Freeways that obliterated the previous route

[J N Winkler]

Wasn't much of I-70 in Missouri built on top of the original US 40?  It seems like for several towns in MO, I-70 is headed straight thru the middle of town until it curves around, plus on the state map, it appears some secondary routes end at the interstate, but not at the interchange, and I have to assume the secondary routes were in existence before the interstates there.

I-70 in Missouri is really an edge case.  Generally the Interstate was built very close to but on one side or the other of existing US 40, which then became a frontage road ("outer road" in MoDOT-speak).  As a result, these lengths of I-70 are not really new-terrain alignments (since they follow US 40 so closely), but they also do not obliterate the existing road.

In Kansas I-70 and US 40 are also parallel but at a distance which both varies frequently and is usually much greater.  Where old US 40 follows an east-west section line road in wide-open western Kansas, I-70 generally cuts through the sections immediately south of it at the halfway mark, so that there is typically a separation of at least half a mile between old US 40 and the current I-70 centerline.  Google Maps tends to identify the section line road immediately south of I-70 as "I-70 frontage road," but it is not a frontage road in the usual traffic operations sense--rather, it is a means of providing access to quarter-section parcels that have I-70 running along their northern edges and are not provided alternate access by north-south county section line roads that are carried over I-70 on bridges.  (Many north-south section line roads are merely interrupted by I-70 rather than being carried across it, probably to minimize spending on bridges.)

The vast majority of Kansas' Interstate mileage is on new location.  Probably the best example of a modern freeway that obliterated a forerunner surface street is Kellogg Avenue in Wichita.  However, a considerable length of I-35 in Johnson County from 63rd Street south is built on top of a US 50 relocation which was itself constructed (per USGS 7.5" quads) between 1935 and 1957.  At one time there was a trumpet connection between US 50 and 63rd Street which was obliterated when I-35 was built to the north on a new alignment loosely following but not overlapping Merriam Drive, Merriam Lane, and Southwest Blvd.

[andy]

Indiana is in the process of replacing IN-37 between Bloomington and Martinsville with I-69.  For the most part I-69 will override IN-37 directly with new frontage roads built as needed.  I believe there is one stretch where a new southbound lane will be built, the current southbound converted to northbound and the current northbound converted to a frontage road. 

Admittedly, I suspect this is mainly possible because the current four lane 37 did not fully replace the old two lane route.

[Jardine]

West of Des Moines Iowa, Interstate 80 from ~mile markers 100 to 106 was built right on highway 6.  I recall being on 6 and seeing the culvert section under construction very close mm 106 back in the 60s.  Seems like there were soil movers and flagman too, but the culvert was very long as the amount of fill to level out the 4 laner was going to be 50-60 feet.

There might be other sections of I-80 built atop other roads in Iowa, but that 6 mile stretch I remember vividly because the scale of it all was very impressive.

[roadman65]

In Newark, NJ I-78 stole part of Fabyan Place between Winnans Avenue and Lyons Avenue.  Then of course from Exits 11 to 18 stole the original US 22 alignment that looked a lot like it does between Lebanon and Somerville with a wide grassy median and turnarounds every quarter mile.

[catch22]

Another Michigan example: I-69 between Charlotte and Lansing was built alongside US-27. The old alignment of 27 still exists as Lansing Rd, but it was converted from 4 lanes divided to 2 undivided with the construction of 69. One of the carriageways was torn up and rebuilt (I think, otherwise it was just repainted) as the interstate.

A similar case exists with I-69 northeast of Lansing where 69 was built right next to the old road (In this case, it's old M-78), but I'm not sure if 78 was ever four lanes.

It was 4-lane divided.  The former WB lanes were removed and became part of the ROW of I-69.

[Beeper1]

A stretch of I-89 in New Hampshire between the Lake Sunapee area and Lebanon obliterated the old NH-10.

[Tom958]

The I-95-US 17 overlap in southern SC. It looks like the former southbound roadway of the preexisting dual 4 lane was converted to a frontage road, the former northbound roadway became southbound I-95, and a new roadway for northbound 95 was built some distance to the east. You can really see it at the ends of the bypasses: http://goo.gl/maps/qPtgI

OT, but does anyone other that me find it annoying when frontage roads are built that close to the edge of a freeway with that wide of a median? To me, it defeats the purpose of having a wide median.   

[roadman65]

I think part of US 17 NB was grassed over so to say.  That one overpass that crosses over both I-95 and the Frontage Road originally had both carriageways of the old four lane US 17 fit between the two sets of piers on both sides of the present day frontage road.

[vegas1962]

I-96 essentially replaced Schoolcraft Rd. between I-275 and Evergreen Rd., even though Schoolcraft never "officially" had any sort of route designation and the name was retained for the service drive that serves that entire stretch of the freeway.

And per the I-96 page on Chris Bessert's Michigan Highways site, a stretch of freeway built in 1957 between Coopersville and Marne (first designated as the US-16 freeway, then redesignated as I-196 and later I-96) completely consumed a stretch of old US-16.

[roadman65]

NJ 24 Freeway between JFK Parkway. River Road and Hobart Avenue near Summit, NJ took over the old two lane at grade NJ 24.  Some of it became the service roads that are now NJ 124, but nonetheless replaced the old Morris & Essex Turnpike.

[The High Plains Traveler]

I-394 in the west Minneapolis suburbs from I-494 to I-94 was built on top of Wayzata Blvd. (U.S. 12), a busy commercial strip. This was actually a two-step construction project: the first phase was building a reversible HOV lane in the middle of U.S. 12 with signals at the existing intersections. Then, this HOV feature was preserved while the road was upgraded to Interstate standard. The existing boulevard had been very wide with frontage roads, so the number of businesses actually displaced was relatively small.

[Urban Prairie Schooner]

The only place in Louisiana where an interstate was constructed atop the original road is, to my knowledge, a short stretch between Exits 22 and 23 on I-55 just south of Pontchatoula where the original US 51 was incorporated into the freeway alignment.

Places where the interstate incorporated a later alignment are:

- between the TX state line and just west of the Toomey exit where I-10 used the alignment of US 90 on its approach to the Sabine River bridge (this was not original 90, however; the original US 90 ran to the south)
- the Calcasieu River bridge and approaches which were original constructed for US 90 (here too, the original route ran to the south using a crossing that no longer exists)
- I-49 between Lafayette and the Nuba exit, originally the US 167 expressway (original route was LA 182)

The I-10 Claiborne Elevated might count, but the original Claiborne Avenue does still exist and is traversable.

[lordsutch]

Off the top of my head:

- Some of I-565 (AL) was built over the existing Alt US 72/AL 20, particularly west of exit 7. New frontage roads were provided along most of the alignment.
- The westernmost 6 miles of US 78/I-22 in Alabama replaced the existing US 78 roadway, with no continuous non-freeway connection.
- I-55 (AR) replaced most of the non-freeway US 61/63/70/79 between West Memphis and Memphis without providing a non-freeway alternative.
- As NE2 suggests above, not common in Florida but you do have J. Turner Butler Blvd (a freeway upgrade of an arterial) and the eastern I-295 (replacing some of St. John's Bluff Road, some of which has since been reconstructed on different location) in Jacksonville.
- Not terribly common in Georgia either, although I-516 was built over part of the former Augusta Highway.

[NE2]

- As NE2 suggests above, not common in Florida but you do have J. Turner Butler Blvd (a freeway upgrade of an arterial) and the eastern I-295 (replacing some of St. John's Bluff Road, some of which has since been reconstructed on different location) in Jacksonville.

JTB was always a freeway east of Belfort; the only upgrade was between I-95 and Belfort. I don't think SJB went anywhere public besides the JTB interchange on the south end, so no surface access was removed there.

The Haines Street Expressway was actually originally a surface expressway, including a circle at the Arlington Bridge approach.

The most obvious arterial upgrades are I-595 and SR 826, both of which have frontage roads. And of course US 19.

[Dr Frankenstein]

ON 416 was built on top of ON 16 for much, if not most, of it.


(Envoyé de mon téléphone.)

[Stephane Dumas]

A-15 south from Candiac to the NY/QC border and TCH-20 between Ste-Rosalie and St-Nicolas was built on the top of the former PQ-9.

A-520 and A-40 from A-520 to Henri-Bourassa Blvd was the former route of PQ-2B also known as Côte-de-Liesse and Crémazie Blvd now acting as service roads.

And parts of the current TCH-185 are being upgraded into A-85.

[txstateends]

Texas:

-- Much of I-20 west of Fort Worth and east of I-10 replaced parts of US 80
-- Much of I-10 west of I-20 and east of El Paso replaced parts of US 80
-- Much of I-10 east of I-20 and NW of San Antonio replaced parts of US 290 and US 87
-- Some of I-45 south of Dallas replaced small parts of US 75
-- I-10 in the Houston area largely replaced TX 73 as far east as Winnie
-- A small part of I-20 between Marshall and Waskom was built onto US 80 (their only overlap in TX now)
-- I-40 was built on US 287's alignment between Pullman Rd. and just west of Grand in Amarillo
-- Much of I-37 NW of Corpus Christi was built on TX 9's alignment
-- Much of I-40 east and west of Amarillo was built onto US 66 or used US 66's lanes as service road (and surely the same can be said about parts of I-27 (over parts of US 87 between Happy and Lubbock), parts of I-30 (over parts of US 67 between Dallas and Mount Pleasant), and parts of I-35/I-35E/I-35W (over parts of US 77 and parts of US 81)

[DandyDan]

At least in my time in Omaha, the West Dodge (US 6, L28B) freeway was built atop the old 4 lane undivided road west of 156th St. and I suspect the road east of 156th St. was a 4 lane undivided road before the present freeway was built.  And the US 275 portion of that freeway goes over the old road between Waterloo and Valley.

[TEG24601]

Of course, Large Sections of I-5 outside of metro areas obliterated US 99 in Washington and Oregon.


SR-526 in Washington was build around Paine Field by destroying Casino Rd (aka SW 84th St) in Mukilteo and Everett.


NS-104 obliterated some major sections of NS-4 in Nova Scotia.  I remember driving sections of this roadway while under construction in 1998, and being amazed at how the freeway/expressway was being built, twinning the old road in some sections, completely replacing it in others, and bypassing it entirely in some other places.


The US-24 Expressway in Indiana basically destroyed the old road to the point that you can't even find it in some places.  Same with it's spiritual continuation SR-25, at least from Logansport to Delphi (as most of the Delphi to Lafayette section follows the railroad instead of the original roadway).

[Charles2]

I-20/59 between mp 97 and 108 in NE Tuscaloosa County and SW Jefferson County, Alabama (Birmingham metro area) were built on top of US-11/AL-5.   Parts of I-565 in Limestone County and Madison County, Alabama (Huntsville metro area) were built on top of the since-decommissioned AL-20.

[jeffandnicole]

Portions of I-295 in New Jersey did this as to US-130. When I was a kid, part of the road designated as I-295 still had some driveway and car park access in West Deptford Township. When they finally upgraded the highway through that area, they built frontage roads. There are still some extremely sharp turns on some of the ramps through there.

Close.  The sharp turns still exist at Exits 15, 16 & 16A, which are about 6 - 7 miles south of West Deptford and the area you referred to.  The interchanges in the West Deptford area were all rebuilt to modern standards, including the access to/from the frontage roads.

[agentsteel53]

Of course, Large Sections of I-5 outside of metro areas obliterated US 99 in Washington and Oregon.

California as well: either I-5 or CA-99.  most notably, in the Grapevine, the original Five Mile Grade (heading north from Castaic) was once a four-lane expressway, and now is the southbound lanes of eight-lane I-5.

[roadman65]

Off the top of my head:

- Some of I-565 (AL) was built over the existing Alt US 72/AL 20, particularly west of exit 7. New frontage roads were provided along most of the alignment.
- The westernmost 6 miles of US 78/I-22 in Alabama replaced the existing US 78 roadway, with no continuous non-freeway connection.
- I-55 (AR) replaced most of the non-freeway US 61/63/70/79 between West Memphis and Memphis without providing a non-freeway alternative.
- As NE2 suggests above, not common in Florida but you do have J. Turner Butler Blvd (a freeway upgrade of an arterial) and the eastern I-295 (replacing some of St. John's Bluff Road, some of which has since been reconstructed on different location) in Jacksonville.
- Not terribly common in Georgia either, although I-516 was built over part of the former Augusta Highway.

Do not forget the US 19 freeway in Pinnelas County that was once an arterial.  Then you have the Beachline between Boggy Creek Road and SR 436 that was built on or next to the original McCoy Road arterial that was four lanes.

[NE2]

Yeah, McCoy Road is actually a good example, with no extant non-freeway route east of SR 436.

[roadman65]

Actually if you remember the RIRO before the Goldenrod Road interchange was built.  Being McCoy had no real businesses east of 436, it was easy to transform.  They only left the RIRO as one thing they either forgot or being its not interstate who really cared in their minds.