Beginnings of Interstates/highways that are in the middle of nowhere

[Buffaboy]

What interstates begin/end in the middle of nowhere (or an arbitrary point as froggie said), and/or have no begin signs? Interstate 72 in Illinois is setup like this.

Basically, I'm talking about the formation of a major road that comes out of nowhere.

[The Nature Boy]

I-95 begins in Houlton, ME which is as middle of nowhere as it gets on the east coast.

[US71]

What interstates begin in the middle of nowhere, and have no begin signs? Interstate 72 in Illinois is setup like this.

If you count 3di, there are no Begin or End signs on I-540 Arkansas. US 271 enters from Oklahoma as a divided road and 540 begins where 271 splits off at 253.

[kkt]

Sweet Grass, Montana, the north end of I-15 has a grain silo, a duty-free shop, and a post office...

[kkt]

The north end of I-29 at the Canadian border doesn't even have that much.

[kkt]

I-70's west end is usually listed as Cove Fort, but the actual junction with I-15 is empty.  Cove Fort is a couple of miles away, and the only noteworthy thing there is a historic site.

[Ace10]

There's not much going on at the western end of I-20 (at I-10 in Texas). I can't say for sure whether or not begin/end signs exist, but there is not much civilization to speak of around that point.

[tdindy88]

I-69 in Southern Indiana currently begins in the middle of nowhere at a half-diamond exit with US 231. Of course this is a temporary terminus which probably accounts for the lack of begin/end signs. By the end of the year this situation will be improved.

[froggie]

Interstate 72 in Illinois is setup like this.

I wouldn't exactly call Champaign the "middle of nowhere"...it's a major college town with over 120K people in the area (83K in the city alone).  And I wouldn't call its endpoint nowhere either, especially now that there's residential development in 2 quadrants of the interchange...

If you count 3di, there are no Begin or End signs on I-540 Arkansas. US 271 enters from Oklahoma as a divided road and 540 begins where 271 splits off at 253.

But, being in the Fort Smith area, I wouldn't call that the "middle of nowhere" either.

The I-70 and I-20 examples are probably the best ones out there.

(EDIT:  fixed since I have a certain Vermont lake on the brain. Danke, Brandon.)

[Brandon]

Interstate 72 in Illinois is setup like this.

I wouldn't exactly call Champlain Champaign the "middle of nowhere"...it's a major college town with over 120K people in the area (83K in the city alone).  And I wouldn't call its endpoint nowhere either, especially now that there's residential development in 2 quadrants of the interchange...

Champaign-Urbana, more appropriately.  The U of I is in both municipalities.  And Hannibal, Missouri isn't all that small either.

[TravelingBethelite]

Sturbridge for I-84 isn't particularly big or populated, but there are begin/end signs on account of the Mass Pike toll booth complexes. On the other end, I-84 is fairly rural really all the way up to I-81, but then you get into Scranton there. However, there are End shields there.


EDIT: There are no end shields at I-81.

[empirestate]

Hmm, I'm thinking that by "middle of nowhere" the OP means not that the terminus is particularly remote, but just that the Interstate designation kicks in at some relatively arbitrary location, not right at an interchange. Is that it?


iPhone

[noelbotevera]

I-83 ends a little weirdly in the east side of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. You're in the middle of Colonial Park, a nice suburb of Harrisburg and about six or so miles from Linglestown.

[The Nature Boy]

Hmm, I'm thinking that by "middle of nowhere" the OP means not that the terminus is particularly remote, but just that the Interstate designation kicks in at some relatively arbitrary location, not right at an interchange. Is that it?


iPhone

Outside of incomplete interstates, does that really happen all that often?

[Buffaboy]

Sweet Grass, Montana, the north end of I-15 has a grain silo, a duty-free shop, and a post office...

It's as if it hits a wall and can't go any further.

[Buffaboy]

Hmm, I'm thinking that by "middle of nowhere" the OP means not that the terminus is particularly remote, but just that the Interstate designation kicks in at some relatively arbitrary location, not right at an interchange. Is that it?


iPhone

Correct.

[Rothman]

Of course US 83 is The Road to Nowhere for Brownsville to...nowhere.

[jp the roadgeek]

The WEST end of I-78

[Pete from Boston]

I-384, both parts

[sdmichael]

Hmm, I'm thinking that by "middle of nowhere" the OP means not that the terminus is particularly remote, but just that the Interstate designation kicks in at some relatively arbitrary location, not right at an interchange. Is that it?

That is the way I interpreted the question. Lots of roadways begin/end in what some may call "the middle of nowhere". What is rarer are roadways that become freeways/expressways on a new alignment and are not directly connected to the roadway they are bypassing. I can think of a few such examples in West Virginia? along some of those Corridor XYZ roadways. Many of the current Interstate freeways had segments like this, but now are completely connected.

[hotdogPi]

Not an Interstate, but the freeway segment of MA 2 in the western half of the state begins at an arbitrary place – starting at exit 14 and increasing, no other major roads nearby (MA US 202 is not major), and no connection to another freeway until reaching I-190.

[ModernDayWarrior]

Before it was extended west to I-70, I-64's western terminus was not at an interchange, but at the Daniel Boone Bridge across the Missouri River, roughly thirty miles west of downtown St. Louis.

[hbelkins]

North end of I-26 in Tennessee. It's at an interchange, but there's no logical reason it can't continue on to the end of the freeway at the next exit.

I also don't understand why I-140 in North Carolina doesn't continue all the way to US 17.

[Bruce]

I-82 at both ends (outskirts of Ellensburg, WA and outskirts of Hermiston, OR).

US 195's southern terminus near Lewiston, ID is on a lonely ridge.

[kkt]

I-90's west end is a bit west of I-5, not at an interchange.