removed freeways in North America

[NE2]

[updated list]


Full closures

    Fall River: Route 79 (double decker section)
    Gary: Cline Avenue Bridge
    Milwaukee: Park East Freeway
    New Haven: Oak Street Connector
    New York City: West Side Elevated Highway
    Niagara Falls: Robert Moses State Parkway
    Rochester: Inner Loop
    San Francisco: Central Freeway, Embarcadero Freeway, Southern-Embarcadero Freeway (unopened structure to 3rd Street)
    Toronto: Gardiner Expressway (east of Don Valley Parkway)
    Washington, D.C.: Southeast Freeway

Direct conversions into surface roads (same roadway but intersections added)

    Carlsbad: Carlsbad Boulevard (south of CR S12; bypassed by I-5)
    Chattanooga: Riverside Drive
    Minneapolis: County Road 122
    Phoenix: Sky Harbor Expressway (parallel SR 143 handles through traffic)
    Sacramento: West Sacramento Freeway (bypassed by the W-X Freeway)

Horizontal or vertical relocations

    Boston: Central Artery
    Fort Worth: I-30
    Oakland: Cypress Street Viaduct
    Oklahoma City: Crosstown Expressway
    Portland: Harbor Drive (closed after parallel I-5 and I-405 were built)
    Providence: Iway project
    Seattle: Alaskan Way Viaduct and Battery Street Tunnel (under construction)

Rural/suburban relocations

    Florida: SR 4080, SR 429 (at SR 414)
    Missouri: I-44 (east of Arlington)
    Oklahoma: Will Rogers Turnpike (west of Creek Turnpike)
    Pennsylvania: Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike

[pumpkineater2]

A section of I-44 east of Tulsa: https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=36.177269,-95.73976&spn=0.002863,0.004128&t=h&z=19&vpsrc=6&layer=c&cbll=36.177269,-95.73976&panoid=o0DuXPpT6UnFSY1aduadeA&cbp=12,259.54,,0,6.61

AZ 153- East of Sky harbor airport.

[NE2]

AZ 153- East of Sky harbor airport.

That one looks slightly questionable, in that the road's still there; it just had a few at-grades added.

I did list I-44 east of Tulsa.

[PHLBOS]

Freeway section of CT 34 in New Haven.  I believe that work has since started on this project.

[NE2]

Freeway section of CT 34 in New Haven.  I believe that work has since started on this project.

Already listed.

[oscar]

Only the east end of the Southeast Freeway in Washington D.C. has been closed.  (It is being rebuilt as a surface street, but it hasn't yet been reopened as such.)  The part west of the 11th St. Bridge remains open, as part of I-695.

[pumpkineater2]

I did list I-44 east of Tulsa.

You certainly did. My bad.

[dfwmapper]

In progress, Dallas: S. M. Wright Freeway (US 175)

[NE2]

In progress, Dallas: S. M. Wright Freeway (US 175)

But not actually happening yet, right? There are many that are "in progress" at some level.

[Revive 755]

[updated list]
    Phoenix: Sky Harbor Expressway (road kept but at-grade intersections added; parallel SR 143 handles through traffic)

Is this now Sky Harbor Boulevard or 44th Street?  AZ 143 parallels 44th Street, while Sky Harbor Boulevard would be bypassed by either Loop 202 or I-10.

* Riverfront Parkway in Chattanooga, TN:  Had at at-grade intersections added.

[NE2]

[updated list]
    Phoenix: Sky Harbor Expressway (road kept but at-grade intersections added; parallel SR 143 handles through traffic)

Is this now Sky Harbor Boulevard or 44th Street?  AZ 143 parallels 44th Street, while Sky Harbor Boulevard would be bypassed by either Loop 202 or I-10.

44th.

* Riverfront Parkway in Chattanooga, TN:  Had at at-grade intersections added.

Hmmm. A bit short but I suppose it counts.


[edit]I'm not going to count the Sam Jones/Airport Expressway in Indy. In my book it's still a freeway; all that changed was the west end.


[edit]Oh shit, CA 275.

[SSOWorld]

[updated list]


Full closures

    Milwaukee: Park East Freeway

Direct conversions into surface roads

    Milwaukee: Park East Freeway

...trimmed out

as noted.

[NE2]

No. The conversion was not direct, as the elevated structure was removed. Those I listed as direct conversions kept the same exact roadway, but had intersections added.

[lepidopteran]

In Columbus, OH, US-33 was a freeway, sort of, as it passed through the Spring-Sandusky Interchange (an I-670 stub and OH-315).  When the interchange was reconstructed over several years from the late-90's - early 2000's, US-33 stopped "pretending" to be a freeway and was made into a boulevard with signalized at-grade intersections.

[MarkF]

Shoreline Drive in Long Beach, CA was once a freeway from the 710 end.
Old US 101 in south Carlsbad, CA used to be freeway from Palomar Airport Road to La Costa.

[dfwmapper]

In progress, Dallas: S. M. Wright Freeway (US 175)

But not actually happening yet, right? There are many that are "in progress" at some level.

The contract for Phase 1 (widening I-45 and building the new ramps from it to the existing C.F. Hawn (US 175) freeway) was awarded at the end of September, but construction hasn't started yet. Tearing down the existing freeway is Phase 2 and that isn't scheduled to be let until early 2017.

[NE2]

Shoreline Drive in Long Beach, CA was once a freeway from the 710 end.

And it still is, except that there's now a light at the end of a U-turn ramp. As nothing was removed or even reconfigured, I'm not counting it.

Old US 101 in south Carlsbad, CA used to be freeway from Palomar Airport Road to La Costa.

Took some poking at old aerials, but I see it. Looks like at-grades were added first, then the interchanges were removed. Definitely fits in the direct conversion list.

[Brandon]

[updated list]

Full closures

      Gary: Cline Avenue Bridge

Only because the bridge was unsafe for travel.  A new one is being debated about (how to pay for it).

[OCGuy81]

The Mt. Hood Freeway in Portland was never fully built, correct?  I seem to recall a post on here mentioning some old ramps that led to it however, so perhaps part of it WAS built? Is that correct?

[TheStranger]

    San Francisco: Central Freeway

Since you've mentioned specific sections of routes (when applicable) I do want to clarify that only the section north of Market Street was removed, with Octavia Boulevard replacing the portion to Fell, and no replacement from there northeast to Franklin (the section that was closed right after Loma Prieta).  The portion from 80 west to where the road turns to meet Market is still the original structure.

[NE2]

The Mt. Hood Freeway in Portland was never fully built, correct?  I seem to recall a post on here mentioning some old ramps that led to it however, so perhaps part of it WAS built? Is that correct?

Only a few stub ramps were built.

Since you've mentioned specific sections of routes (when applicable) I do want to clarify...

I do that where it's not well known which pieces were removed. Generally, if the Wikipoo article is clear about where it used to be, it's not listed.

[3467]

Also short, the sub ramps for the Western Ave Freeway were removed from the Kennedy Expy in Chicago . That may have been one of the few cases where actual construction took place before anything more than a line on a map was drawn. It was a line on a map in the 1963 CATS plan. In the 2010 CATS plan a sort section was proposed between the Stevenson and Ike was proposed but removed by the 2020 plan

[Alex]

Florida 4080, the original connector between the East-West Expwy (SR 408) and Central Greeneway (SR 417) in east Orlando. More or less its own limited access route, removed in favor of new flyovers directly connecting the two toll roads.

[roadman]

Fall River Route 79 (double decker section) is a direct conversion into a surface road, not a full closure.

[vtk]

Original I-70 between then OH 440 and OH 158. Eastbound half remains open, grade separated, as two way OH 158; interchange converted to intersection at west end; road rerouted from interchange to new intersection at east end.