeway connected Main Street to I-5 (2 lanes north bound on and 1 lane southbound off, with a low but noticeably raised asphalt "curb" paved over the concrete surface with a double yellow line painted on it and yellow plastic tube delineators attached every so many feet closing off the left lane. Looking ahead south bound you could clearly see a clear pathway through the growing subdivisions for a future freeway but until the late '80's there was no indication that such a freeway might actually be built.

   Signage from I-5 southbound simply said "Main St." and the freeway entrance from Main Street was signed simply as I-5 (shield) NORTH Redding. Interestingly, looking around on Google Streetview (May 2016) there are still no mentions of SR 113 Northbound from Main Street, nor is there a SR 113 reassurance shield posted along SR 113 north of the on ramp from Main Street. (The "Freeway Entrance" assembly northbound from Main Street shows only I-5 and no mention of SR 113 either.)

   I suppose I recall this particular stretch freeway so well because I and my father stayed so frequently at the Motel 6 there all through the '70's and '80's on numerous trips between Portland and either the Bay area or further south and I always wondered when / if that gap in the freeway would ever be filled.

   I believe it was on a trip in 1988 or 89 that we finally saw that they were constructing this segment and I believe we drove on the completed freeway in May of 1990. I know it was completed no later than 1991 as both I and my father traveled together on it and he passed away in August of 1991. (Interesting but completely off-topic side note: On that trip in May 1990 regular was 78.9 and unleaded was 84.9 at the Arco on the west side of hwy. 99 in downtown Modesto.)

[PHLBOS]

I-476 Blue Route in PA.

I never knew this one was so contentious. Was the construction actually partially completed throughout the delay, or was the delay all fighting and then one big construction push at the end?

The concept of the Blue Route, named for the color-coded alignment on a planning map, actually dates back to 1929.  It was once planned to be the Chester Extension of the PA Turnpike circa 1954 but once the Interstate Highway Act was signed circa 1956; the then-proposed road became part of the Interstate (originally as I-495, then as I-480, and then as the present I-476 circa 1964).

The highway was originally planned to be fully built (6-lanes all the way) and opened to traffic by 1976 (early construction of the road started as far back as 1967) but the NIMBYs (mainly in Swarthmore) complained and were successful in delaying the project (through litigation) for well over a decade.  Only the 2-mile stretch between I-76 & Chemical Road opened in 1979.

In 1985, all lawsuits were dismissed but a portion of the highway was downsized to 4-lanes (between PA 3 & MacDade Blvd.).  The piece from I-95 to MacDade opened in 1987 (the BGS' at I-95 only listed MacDade Blvd.).  The remaining pieces of I-476 opened in late 1991 (MacDade Blvd. to I-76) and 1992 (Chemical Road to I-276).

Wiki Account of I-476

[Buffaboy]

I-990, which apparently had been in plans in various forms since the 1950s wasn't constructed until the early 1980s, and extension (by about a measly mile) in the early 90s. Aside from the US-219 extension, it is the latest new freeway project in the Buffalo area, and probably the last for a long time.

[Greybear]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned I-630 In Little Rock yet.  It was first planned as a "crosstown route" as early as the 1930s and 1940s.  It wasn't until 1958 that the City of Little Rock petitioned the Arkansas Highway Commission to designate the East-West, or Eighth Street Expressway, as a part of the state highway system.

It wasn't until March 1970 that the Ark. Highway Commission asked the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to accept the 7.4 mile "8th St Expressway" into the Interstate Highway System.  After a few setbacks, and the assistance of U.S. Rep. Wilbur Mills (D-AR), the route was added to the system in November 1970 and would be designated as "Interstate 630," making it eligible for 90/10 Federal funds.

In November 1973, a local group, Arkansas Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) filed a suit in Federal court, stating that parts of the I-630 Environmential Study was inadequate on the eastern section of the highway, from Dennision St to Interstate 30. As a result, construction was halted on that particular section while construction proceeded on the section that stretched to Interstate 430.

Once a new Environmential study was prepared and approved in May 1979, the injunction was lifted from the State and construction proceeded on the eastern section of I-630.  The work to be done included 12 overpasses as well as the I-630/I-30 interchange.  The final section of I-630 opened to traffic on September 30, 1985, completing a major chapter in Little Rock history.

[thenetwork]

Cleveland, OH:

-- The I-480 missing link between I-71 and I-77...Took a little over a decade to complete.

-- The Jennings Freeway [SR 176]  -- Connecting I-90 with I-480...that was an unfinished project for over 30 years.

[swbrotha100]

I-287 in New Jersey. The northernmost 20+ miles (US 202 to NJ 17) was planned in the 1960s, didn't open until late 1993.

[GaryV]

The middle "missing link" section of I-696 between M-10 and I-75 in metro Detroit.

And also the completion of I-96 into Detroit.

Another, the completion of I-69 from Charlotte to Lansing.

[ILRoad55]

The highway that US 31 runs on dead ends right before crossing over I-94 in Michigan. I saw that they are finally planning to continue it, but unfortunately it's not connecting to the end of I-196. I don't know much about it though.


I believe I-355 was supposed to have the extension back in the 90s but due to environmental problems and some other stuff delaying it until like 2005

[amroad17]

Cross County (now Ronald Reagan) Highway in Cincinnati.  Completed in the early 1960's from Galbraith Road in Reading to Montgomery Road in Montgomery.  A western section from I-275 to US 27, Colerain Ave., was completed in 1975.  It wasn't until 1997 when the section from Colerain Ave. to Galbraith Road was finished, completing the entire highway.

[mvak36]

The highway that US 31 runs on dead ends right before crossing over I-94 in Michigan. I saw that they are finally planning to continue it, but unfortunately it's not connecting to the end of I-196. I don't know much about it though.

If you're interested, here's the thread about it: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=18276.0

[empirestate]

I-990, which apparently had been in plans in various forms since the 1950s wasn't constructed until the early 1980s, and extension (by about a measly mile) in the early 90s. Aside from the US-219 extension, it is the latest new freeway project in the Buffalo area, and probably the last for a long time.

And at the other end, I feel like NY 531 was a line on a map for quite some time before it was actually built, albeit far short of its intended destination.

Now, when we actually see the Nashua bypass, well then...


iPhone

[fillup420]

I-485, the beltway around Charlotte, NC had its first section built as a connector from US 29 to I-85 in 1967. The planning began for what eventually became 485 sometime in 1975. The last section between I-77 and I-85 was finished in June 2015.

[vtk]

I-670 in Columbus: the western mile and a half had a very conspicuous stub ending at Grandview Ave for something like four decades.

[bzakharin]

Was the portion of I-295 in NJ that opened in 1994 part of the original 1956 plan? If so, that would be 38 years, though the construction of I-295 was more or less ongoing throughout this time, so maybe dormant isn't the right word.

[Chris19001]

The Vine Street Expressway (I-676) in Center City Philly languished for a few decades before being "completed" in early 1991. 
I'll leave it to others to debate whether it is truly completed to date though..

[Roadrunner75]

NJ Route 55 was the first thing to come to mind.  For many years it was a just a freeway bypass of the Vineland / Millville area until they finally completed the northern extension to Route 42, providing a continuous freeway from the Philadelphia area to southern Cumberland County.  Growing up, I used to look over my Franklin Maps of Gloucester County with the multiple dashed proposed routings of 55 (which one will it be?) and later got to watch the construction progress.   Yes, it's still not technically "complete", but I doubt I'll live to see any further extension to the south.

[jwolfer]

NJ Route 55 was the first thing to come to mind.  For many years it was a just a freeway bypass of the Vineland / Millville area until they finally completed the northern extension to Route 42, providing a continuous freeway from the Philadelphia area to southern Cumberland County.  Growing up, I used to look over my Franklin Maps of Gloucester County with the multiple dashed proposed routings of 55 (which one will it be?) and later got to watch the construction progress.   Yes, it's still not technically "complete", but I doubt I'll live to see any further extension to the south.

Similar to NJ 18. Parts completed in the 1960s and a missing link completed in the 1990s and like 55 an incomplete beginning, that will most likely never be complete.

Has NJ completed anything as originally planned? I say this facetiously but NJ has so many partial complete freeways, stubs, missing links and highways to nowhere.. Even 195 which seems complete is the compromise of plans for route 37 and 38 freeways

[Kacie Jane]

The last mile of I-90.  No, not that one, not the extension in Boston, the one on the other end in Seattle.

It even dates to before the Interstate system.  Around the time the first bridge across Lake Washington was built in 1940, US 10 was routed across it and continued west on a proto-freeway to Rainier Avenue before taking surface streets from there to downtown.  The plan in the 50's (before I-5 was built) was to continue the freeway from there to the Alaskan Way Viaduct.  They never got that far (at least in part because the Kingdome got in the way), but come 1992 (40 or so years later), they finally connected I-90 to I-5 and Fourth Avenue, three to four blocks shy of the original proposal.

[briantroutman]

It's not yet complete, but work has begun on the Central Susquehanna Valley Thruway–the continuation of the US 11-15 freeway bypass of Selinsgrove, PA to connect to the PA 147 freeway above Northumberland. The current stub end of the freeway has been sitting fallow since 1977, and the CSVT is currently projected to open in 2024. It's odd to think of the unused pavement finally being pressed into service after 47 years (though I expect that the unused concrete surface will be resurfaced before cars actually touch it).