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

[Henry]

I think we'll find that there are few Interstates that meet the OP's criteria of ending at an arbitrary point, and far fewer that do so in a remote or rural area, as most of the examples that do exist (i.e. I-195 ME, I-565 AL) are in cities or urban areas.  The only one I can think of offhand that doesn't is I-69 southwest of Memphis, TN.

I don't think they have to be in remote or rural areas to qualify, just that they don't begin/end at an obvious location like an interchange or the physical end of the highway. I will grant, though, that most Interstates that do extend that little bit beyond their obvious interchange endpoints, like I-90 does in Seattle, then go on to end at some other pretty obvious points like a surface street intersection or, again, the physical end of the highway. There are certainly not many Interstates that just come into being as you happen to be tooling down some divided highway that wasn't previously an Interstate.

Maybe the west end of I-2 is like this? I haven't seen it, nor am I certain exactly where it begins.

...right now, the I-99 and I-86 temporary ends in NY seem to qualify...?

As do the nonsensical I-73 and I-74 in NC.

[vdeane]

There ought to be a special prize for CA 299, which changes from good 2-lane highway to a dirt track marked "unmaintained" at the Nevada border.

NY 421 deserves a similar prize. A little shorter than 6 miles, it leads nowhere and its western terminus is where it becomes a dirt road. At some point, I'm going to get up there. GSV doesn't even have imagery for it.

That one definitely takes the cake.  Other notable ones are NY 418 (ends at a truss bridge over the Hudson; only thing nearby is the train station) and NY 331 (ends at the Montgomery/Fulton county line out in farm country).  The end of NY 421 is just totally random.  I think it services a campground and the dirt road servicing a defunct station on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad and maybe another campground.  It has the lowest AADT of any state highway in NY.

Of course, there's also NY 171, notable for not connecting to another state highway period.

[cl94]

There ought to be a special prize for CA 299, which changes from good 2-lane highway to a dirt track marked "unmaintained" at the Nevada border.

NY 421 deserves a similar prize. A little shorter than 6 miles, it leads nowhere and its western terminus is where it becomes a dirt road. At some point, I'm going to get up there. GSV doesn't even have imagery for it.

That one definitely takes the cake.  Other notable ones are NY 418 (ends at a truss bridge over the Hudson; only thing nearby is the train station) and NY 331 (ends at the Montgomery/Fulton county line out in farm country).  The end of NY 421 is just totally random.  I think it services a campground and the dirt road servicing a defunct station on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad and maybe another campground.  It has the lowest AADT of any state highway in NY.

Of course, there's also NY 171, notable for not connecting to another state highway period.

I've driven NY 418. It has an interesting endpoint to let NYSDOT maintain the bridge, but at least it connects to CR 2 and CR 4, which provide access to all of western Warren County and northern Saratoga County. Traffic counts aren't high, but they're far from the lowest in Region 1, let alone the state. For the narrow, winding road it is, it sees quite a bit of traffic.

[Ian]

The north end of ME 161 west of Allagash is pretty desolate. Go any further past the end and you can easily get lost on the hundreds of miles of logging roads and ATV trails that exist in those parts of Maine.

[noelbotevera]

PA 163 does weird crap with its western terminus. It briefly enters Maryland then ends with farmland and a north-south 2 lane road than a 4 lane road. The I-81 interchange isn't far from you, and that 2 lane road takes you to Hagerstown. The shocker is that the 2 lane road is actually Greencastle Pike, A.K.A MD 63 on the Maryland side. You're actually in Maryland when you're at I-81 and here.

[bzakharin]

If we allow non-Interstate freeways, US 30 in PA, especially the freeway gap in Lancaster and Chester counties, comes to mind

[TEG24601]

Indiana's SR 18 ends at the Illinois state line. No Illinois highway on the other side, just a county road.

[bzakharin]

Indiana's SR 18 ends at the Illinois state line. No Illinois highway on the other side, just a county road.

NJ 90 (a freeway, no less) ceases ends at the PA state line (though the freeway itself does briefly continue unnumbered, ending at I-95).

[noelbotevera]

Indiana's SR 18 ends at the Illinois state line. No Illinois highway on the other side, just a county road.

NJ 90 (a freeway, no less) ceases ends at the PA state line (though the freeway itself does briefly continue unnumbered, ending at I-95).

That makes sense because NJ 90 is the Betsy Ross Bridge - technically NJ 90 ends there.

[Pete from Boston]

A-410 and A-610 outside Sherbrooke

[SD Mapman]

There ought to be a special prize for CA 299, which changes from good 2-lane highway to a dirt track marked "unmaintained" at the Nevada border.

NY 421 deserves a similar prize. A little shorter than 6 miles, it leads nowhere and its western terminus is where it becomes a dirt road. At some point, I'm going to get up there. GSV doesn't even have imagery for it.

That one definitely takes the cake.  Other notable ones are NY 418 (ends at a truss bridge over the Hudson; only thing nearby is the train station) and NY 331 (ends at the Montgomery/Fulton county line out in farm country).  The end of NY 421 is just totally random.  I think it services a campground and the dirt road servicing a defunct station on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad and maybe another campground.  It has the lowest AADT of any state highway in NY.

Of course, there's also NY 171, notable for not connecting to another state highway period.

A TON of highways out West end like that. Wyoming has a bunch of dead-end spurs to nowhere, and UT 312 is about 5 miles from any other state highway.

[ekt8750]

Indiana's SR 18 ends at the Illinois state line. No Illinois highway on the other side, just a county road.

NJ 90 (a freeway, no less) ceases ends at the PA state line (though the freeway itself does briefly continue unnumbered, ending at I-95).

That makes sense because NJ 90 is the Betsy Ross Bridge - technically NJ 90 ends there.

Given DRPA's status as a joint state entity NJ 90 does continue across the bridge to the I-95 interchange.

[noelbotevera]

Indiana's SR 18 ends at the Illinois state line. No Illinois highway on the other side, just a county road.

NJ 90 (a freeway, no less) ceases ends at the PA state line (though the freeway itself does briefly continue unnumbered, ending at I-95).

That makes sense because NJ 90 is the Betsy Ross Bridge - technically NJ 90 ends there.

Given DRPA's status as a joint state entity NJ 90 does continue across the bridge to the I-95 interchange.

It's signed as if it continues to the I-95 interchange, but in reality it either ends midspan or at the beginning of the bridge.

[bzakharin]

Indiana's SR 18 ends at the Illinois state line. No Illinois highway on the other side, just a county road.

NJ 90 (a freeway, no less) ceases ends at the PA state line (though the freeway itself does briefly continue unnumbered, ending at I-95).

That makes sense because NJ 90 is the Betsy Ross Bridge - technically NJ 90 ends there.

Given DRPA's status as a joint state entity NJ 90 does continue across the bridge to the I-95 interchange.

It's signed as if it continues to the I-95 interchange, but in reality it either ends midspan or at the beginning of the bridge.

It's only signed that way at the exit from I-95. Once you're actually on the roadway on the PA side, there is a TO before the 90 shield: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9934677,-75.0791039,3a,75y,146.87h,83.68t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sI-A5gsYw4Q4Ej3HmDcr9Vg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!5m1!1e1!6m1!1e1. And this sign on the NJ side implies you're still not on NJ 90: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9830938,-75.0620807,3a,75y,119.11h,107.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sevGHCZC3VV5aeub8h7YdcA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!5m1!1e1!6m1!1e1 (unless it means stay on NJ 90 instead of exiting onto US 130). The next sign with essentially the same message and still on the bridge says to "follow" NJ 90 instead of "use" it and has a black square background, while a third sign is a carbon copy of the first. Did NJDOT install the middle sign for some reason?

The first reassurance sign along with a pull-through is past the toll barrier on the NJ side. But I assume it ends midspan since that's generally how NJ borders work for state routes.

[SteveG1988]

Interstate 57. Just starts at the end of the US 60 "expressway" and I-55 at a cloverleaf.

Interstate 76 in Ohio starts way outside of Akron at Westfield.

[PHLBOS]

Indiana's SR 18 ends at the Illinois state line. No Illinois highway on the other side, just a county road.

NJ 90 (a freeway, no less) ceases ends at the PA state line (though the freeway itself does briefly continue unnumbered, ending at I-95).

That makes sense because NJ 90 is the Betsy Ross Bridge - technically NJ 90 ends there.

Given DRPA's status as a joint state entity NJ 90 does continue across the bridge to the I-95 interchange.

It's signed as if it continues to the I-95 interchange, but in reality it either ends midspan or at the beginning of the bridge.

It's only signed that way at the exit from I-95. Once you're actually on the roadway on the PA side, there is a TO before the 90 shield: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9934677,-75.0791039,3a,75y,146.87h,83.68t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sI-A5gsYw4Q4Ej3HmDcr9Vg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!5m1!1e1!6m1!1e1. And this sign on the NJ side implies you're still not on NJ 90: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9830938,-75.0620807,3a,75y,119.11h,107.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sevGHCZC3VV5aeub8h7YdcA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!5m1!1e1!6m1!1e1 (unless it means stay on NJ 90 instead of exiting onto US 130). The next sign with essentially the same message and still on the bridge says to "follow" NJ 90 instead of "use" it and has a black square background, while a third sign is a carbon copy of the first. Did NJDOT install the middle sign for some reason?

The first reassurance sign along with a pull-through is past the toll barrier on the NJ side. But I assume it ends midspan since that's generally how NJ borders work for state routes.

I believe the above-signage inconsistencies (let's call it for what it is) is largely due to PennDOT, the DRPA, and NJDOT not fully communicating with each other.

It's worth noting that the original interchange signage off I-95 for the Besty Ross Bridge (PennDOT button-copy BGS') had no route number listings at all.  The BGS' simply read:

Besty Ross Bridge
   Pennsauken
   New Jersey

My guess is that the spelled-out New Jersey was a temporary placeholder for a future Tacony/Pulaski Expressway destination listing (that never came to be) en lieu of just a blank green space.

At the ramp splits, the original BGS' for the bridge had a blank space for a future Route 90 shield (it probably would've been a PA Keystone or PA XX in text form (or NJ shield/text for eastbound/PA shield/text for westbound) had the Expressway west of the interchange been built.  Those BGS' read:

            EAST
Betsy Ross Bridge
   Pennsauken

At the southbound ramp split, there was one blank BGS reserved for the cancelled-expressway exit (the northbound gantry had no blank BGS board); which was replaced with new signage when the Aramingo Ave. connection was made circa 1999-2000.  That project include the erection of the current I-95 interchange signage w/the NJ 90 shields on PennDOT BGS'.

Given that there is only NJ 90 shields (as opposed to PA 90 shields) on the PA-side of the bridge; it's a reasonable assumption that NJ 90 officially ends either somewhere mid-span or at the tollbooths located on the Jersey-side.  If it is indeed the latter, then the DPRA BGS with the TO prefix is indeed appropriate.  OTOH, if it's the former, then DRPA should remove the TO prefix.

[SteveG1988]

Indiana's SR 18 ends at the Illinois state line. No Illinois highway on the other side, just a county road.

NJ 90 (a freeway, no less) ceases ends at the PA state line (though the freeway itself does briefly continue unnumbered, ending at I-95).

That makes sense because NJ 90 is the Betsy Ross Bridge - technically NJ 90 ends there.

Given DRPA's status as a joint state entity NJ 90 does continue across the bridge to the I-95 interchange.

It's signed as if it continues to the I-95 interchange, but in reality it either ends midspan or at the beginning of the bridge.

It's only signed that way at the exit from I-95. Once you're actually on the roadway on the PA side, there is a TO before the 90 shield: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9934677,-75.0791039,3a,75y,146.87h,83.68t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sI-A5gsYw4Q4Ej3HmDcr9Vg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!5m1!1e1!6m1!1e1. And this sign on the NJ side implies you're still not on NJ 90: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.9830938,-75.0620807,3a,75y,119.11h,107.36t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sevGHCZC3VV5aeub8h7YdcA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!5m1!1e1!6m1!1e1 (unless it means stay on NJ 90 instead of exiting onto US 130). The next sign with essentially the same message and still on the bridge says to "follow" NJ 90 instead of "use" it and has a black square background, while a third sign is a carbon copy of the first. Did NJDOT install the middle sign for some reason?

The first reassurance sign along with a pull-through is past the toll barrier on the NJ side. But I assume it ends midspan since that's generally how NJ borders work for state routes.

I believe the above-signage inconsistencies (let's call it for what it is) is largely due to PennDOT, the DRPA, and NJDOT not fully communicating with each other.

It's worth noting that the original interchange signage off I-95 for the Besty Ross Bridge (PennDOT button-copy BGS') had no route number listings at all.  The BGS' simply read:

Besty Ross Bridge
   Pennsauken
   New Jersey

My guess is that the spelled-out New Jersey was a temporary placeholder for a future Tacony/Pulaski Expressway destination listing (that never came to be) en lieu of just a blank green space.

At the ramp splits, the original BGS' for the bridge had a blank space for a future Route 90 shield (it probably would've been a PA Keystone or PA XX in text form (or NJ shield/text for eastbound/PA shield/text for westbound) had the Expressway west of the interchange been built.  Those BGS' read:

            EAST
Betsy Ross Bridge
   Pennsauken

At the southbound ramp split, there was one blank BGS reserved for the cancelled-expressway exit (the northbound gantry had no blank BGS board); which was replaced with new signage when the Aramingo Ave. connection was made circa 1999-2000.  That project include the erection of the current I-95 interchange signage w/the NJ 90 shields on PennDOT BGS'.

Given that there is only NJ 90 shields (as opposed to PA 90 shields) on the PA-side of the bridge; it's a reasonable assumption that NJ 90 officially ends either somewhere mid-span or at the tollbooths located on the Jersey-side.  If it is indeed the latter, then the DPRA BGS with the TO prefix is indeed appropriate.  OTOH, if it's the former, then DRPA should remove the TO prefix.

You could also argue that NJ90 ends when DRPA maintence starts.

I've been through there recently, they're really tearing up the ghost ramp config, making it an actual road now.

[PHLBOS]

Given that there is only NJ 90 shields (as opposed to PA 90 shields) on the PA-side of the bridge; it's a reasonable assumption that NJ 90 officially ends either somewhere mid-span or at the tollbooths located on the Jersey-side.  If it is indeed the latter, then the DPRA BGS with the TO prefix is indeed appropriate.  OTOH, if it's the former, then DRPA should remove the TO prefix.

You could also argue that NJ90 ends when DRPA maintence starts.

I believe such was the implied intent with my earlier-mentioned NJ 90 possibly ending at the tollbooths (see above-repost).

I've been through there recently, they're really tearing up the ghost ramp config, making it an actual road now.

Yep.  IMHO, this work should've been done when the ramps from Aramingo Ave. to I-95 were built some 15 to 16 years ago.

[ekt8750]

Given that there is only NJ 90 shields (as opposed to PA 90 shields) on the PA-side of the bridge; it's a reasonable assumption that NJ 90 officially ends either somewhere mid-span or at the tollbooths located on the Jersey-side.  If it is indeed the latter, then the DPRA BGS with the TO prefix is indeed appropriate.  OTOH, if it's the former, then DRPA should remove the TO prefix.

You could also argue that NJ90 ends when DRPA maintence starts.

I believe such was the implied intent with my earlier-mentioned NJ 90 possibly ending at the tollbooths (see above-repost).

I've been through there recently, they're really tearing up the ghost ramp config, making it an actual road now.

Yep.  IMHO, this work should've been done when the ramps from Aramingo Ave. to I-95 were built some 15 to 16 years ago.

I'm pretty sure DRPA maintains the entire road from NJ 73 through the PA side of the bridge where the ramps start.

[JCinSummerfield]

Indiana's SR 18 ends at the Illinois state line. No Illinois highway on the other side, just a county road.

How about IN-120, ending at the Michigan line, where it continues east as a local road, until it drops south into Ohio, where it continues on as OH-120.

[catch22]

Indiana's SR 18 ends at the Illinois state line. No Illinois highway on the other side, just a county road.

How about IN-120, ending at the Michigan line, where it continues east as a local road, until it drops south into Ohio, where it continues on as OH-120.

Prior to 1961, the local road was M-120 as well.

http://www.michiganhighways.org/listings/MichHwys120-139.html#M-120

[PHLBOS]

I'm pretty sure DRPA maintains the entire road from NJ 73 through the PA side of the bridge where the ramps start.

I'm not sure about maintenance; but NJDOT-spec'd signage starts (for NJ 90 Eastbound) just after the offramp for US 130.

Had NJ 90 continued eastward towards I-295, as originally planned; that stretch would've certainly been NJDOT maintained unless such was a tolled road.

[theline]

Indiana's SR 18 ends at the Illinois state line. No Illinois highway on the other side, just a county road.

How about IN-120, ending at the Michigan line, where it continues east as a local road, until it drops south into Ohio, where it continues on as OH-120.

Prior to 1961, the local road was M-120 as well.

http://www.michiganhighways.org/listings/MichHwys120-139.html#M-120

Around the country there must be lots of examples like Indiana's SR 18 becoming a county road when it continues into Illinois. A quick check of the Indiana-Michigan border reveals these:

• Michigan's M-217 becomes Elkhart County Road 17 at the Indiana line. There are no shields on the Indiana road, since Indiana doesn't do that.
• Indiana's SR-327 becomes Rierson Road in Michigan.
• Indiana's SR-120, as mentioned above.

[TravelingBethelite]

Missouri 76 ends at a county dirt road at the border in Tipp City, Oklahoma.

[OracleUsr]

Doesn't I-229 in Sioux Falls end in a dirt road too?   Granted it's at I-90 (I think) but still.

Also, does I-8 end at I-5 or Sea World?