Old/Unused Freeway/Interstate Alignments that are still visible today?

[3467]

Chicago used or added on to RR ROW to build the Kennedy and the Stevenson in particular to minimize neighborhood destruction and that is what they planned for the Crosstown . The plan was to use existing transportation ROW. It was a RR  with Kennedy and the Sanitary and Ship canal for the Stevenson
South of the Stevenson(I-55) Chicago had bought all the ROW out for 8 plus lanes when the Crosstown was abandoned from the Interstate funding in 1980 that land was gradually sold back but the center line has remained taunting transportation planners,roadgeeks and occasionally politicians for 30 years

[NE2]

I'm still confused. What exactly is visible today? Just the rail right-of-way that was there before the Crosstown was planned?

[3467]

Yes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-City_Transitway

[NE2]

So it's not really an unused freeway alignment. It's more of an underused rail alignment that was once proposed to have a freeway.

[froggie]

So it's not really an unused freeway alignment. It's more of an underused rail alignment that was once proposed to have a freeway.

Agree with this, and given the examples the original poster cited, it looks like he was looking for old segments that were actually built, either in full or partially.  The Chicago Crosstown wouldn't apply since nothing was actually BUILT for it.

[DAL764]

There are several bypassed old alignments of autobahns in Germany that are pretty stark, too, especially a couple of lengthy sections of the A4 just east of the former Iron Curtain border crossing that were recently realigned.

Mike

Staying in Germany there is also the former routing of today's A115 south of Berlin where it was rerouted from its old alignment. Said old alignment is still quite visible from the air, mostly due to its bridges over water and under a railway. Old alignment can best be seen in the historic imagery from 1953 in GE.

And of course, the old alignment of the A6 that went straight to what today still is Ramstein Air Base. Part of it are still used for traffic on the base, though the majority it sits empty or is buried under tarmac.

[mgk920]

There is also an area in western Germany where the A44 in the triad area with the A46 and A61 south of Mönchengladbach was abandoned to allow the coal that is under them to be mined.  But this and other planned 'abandonments' there are only temporary as the mining company is being required to restore the highways as they complete their mining work.

http://goo.gl/maps/wQqAT

Mike

[roadman65]

I wonder how the abandoned FL 408 & FL 417 connector that was closed in favor of another connection at the two route interchange proper will look when completed?  I see on Google maps that a new surface street is being placed where the alignment once was, but will it show evidence that a freeway once existed before?  If it shows that their is reminents of the old road, then it would then be a mention for this forum topic.

[Scott5114]

The abandoned stretch of the Will Rogers Turnpike (I-44) in Catoosa was the showcase of the Tulsa roadmeet I hosted a few years ago.  Unfortunately, the Fart Smock bridge has been demolished.

You know, the name is just too good to pass into history. I move that we designate the entire segment of abandoned I-44 in Tulsa as the "Fart Smock Memorial Highway".

[OracleUsr]

It's a small example, but at least before the construction in southern Davidson/Northern Rowan County, you could see an old alignment of I-85 (now I-85 Business) before the 1983 realignment of I-85 between Lexington and Jamestown.  A trumpet-type interchange now carries northbound traffic onto I-85Business/US 52/29/70, but you can see the way I-85 used to turn at that junction.

[WNYroadgeek]

A portion of NY 93 in Lockport (the bypass, to be specific) was originally intended to be part of I-990. Didn't come to fruition, obviously.

[flowmotion]

(bump) In San Francisco, most of the old Central Freeway (US-101) route is still parking lots, despite huge demand for housing. This is the section which was condemned after the 1989 earthquake:

http://goo.gl/maps/H68jT

[bulldog1979]

In Michigan, I-96 was originally supposed to be routed southeasterly from the interchange with I-696 in Novi and Farmington Hills along an alignment to follow Grand River Avenue. Instead, it was realigned to follow I-275 southward and then east along a rail ROW in Livonia (the Jeffries Freeway). The former routing used in Farmington Hills and Farmington is now M-5.

[catch22]

In Michigan, I-96 was originally supposed to be routed southeasterly from the interchange with I-696 in Novi and Farmington Hills along an alignment to follow Grand River Avenue. Instead, it was realigned to follow I-275 southward and then east along a rail ROW in Livonia (the Jeffries Freeway). The former routing used in Farmington Hills and Farmington is now M-5.

I-96 was built on the ROW of Schoolcraft Road (which was a wide boulevard) between I-275 and Outer Drive. The closest rail line parallels it 1/2 mile to the south.