Top 5 Missing Links

[webny99]

What do you think are the top 5 busiest major commerce/trucking corridors in the US that have no interstates? You could suggest four-lane roads, or even expressways, but no corridors with freeways or interstates.

Buffalo>I-390 must be up there somewhere. 
I've always thought central AR/MO was lacking north/south freeways, but of course I know very little about that area, so won't deem it a "major commerce/trucking corridor" 

[froggie]

https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/data_and_statistics/by_subject/freight/freight_facts_2015/chapter3/fig3_5

Pick out your thickest gray lines.

[formulanone]

The ones I keep hearing about on this forum are:

Austin - Houston
Phoenix - Las Vegas (this is the proposed I-11, right?)
Denver - Dallas
Memphis - St. Louis
Tampa/Gainesville - Jacksonville

CA 99 is isn't really "missing", but it's an incomplete and outdated freeway.

[hotdogPi]

Memphis - St. Louis

Why doesn't I-55 work?

[formulanone]

Memphis - St. Louis

Why doesn't I-55 work?

Sorry, meant to say Kansas City (mixed up the locations in my head). There's no direct SE-NW diagonal across Missouri.

[jp the roadgeek]

Hartford-Providence
Charlotte-Nashville
Philadelphia-Buffalo
Jacksonville-Atlanta
Bay Area-Las Vegas

[ilpt4u]

Memphis - St. Louis

Why doesn't I-55 work?

Better yet, I-55 + I-57

Tho a "modified" I-57, that goes straight South leaving IL, instead of SW (I-57) or SE (I-24), enters KY, and then follows, generally, the I-69 Western KY/Northern TN route to enter Memphis from the NE, would be a little more direct.

I do find the new I-57 Extension to Little Rock from Sikeston an interesting idea, and Route-wise, basically makes I-57 and I-30 one long corridor -- assuming the missing sections in SE MO and NE AR are eventually built to Interstate Standard, from Chicago to Dallas

I'd rather have the missing I-24 link, from Marion, IL to STL, completing a direct Atlanta and Nashville to STL route, without needing the I-57/I-64 jog. Plus, locally, it would connect Far Southern IL much better to the STL Metro area. I-57 is nasty with heavy truck traffic from the I-57/I-24 and I-57/I-64 junctions, due to both the Northeast-Southwest traffic of I-57 and the Southeast-Northwest traffic of I-24

For CKC aka Chicago-Kansas City, we have the CKC Expressway, IL/MO 110, tho its really not the best route in IL. The MO side of the CKC/110 isn't a bad route, tho. I haven't driven it, but it can't be much worse than C-KC via I-88/80 to I-35 in Des Moines, or I-55 to I-70 in STL

[US71]

What do you think are the top 5 busiest major commerce/trucking corridors in the US that have no interstates? You could suggest four-lane roads, or even expressways, but no corridors with freeways or interstates.

Buffalo>I-390 must be up there somewhere. 
I've always thought central AR/MO was lacking north/south freeways, but of course I know very little about that area, so won't deem it a "major commerce/trucking corridor" 

NW Arkansas is more a  "major commerce/trucking corridor" with Tyson, Wal-Mart, and JB Hunt. 

[pianocello]

https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/data_and_statistics/by_subject/freight/freight_facts_2015/chapter3/fig3_5

Pick out your thickest gray lines.

Most of the thicker gray lines are still either freeway-quality or proposed interstates, though (I'm looking at CA-99, the I-69 corridors in Texas, and the Kentucky Parkways, among others). Interestingly, some of the other thick gray lines haven't been mentioned in this thread are ones that I never would have guessed:

Lubbock-Abilene
Wichita Falls-Fort Worth
St. Paul-Rochester
Jackson-Hattiesburg-Gulfport
Chicago-Fort Wayne (ok, I can see this one)

[sparker]

https://www.rita.dot.gov/bts/sites/rita.dot.gov.bts/files/data_and_statistics/by_subject/freight/freight_facts_2015/chapter3/fig3_5

Pick out your thickest gray lines.

Most of the thicker gray lines are still either freeway-quality or proposed interstates, though (I'm looking at CA-99, the I-69 corridors in Texas, and the Kentucky Parkways, among others). Interestingly, some of the other thick gray lines haven't been mentioned in this thread are ones that I never would have guessed:

Lubbock-Abilene
Wichita Falls-Fort Worth
St. Paul-Rochester
Jackson-Hattiesburg-Gulfport
Chicago-Fort Wayne (ok, I can see this one)

Besides these, there were a few other "thick grays" that were, IMO, unexpected:

(1) Columbus (OH)-Ft. Wayne (US 33?)
(2) WKY parkway (been on it several times, didn't notice any particular heavy truck usage)
(3) US 30 east of Grand Island, NE
(4) US 281/nascent I-69C in TX (maybe someone was prescient on this one).

Expected/reinforced previous potential I-corridors:

(1) US 287 Amarillo-Ft. Worth
(2) US 395 north of Pasco, WA
(3) CA 58 between I-5 & I-15 (hello, Captain Obvious!)
(4) Northern reaches of Avenue of Saints (NW of Waterloo, IA)

[02 Park Ave]

H'burg - State College
Williamsport - State College
Burlington - Montreal
JAX - Ocala
Myrtle Beach - Lumberton

[vdeane]

East Coast-Buffalo

FTFY 

Last I checked, Boston is east coast, so I guess that Buffalo-Boston highway I always assumed was real is actually a product of the Fictional Highways board.  And I could have sworn I've been on it too!

[Roadgeekteen]

H'burg - State College
Williamsport - State College
Burlington - Montreal
JAX - Ocala
Myrtle Beach - Lumberton

Burlington-Montreal is an interstate for as long as is possible.

[sparker]

H'burg - State College
Williamsport - State College
Burlington - Montreal
JAX - Ocala
Myrtle Beach - Lumberton

Burlington-Montreal is an interstate for as long as is possible.

I think 02's post was referring to the completion of Autoroute 35 in Quebec -- something planned but repeatedly delayed for decades.