Longest isolated stretch of freeway?

[ilpt4u]

(Which displays a huge travesty; lettered suffixes were rightly eliminated from the system - except for the 35E/35W - till now.)

I-270S(pur) approaching the DC Beltway, I-480N in Cleveland, and I'm sure the I-95/NJTP split section has to have some sort of designation difference for the two separate legs - whether it is 95E/95W, 95/95A, etc; they all say "hello"

Granted, all those are relatively short, but they exist

[sprjus4]

(Which displays a huge travesty; lettered suffixes were rightly eliminated from the system - except for the 35E/35W - till now.)

I-270S(pur) approaching the DC Beltway, I-480N in Cleveland, and I'm sure the I-95/NJTP split section has to have some sort of designation difference for the two separate legs - whether it is 95E/95W, 95/95A, etc; they all say "hello"

Granted, all those are relatively short, but they exist

I don't think -any- of those are signed.

As far as I'm aware, all of those merely have signage pertaining to what highway they are heading for.

For instance, all the signage on I-480"N" simply say "I-271 North Erie Pa".

[sprjus4]

US-64 between Columbia and Plymouth, NC - 25 miles long - 3,700 - 5,500 AADT.

Constructed in 2005 partly as a relocation to the two-lane US-64, though a good 10-15 miles of it was built directly next to the original road. It's sort of like dualizing a road to 4-lanes, but they built two new carriageways instead of one, captured limited-access, and built it to full freeway standards. The original roadway serves as the "frontage road" to the freeway. It was not modified in the freeway project except at interchanges where it was relocated to accommodate the ramps.

Quite a nice highway IMO, 70 mph speed limit, and very light traffic. The US-64 corridor connects Raleigh and points west to the Outer Banks.

[ilpt4u]

(Which displays a huge travesty; lettered suffixes were rightly eliminated from the system - except for the 35E/35W - till now.)

I-270S(pur) approaching the DC Beltway, I-480N in Cleveland, and I'm sure the I-95/NJTP split section has to have some sort of designation difference for the two separate legs - whether it is 95E/95W, 95/95A, etc; they all say "hello"

Granted, all those are relatively short, but they exist

I don't think -any- of those are signed.

As far as I'm aware, all of those merely have signage pertaining to what highway they are heading for.

For instance, all the signage on I-480"N" simply say "I-271 North Erie Pa".

480N is signed on the Mile Markers

I thought there was a 270S Shield out there...Closest is at the 270 South/270 Spur split, but South and Spur are both spelled out - still unusual with Interstates, a junction with 2 routes of the same Shielded designation, which imho is worse than Suffixes

95/NJTP I believe does not have any signed difference

[Beltway]

(Which displays a huge travesty; lettered suffixes were rightly eliminated from the system - except for the 35E/35W - till now.)

I-270S(pur) approaching the DC Beltway, I-480N in Cleveland, and I'm sure the I-95/NJTP split section has to have some sort of designation difference for the two separate legs - whether it is 95E/95W, 95/95A, etc; they all say "hello"
Granted, all those are relatively short, but they exist

I don't think -any- of those are signed.

I-270 Spur where it divides from I-270 -- https://tinyurl.com/yxolp982

[CNGL-Leudimin]

Depends on the definition of isolated. If "Breezewoods" are not counted as freeway to freeway connections, I have one pretty long example near me: the entirety of Spanish A-22 at 94 km (58.4 miles). One end is at A-2, but one has to make its way through a roundabout to get from one to the other. This will change in 2021 or so, when the freeway is finally completed to A-23.

[mrsman]

Depends on the definition of isolated. If "Breezewoods" are not counted as freeway to freeway connections, I have one pretty long example near me: the entirety of Spanish A-22 at 94 km (58.4 miles). One end is at A-2, but one has to make its way through a roundabout to get from one to the other. This will change in 2021 or so, when the freeway is finally completed to A-23.

That's a good point.  Ordinarily, I would say that any connection that would merit a road no longer being a freeway, would cause a break in the system.  This should include Breezewoods, traffic circles, and intersections.  It would not include toll booths or exempt railroad crossings or drawbridges.

If intersections do cause a break in a freeway, then one could argue that portions of I-10 and I-40 in West Texas may qualify. 

[BrianP]

In PA, how about the freeway section of US-219 between Meyersdale and Ebensburg?  While it does cross the PA Turnpike, connections between the two highways are even longer than those at Breezewood.  Granted, the road is supposed to eventually connect to I-68 (part of which is under construction as we speak), but even that will involve a roundabout.

You could say the same thing about I-99 between Bedford and 1/2 mile of I-80. 

No actual connections to the rest of the Interstate highway system.

But the OP asked about connections to any freeway.  I-99 connects to the US 22 freeway and the rest of the State College bypass US 322.

And US 219 connects to the PA 56 freeway. 

So those two examples fit into the second question but not the first. 

[mgk920]

The first one that came to my mind here was US 97 in Bend, OR.

Also:
- A70 in Quebec.
- Earhart Expressway (LA 3139) in New Orleans, LA.

Here in Wisconsin, the likeliest entry is WI 11/81 in the Monroe, WI area.  Would the freeway parts of US 151 between Madison, WI and Dubuque, IA count, seeing as when the current upgrade project in Madison is done, it will still connect 'Breezewood-style' with the Beltline via a SPUI?  Ditto the freeway parts of WI 26 north of Janesville, also US 14 between Madison and Oregon?

Mike

[TheStranger]

Here in Wisconsin, the likeliest entry is WI 11/81 in the Monroe, WI area.  Would the freeway parts of US 151 between Madison, WI and Dubuque, IA count, seeing as when the current upgrade project in Madison is done, it will still connect 'Breezewood-style' with the Beltline via a SPUI?  Ditto the freeway parts of WI 26 north of Janesville, also US 14 between Madison and Oregon?

Mike

US 151 doesn't appear to be entirely freeway even that far past Dubuque, with an at-grade near Kieler, WI and several more scattered along the route.  So it is currently several isolated segments rather than one lengthy one - though in Dubuque it comes close to connecting with the US 20 freeway without doing so.  (IIRC isn't US 20 going to eventually bypass the city to the south and connect with the 151 freeway more directly?)

That section of WI 26 on the other hand absolutely fits the concept - it's interesting to see how close it comes to connecting to 2 freeways without actually doing so!

The US 14 section has two free-flowing ramps to the Beltline so that does barely make it not qualify for this list (similar to the partial at-grade/partial-freeflow setups for I-880/Route 237 and I-880/Route 92 in Northern California).

[Kacie Jane]

(Which displays a huge travesty; lettered suffixes were rightly eliminated from the system - except for the 35E/35W - till now.)

I-270S(pur) approaching the DC Beltway, I-480N in Cleveland, and I'm sure the I-95/NJTP split section has to have some sort of designation difference for the two separate legs - whether it is 95E/95W, 95/95A, etc; they all say "hello"

Granted, all those are relatively short, but they exist

I don't think -any- of those are signed.

As far as I'm aware, all of those merely have signage pertaining to what highway they are heading for.

For instance, all the signage on I-480"N" simply say "I-271 North Erie Pa".

480N is signed on the Mile Markers

I thought there was a 270S Shield out there...Closest is at the 270 South/270 Spur split, but South and Spur are both spelled out - still unusual with Interstates, a junction with 2 routes of the same Shielded designation, which imho is worse than Suffixes

95/NJTP I believe does not have any signed difference

NJDOT inventories the eastern spur as 95 and the western spur as 95W, but it's a secret designation. Both spurs have always and only been signed as simply 95.

[vdeane]

In neighboring Alberta, most or all of route 2 between Calgary and Edmonton is freeway, though I'm unsure whether there are at-grade intersections along the way. There are connecting freeways at both ends, including AB 201 and AB 216.

There are.  I counted 6 and a RIRO between AB 201 and AB 216, most south of Red Deer.

[ilpt4u]

MO 21, SW of St Louis, is about 20 miles of Freeway...may be the Show Me State longest isolated Freeway

[pianocello]

(IIRC isn't US 20 going to eventually bypass [Dubuque] to the south and connect with the 151 freeway more directly?)

You're thinking of the SW Arterial, which will carry US 52 once completed. Despite its name, it'll be a full freeway, although IIRC there will be a diamond interchange at each end.

Other Iowa examples include freeway bypasses of Marshalltown, Oskaloosa, Ottumwa, Mt. Pleasant (mentioned previously), Fairfield, and Burlington. I think the longest of these is US 34 through Burlington, which is 15 miles from the last at-grade intersection west of the city and the first at-grade in Illinois.

[mgk920]

Here in Wisconsin, the likeliest entry is WI 11/81 in the Monroe, WI area.  Would the freeway parts of US 151 between Madison, WI and Dubuque, IA count, seeing as when the current upgrade project in Madison is done, it will still connect 'Breezewood-style' with the Beltline via a SPUI?  Ditto the freeway parts of WI 26 north of Janesville, also US 14 between Madison and Oregon?

Mike

US 151 doesn't appear to be entirely freeway even that far past Dubuque, with an at-grade near Kieler, WI and several more scattered along the route.  So it is currently several isolated segments rather than one lengthy one - though in Dubuque it comes close to connecting with the US 20 freeway without doing so.  (IIRC isn't US 20 going to eventually bypass the city to the south and connect with the 151 freeway more directly?)

That section of WI 26 on the other hand absolutely fits the concept - it's interesting to see how close it comes to connecting to 2 freeways without actually doing so!

The US 14 section has two free-flowing ramps to the Beltline so that does barely make it not qualify for this list (similar to the partial at-grade/partial-freeflow setups for I-880/Route 237 and I-880/Route 92 in Northern California).

Another that I remembered right after I posted that is the WI 29 freeway in the Bonduel/Shawano area.

Mike

[tolbs17]

To add to that thought - are there any freeways that do link up to other freeways, but of which all of them together do not link to the overall freeway network in the state (i.e. a bypass that links to another bypass, but both not connected to any Interstates or any long-distance freeway routes)?

US-17 and US-70 in New Bern, NC

The US-17 freeway is being extended 7 miles south when the Pollocksville Bypass opens at the end of the year, and there's plans to build a northern freeway in the future (the interchange at US-70 has ghost-ramps to accommodate the extension) though that is unfunded.

None of the US-17 freeway extensions would connect to the rest of the freeway network though.

The US-70 freeway should be extended south by 2024-25 with the completion of the James City upgrades and the Havelock Bypass - extended by an additional 20 miles.

This example will be obsolete by 2028 when the Kinston Bypass is complete, as the US-70 freeway would be linked to I-795, and likely to I-40 by then - and become I-42 itself.

If the James City upgrades and Havelock Bypass are completed before the Kinston Bypass is done, the New Bern area would have 64 miles of isolated freeways.

How about the proposed New Bern bypass?

[Ketchup99]

Central PA has a decently-sized network of connected freeway that is not connected to any other freeway. Once a few projects are done, it will include I-99/US-220 from Bellefonte to Bedford (93mi), US-322 from State College to Clarks Ferry (71 miles), US-22 from Hollidaysburg to Ebensburg (18 miles), US-22 outside of Lewistown (5 miles), US-219's freeway in PA (62 miles), US-322 just off I-99 in Port Matilda (2 miles), the 11/15 bypass of Duncannon (5 miles), the PA-26 freeway stub (1 mile), and the PA-56 Johnstown Expressway (5 miles). (This will be done once Ebensburg and Tusseyville's bypasses are built, which will hopefully come before I-80/I-99 is finished). This will come to a staggering 262 miles, unconnected to any other freeway.

[roadman65]

I-49 in LA north of Opelousas and south of Shreveport.

[sprjus4]

I-49 in LA north of Opelousas and south of Shreveport.

Not exactly isolated from the interstate / freeway network as it connects directly to I-10 and I-20.

Freeway segments of US-90 south of Lafayette would be better examples.

[vdeane]

I-99/US-220 from Bellefonte to Bedford (93mi)

Not once the I-80 interchange is built.