Largest CONUS city not on the Interstate ?

[Jardine]

For many years it was Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Iowa, until I-380 was finished.  As I recall, the locals, all 70,000 of them were rightly annoyed about not being on the grid.


Well, years pass, and W'loo is now connected to I-380, and US20 is 4 lanes west to I-35, and the Avenue of the Saints continues north to Minneapolis/St. Paul.

So, do we know which city is currently largest and not served with an on ramp to an Interstate ?

[hotdogPi]

I remember this thread somewhere else, and someone said Bend, OR.

[Road Hog]

And once again, Fresno, CA wins.

[Jardine]

Wow!

Thanks!!

Figured it was like Podunk North Dakota or something.

[NE2]

Densest is Cambridge MA (at #5), though I-90 and I-93 both get very close. But in a dense urban area city limits are fairly trivial.

[DTComposer]

For many years it was Waterloo/Cedar Falls, Iowa, until I-380 was finished. 

Not sure where you picked up that information, but the city of Fresno has been larger than the total of Black Hawk County since before the Interstates were signed, and Fresno has always been and continues to be without interstate access.

[empirestate]

Isn't this in the FAQ?   

[Brandon]

Isn't this in the FAQ?   

I do believe so.

[ChoralScholar]

I'd always heard it was Fresno.

[vtk]

What does CONUS mean?

[1995hoo]

What does CONUS mean?

Presumably continental US.

[NE2]

What does CONUS mean?

It means Jardine likes using gubmint abbreviations.

#2 is technically Mesa AZ, but that's a suburb of Phoenix and linked to I-10 and I-17 by several Interstate-quality freeways. #3 is (surprise) Bakersfield CA. The others with 100000+ are Plano TX (another suburb well connected to Interstates), Glendale AZ (ditto), Scottsdale AZ (yawn), Gilbert AZ (damn you, Phoenix), Modesto CA (also on SR 99), Oxnard CA (finally something new, on US 101), [until recently Brownsville TX], Santa Rosa CA (another interesting one, with some at-grades on the connection along US 101 to I-580), Cape Coral FL (first one with no freeways or near-freeways connecting to Interstates), Peoria AZ (another bloody suburb), Lancaster and Palmdale CA (both connected to I-5 via SR 14), Salinas CA (also on US 101 with some expressway), Pasadena TX (yawn), McKinney TX (yaaaawn), [until recently McAllen TX], Killeen TX (connected to I-5 via the US 190 freeway), Sterling Heights MI (suburb lying between freeways), Thousand Oaks CA (also on US 101), Frisco TX (yawn), Visalia CA (SR 99), Simi Valley CA (yawn), Coral Springs FL (not well connected to I-95, but has easy access to I-75 and Florida's Turnpike), Surprise AZ (yawn), Athens GA (a solid example), Rochester MN (pretty close to I-90), Clearwater FL (another decent example), West Jordan UT (yawn), Ventura CA (US 101), Cambridge MA (just barely), Antioch CA (connected via SR 4), Richardson TX (yawn), Broken Arrow OK (yaaaawn), Boulder CO (connected by US 36), and Santa Maria CA (US 101).

TL;DR: not counting suburban shite, the largest are on SR 99, US 101, [I-69 in the Rio Grande Valley], with Cape Coral, Killeen, Rochester MN, Antioch, and Boulder somewhat squeaking by, and the only solid non-California examples being Athens and Clearwater.

[vtk]

TL;DR: not counting suburban shite, the largest are on SR 99, US 101, [I-69 in the Rio Grande Valley], with Cape Coral, Killeen, Rochester MN, Antioch, and Boulder somewhat squeaking by, and the only solid non-California examples being Athens and Clearwater.

Isn't Clearwater essentially a suburb of Tampa - St Pete?  I mean I know it's big enough to sometimes be put on equal grounds with the other two, but to me it's one big urban area with Interstates and other freeways and urban quasiexpressway corridors that maybe don't quite serve the Clearwater side as well as they should.

[NE2]

Isn't Clearwater essentially a suburb of Tampa - St Pete?  I mean I know it's big enough to sometimes be put on equal grounds with the other two, but to me it's one big urban area with Interstates and other freeways and urban quasiexpressway corridors that maybe don't quite serve the Clearwater side as well as they should.

I think it's generally thought of as a third major city of the metro area, being older than St. Pete (and the county seat). For example, Pinellas International Airport (named after the county) was renamed St. Petersburg-Clearwater International Airport in 1958 (?).

But Athens is bigger and a better example.