Proposed but never built toll roads

[hbelkins]

http://web.archive.org/web/20030623215141/http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~mn2n/tollun.html

[J N Winkler]

Yup.  Some of the e-library sites (Hathi Trust certainly, possibly Archive.org's own e-library side) actually have scanned documentation for some of these failed toll road proposals--Hathi, for example, has the feasibility studies for the Iowa and Michigan turnpikes.

Without wishing to oversell the contemporary relevance of these failures, I should point out that quite a few of these toll road proposals were motivated by an ongoing shortfall of federal funding for express highways, which was remedied by the Interstate legislation in 1956.  Many turnpikes that were actually built had loan payment difficulties (e.g. Kansas Turnpike), while most that weren't already under construction were abandoned outright and replaced by untolled Interstates.

One important difference between the mid-1950's and the present is that tolling has fewer influential enemies now than it did back then.  Thomas Harris MacDonald, the longtime BPR head (sometimes described as "the most powerful man you've never heard of"), disapproved of tolling and indeed criticized the Italian autostrade in 1926 on that basis, while Ziegler (head of the Michigan highway department) was so bitterly against tolls that I suspect he singlehandedly killed the Michigan turnpike proposal.

[getemngo]

http://web.archive.org/web/20030623215141/http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~mn2n/tollun.html

OT: Where'd the rest of Michigan go on that map? 

Just because it gets left off all the time doesn't make it okay!

[Scott5114]

There was a toll road in Oklahoma that was proposed to link the southern terminus of the Kansas Turnpike to the Turner Turnpike, roughly along the modern I-35 alignment. This project was cancelled because OTA's credit rating was overextended due to bonds from the Turner. However, the planning work was turned over to ODOT when I-35 became a reality.

[Revive 755]

http://web.archive.org/web/20030623215141/http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~mn2n/tollun.html

I thought there was also talk of a tollway in Nebraska connecting to the route across Iowa, IIRC connecting Omaha to Lincoln?

There was also discussion of toll facilities in Missouri for the US 40 and US 66 corridors in the early 1950's - the St. Louis City library had a copy of some legislative meeting transcripts discussing them.

[Beeper1]

The Maine Turnpike was originally planned to be extended all the way north to Fort Kent at the top of the state.   The segment from Augusta to Sherman was eventually built as free I-95, which ended up being built to the border further east at Houlton.

[webfil]

http://web.archive.org/web/20030623215141/http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~mn2n/tollun.html

OT: Where'd the rest of Michigan go on that map? 

Just because it gets left off all the time doesn't make it okay!

Where did that supplemental "e" in Corpus Christi came from?

[US81]

http://web.archive.org/web/20030623215141/http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~mn2n/tollun.html

OT: Where'd the rest of Michigan go on that map? 

Just because it gets left off all the time doesn't make it okay!

Where did that supplemental "e" in Corpus Christi came from?

and let the governor of New Jersey jokes begin....

[txstateends]

I don't remember which years, but there was a green (or yellow?) dashed line on some Rand McNally atlases in LA from the Westbank in New Orleans down to about Larose or so, for a few years, then nothing.  I don't know if this was ever a really-planned toll road that never went anywhere, or what.  I think this only appeared in the state-wide map; I don't remember seeing it in the New Orleans insets.

[jeffandnicole]

The NJ Turnpike talked about a toll road from near Interchange 2 to the AC Expressway a number of years back. For some reason, they proposed a route that would go thru many long-established towns and neighborhoods, rather than keeping it more to the south where fewer people would be impacted. 

The proposal died a very quick death.

[BrianP]

NJ 55 was first proposed as a toll road.  Most of it was built as a free road.  But who knows if the last section will be built.  But it could be built as a toll road. 

[froggie]

The "Carolina-Virginia Turnpike Authority" listed is likely the entity that was created to build a then-proposed "Outer Banks Toll road" from Virginia Beach to Nags Head.  The proposal dates at least back to the late 1940s (if not earlier) and survived at least to 1965 where its connection showed up in the 1965 Southeast Virginia highway plan.

[BrianP]

The "Carolina-Virginia Turnpike Authority" listed is likely the entity that was created to build a then-proposed "Outer Banks Toll road" from Virginia Beach to Nags Head.  The proposal dates at least back to the late 1940s (if not earlier) and survived at least to 1965 where its connection showed up in the 1965 Southeast Virginia highway plan.

that seems about the time when it died:

A 1966 study of Virginia's outdoor recreation resources recommended that a substantial ocean beachfront be made available for public use on the Atlantic Ocean south of Virginia Beach. The development of the park began with the purchase of approximately 4,300 acres of land.

http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/false-cape.shtml

[bugo]

The proposed Muskogee Turnpike extension to Poteau

The proposed US 69 turnpike from the Red River to Big Cabin (excluding the freeway section from Muskogee to McAlester).

I think there was a proposal for a turnpike from OKC to the panhandle. 

[vdeane]

The NJ Turnpike talked about a toll road from near Interchange 2 to the AC Expressway a number of years back. For some reason, they proposed a route that would go thru many long-established towns and neighborhoods, rather than keeping it more to the south where fewer people would be impacted.

Probably because the Turnpike Authority's route-selecting process was "find the quickest route for Turnpike patrons" and not "keep communities intact".

[-NCX75-]

The proposed US 69 turnpike from the Red River to Big Cabin (excluding the freeway section from Muskogee to McAlester).

Man, I'd actually love to see this happen, just for the sake of extending I-45 into Oklahoma... but obviously it won't happen anytime soon. Plus, it would be tolled so, yeah.

[jakeroot]

http://web.archive.org/web/20030623215141/http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~mn2n/tollun.html

OT: Where'd the rest of Michigan go on that map? 

Just because it gets left off all the time doesn't make it okay!

Wisconsin took it, and then presumably Canada took it, and then blew it up.

That's the funniest thing I could think of at 12:30 am. I am so sorry. 

[Scott5114]

The proposed Muskogee Turnpike extension to Poteau

The proposed US 69 turnpike from the Red River to Big Cabin (excluding the freeway section from Muskogee to McAlester).

I think there was a proposal for a turnpike from OKC to the panhandle. 

This reminded me of another big turnpike proposal–a diagonal from I-35 at Davis to Ada to I-40 at Henryetta. Then it was cut back to a spur to Ada. Then it was cut back to Sulphur and Roff, and further cut back to two lanes, and what was actually built? You guessed it, the Chickasaw Turnpike.

[Stephane Dumas]

I spotted on DetroitYes forum, a thread about the proposed and aborted Michigan Turnpike authority in the 1950s.
http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?11826-Michigan-Turnpike-Authority
as well as a map of the proposed corridor
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Michigan_Turnpike_map_1955.png

[texaskdog]

Funny how the Houston to Corpus road was never built...until now

[roadman65]

The NJ Turnpike, had a proposal once to extend it northward to connect with the NY State Thruway, but as you can see now it never got built.

The Florida Turnpike once had a proposal to extend it north of its present day northern terminus to US 19/98 near Lebanon Station that got shelved for a while, but the talks are on again to make it happen.

[lepidopteran]

There was once a "Sunpike" toll road proposed for South Florida.  All I could find on it was
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1994-12-13/news/9412120445_1_tri-rail-toll-road-dade-county
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1995-02-06/business/9502030170_1_toll-roads-privatization-kimley

ISTR that in Ohio, the "missing link" of I-73 between Toledo and Columbus was once planned to be a toll road.  Not sure if it was to be multiplexed with (and toll added to?) I-75 north of Findlay, or a separate parallel highway was envisioned closer to US-23, but either way that ship sailed a while ago.

(The only toll road in the Buckeye State at present is the James W. Shocknessy Ohio Turnpike.  Unless you count the 50-cent toll on the Cedar Point Causeway, if that toll still exists.)

[jbnv]

I still don't get the thinking behind the Acadian Thruway proposal. It would have made more sense to have the thruway go from Texas to Mississippi, bypassing the major cities and passing between Baton Rouge and New Orleans but otherwise following the real I-10/12 corridor. Such a route would have actually facilitated cross-country traffic without the Baton Rouge cluster of the real route.

I don't remember which years, but there was a green (or yellow?) dashed line on some Rand McNally atlases in LA from the Westbank in New Orleans down to about Larose or so, for a few years, then nothing.  I don't know if this was ever a really-planned toll road that never went anywhere, or what.  I think this only appeared in the state-wide map; I don't remember seeing it in the New Orleans insets.

I think this was something that was proposed but not built. The part of it that actually exists is called the "Lafitte-Larose Highway" even though it doesn't even go to Lafitte, much less to Larose. There's a bridge north of Lafitte over the bayou that goes nowhere; it exits to the road along the bayou and just dies. (I've actually driven over it.) You can tell that it was designed to go to Larose, though.

I can't imagine at this time that Louisiana would ever build this. Perhaps to help commercial traffic go between Port Fourchon and New Orleans, which apparently isn't a big problem with existing roads. Other than that, I don't see a compelling reason to build it.

[mgk920]

Wasn't the Chicago Skyway originally planned to continue on northwestward through Chicago from its original 'ghost' stub end and then on towards the MStP area, roughly following US 12?  This would have continued the current cross-country tollway that runs eastward towards NYC.

Mike

[Joe The Dragon]

Crosstown Expressway was to link to the skyway.

The Northwest Tollway, Tri-State Tollway where built in the 1950's what was the plans for linking the Tri-State Tollway to IN tollroad back then? What the the MI toll road?