Interstate being repurposed as surface road

[roadman65]

Was part of Eisenhower Boulevard near Harrisburg, PA ever I-83?  The section around Derry Street looks the same as I-83 north of there and directly in line with it.  I am guessing that the notorious interchange with I-283 was added later and 83 used what is now Eisenhower and then got back on its current alignement where Eisenhower passes beneath I-83.

[allniter89]

The old lanes of I-84 in Mass were turned back into a local road when the interstate was rerouted in the 70s.

Why did they reroute I 84?

[Beeper1]

The original route of I-84 was no quite up to interstate standards.  It was originally built as an extension of the Wilbur Cross Highway from the state line to US-20 in the 1940s, extended to the Mass Turnpike in the 50s, and carried the I-84 (and for a while I-86) number when the interstates were first designated.  The road was 4 lanes divided, but had some median turn-arounds and at-grade intersectons. By the 1970s, the high  amount of traffic was making the old route unsafe so, in order to being it to interstate standards and get rid og the at-grade intersections, they built a brand new 3-lane roadway for one direction of 84, made one side of the old road into a new 3-lane for the other direction of 84, and left the other half of the old road as a local two-way frontage road.  They added 2 full interchanges to connect the frontage road and all remaining side roads connected to it.   There is some interesting stuff on the old road, including an abandoned service area that closed when the new highway opened.   

[hm insulators]

This isn't a case of an interstate being repurposed as a surface road, but a freeway route being realigned when the Interstate was built and a piece of the old freeway pressed into service as a surface road.

This was the old Foothill Freeway (California 118) that ran between Pasadena and La Canada Flintridge. It was a funky little freeway built in the 1950s, just two or three miles long and only four lanes. In the early 1970s when they built I-210, the western mile or so of the old freeway disappeared under the 210, but the eastern part of it still crosses over the Arroyo Seco and is now an extension of Woodbury Road from Altadena until it bends north on an alignment built at the same time as the 210 Freeway to hook it into Oak Grove Drive and Berkshire Place right by La Canada High School. Just east of the Arroyo Seco crossing, there is still an original overpass under an old alignment of Arroyo Boulevard. 

[agentsteel53]

until about 5 years ago, there was a 1955 white guide sign with the distance to Ventura. 

[hm insulators]

until about 5 years ago, there was a 1955 white guide sign with the distance to Ventura.

I vaguely remember that.

[PHLBOS]

In Boston, what was originally intended to be I-95 between the Southeast Expressway and the I-695/Inner Belt is now the Mass Ave. Connector & Melnea Cass Blvd. from I-93 to MA 28 (Tremont St.).

[Alps]

Was part of Eisenhower Boulevard near Harrisburg, PA ever I-83?

yes

[Roadsguy]

Even before that, I hear what is now I-83 was just a four-lane expressway that fed into Eisenhower Blvd, and stub-ended north of US 22 (according to Historic Aerials' shots).

[allniter89]

The original route of I-84 was no quite up to interstate standards.  It was originally built as an extension of the Wilbur Cross Highway from the state line to US-20 in the 1940s, extended to the Mass Turnpike in the 50s, and carried the I-84 (and for a while I-86) number when the interstates were first designated.  The road was 4 lanes divided, but had some median turn-arounds and at-grade intersectons. By the 1970s, the high  amount of traffic was making the old route unsafe so, in order to being it to interstate standards and get rid og the at-grade intersections, they built a brand new 3-lane roadway for one direction of 84, made one side of the old road into a new 3-lane for the other direction of 84, and left the other half of the old road as a local two-way frontage road.  They added 2 full interchanges to connect the frontage road and all remaining side roads connected to it.   There is some interesting stuff on the old road, including an abandoned service area that closed when the new highway opened.   

Thanks for the info Beeper1. Very interesting.

[Interstate275Fla]

FL 681, sort of. Not limited access, but it was formerly the southern end of I-75. Which is right next to the curiosity in the question of the original post, so I may have missed the point.

FL 681 was not the southern end of Interstate 75 - when this segment of Interstate 75 from US 301 in Ellenton to River Road east of Venice opened in 1981 FL 681 was constructed to provide a northbound entry/southbound exit from Interstate 75 into Venice, complete with a southbound FL 681 flyover onto southbound US 41.

[briantroutman]

Was part of Eisenhower Boulevard near Harrisburg, PA ever I-83?  The section around Derry Street looks the same as I-83 north of there and directly in line with it.  I am guessing that the notorious interchange with I-283 was added later and 83 used what is now Eisenhower and then got back on its current alignement where Eisenhower passes beneath I-83.

Even before that, I hear what is now I-83 was just a four-lane expressway that fed into Eisenhower Blvd, and stub-ended north of US 22 (according to Historic Aerials' shots).

The complications and compromises surrounding I-83 in the Harrisburg area are rooted in the fact that it was cobbled together from existing expressway segments.

The east-west portion is the Harrisburg Expressway, which originally ran from US 11 at Mechanicsburg in the west to US 322 heading toward Hershey in the east. The north-south road was originally By-Pass 230 which connected to US 22 at the north and continued via Eisenhower Blvd. to US 230 at the south. The mangled partial cloverleaf at Derry St. is a remnant of BYP 230.

I don't know if that short, ground-level section around Derry St. and Paxton St. was ever actually signed as I-83, though. While the Eisenhower Interchange was under construction around 1969-71, I'd imagine that NB 83 traffic was forced to exit at Paxton St., turn left onto Eisenhower Blvd at-grade, then merge onto the completed portion of I-83.

[sp_redelectric]

I want to say that parts of old I-90 in the Wallace or Kellogg, Idaho area are now a surface street/frontage road.

[Pete from Boston]

I haven't been there in over ten years, but there's the park-and-ride in repurposed I-70 pavement west of Baltimore.

[PHLBOS]

I haven't been there in over ten years, but there's the park-and-ride in repurposed I-70 pavement west of Baltimore.

North of DC, just south of the I-95/495/Capital Beltway interchange; there's a truck weigh station and a park-and-ride facility located where I-95 south the Beltway was originally planned to continue.  Access to and from the facilities utilize the old I-95 pavement and ramps.

In Canton, MA at the I-93/95 (US 1/MA 128) interchange; salt sheds and statemaintenance truck facilities are located on old abandoned mainline I-95 and interchange ramp pavement.