"Bypasses" around Nothing Special

[pderocco]

Was the original purpose of 78 to provide a bypass for thru traffic on US-1, meaning it was once planned to continue southwest and rejoin US-1? Or was its purpose exactly what exists now, providing a bypass for thru traffic between I-95 and RI US-1? The latter seems more likely to me.

[Rothman]

Was the original purpose of 78 to provide a bypass for thru traffic on US-1, meaning it was once planned to continue southwest and rejoin US-1? Or was its purpose exactly what exists now, providing a bypass for thru traffic between I-95 and RI US-1? The latter seems more likely to me.

The latter.

[seicer]

I-215 and Old 215 (originally old US 395/TEMP I-15E) near Alessandro Boulevard in Moreno Valley.

The 215 realignment to the west (opened ca. 1994) seems to have been created for a railroad track in the area...that is no longer in use and has been removed, in favor of warehouses built since the newer freeway opened.  Historicaerials shows the area around the old alignment being semi-rural in the 1980s.

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.9210153,-117.2862229,2752m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu

It appears that the portion of US 395 (that portion which later became I-215) from SR 60 to Cactus Avenue paralleled tracks and had numerous at-grade intersections that would have proven difficult to upgrade without relocating the tracks or providing some off-set interchanges, similar to what's being done along US 33 in Ohio: https://maps.app.goo.gl/NcA3qX6rWyJWkA6R9 

Those tracks are still active, it seems.

[sprjus4]

I nominate the two-year-old Mentone Bypass, a four-lane bypass of the town of 22. The bypass directs trucks around the town to the oil fields in the north.



Kinda looks like the beginnings of a Cities: Skylines world.

My favorite part of this "bypass" is the fact it is 4 lanes. Must get quite the traffic counts.

[Beltway]

I would call that a relocation, not a bypass.

An example is the 6.8 mile US-460 Poole Siding Relocation in Dinwiddie County, VA. No towns are bypassed.

As part of the program to upgrade US-460 to a 4-lane divided highway, this was built because the original highway crossed the parallel Norfolk and Western Railroad twice with bridges, and the relocated highway stayed south of the railroad without crossing it.  These were very old narrow 2-lane underpasses and rest of the segment was 2 lanes and with substandard alignment.