Highways we would've called implausible, impossible, or not needed

[paulthemapguy]

Illinois's I-180 is garbage.  Everyone knows that.

I-93 north of I-89 is an interesting thought.  Who knew an Interstate could be 2 lanes wide?  Eff that noise 

Some would argue I-77 from Charleston to Cleveland...this is being discussed in another thread I believe.

[SD Mapman]

Iron Mountain Road, a highway everyone knew was unnecessary but they built it anyway (to get tourist money).

[roadman65]

Right now the Poinciana Parkway is not needed as it ends in Loughman, FL and not many people from the area of Loughman in Polk County, FL travels to and from the other end of the super two parkway.

Its intended to go further and someday connect to I-4, however until that is done the road is useless.  Even though it connects with Ronald Reagan Parkway that is a four lane arterial stretching out to US 27, with all the sprawl in between and its lack of connection to I-4 is a factor.

[dvferyance]

I don't live in metro St Louis so what do I know but was MO-364 really that necessary? Both I-64 and I-70 aren't very far away why do you need another freeway in between them?

[Rick Powell]

Many would've said "why upgrade US 66 to interstate standards in Illinois?"  It was already a 4-lane expressway in the mid-70's, with a few freeway sections, when it was upgraded.

Disclaimer: I worked on the I-55 construction as a teenager in the 70s.

[Avalanchez71]

You cannot compare the Chicago to Saint Louis corridor to the Utah I-70 corridor.  That is apples and oranges.

[pianocello]

Many would've said "why upgrade US 66 to interstate standards in Illinois?"  It was already a 4-lane expressway in the mid-70's, with a few freeway sections, when it was upgraded.

You cannot compare the Chicago to Saint Louis corridor to the Utah I-70 corridor.  That is apples and oranges.

Meh, I would've been in the same camp, assuming the non-freeway sections didn't have any stoplights and a comparable speed limit. I would liken it to upgrading US-61 in Iowa or US-151 in Wisconsin to an Interstate-standard freeway today: Don't fix what's not broken.

Granted, looking back at I-55 today, it would seem ridiculous if it wasn't an Interstate.

[Rick Powell]

Many would've said "why upgrade US 66 to interstate standards in Illinois?"  It was already a 4-lane expressway in the mid-70's, with a few freeway sections, when it was upgraded.

You cannot compare the Chicago to Saint Louis corridor to the Utah I-70 corridor.  That is apples and oranges.

Meh, I would've been in the same camp, assuming the non-freeway sections didn't have any stoplights and a comparable speed limit. I would liken it to upgrading US-61 in Iowa or US-151 in Wisconsin to an Interstate-standard freeway today: Don't fix what's not broken.

Granted, looking back at I-55 today, it would seem ridiculous if it wasn't an Interstate.

Speed limit 70 (before Nixon's 55 mph national speed limit) but there were some stoplights. The one on IL 23 north of Dwight was a doozy for crashes, because it was the first stoplight going south out of Chicago after a 70-some mile stretch of freeway.  There was a grade separation at IL 17, but at least one stoplight in every sizable town south of there until the west bypass in Bloomington-Normal which was freeway standard by the mid-60's. Can't recall much south of McLean, but I think Springfield's section of I-55 was built before the sections north and south of town, which were also expressway standard. There were a few railroad grade crossings too, but not on lines that had a whole lot of traffic from what I can remember.

[silverback1065]

i-69 south of memphis, tn. Also i-64 in downtown st louis, why not multiplex it with i-44 just to the south, and have it split off at hampton ave?  Also i-229 there are ideas floating around on whether they need it anymore.

[kkt]

The Golden Gate Bridge was pretty widely regarded as impossible to build.

The Tioga Pass highway, California 120 from Yosemite Valley to Lee Vining was very difficult and of questionable need as it's through the park.

[Max Rockatansky]

The Golden Gate Bridge was pretty widely regarded as impossible to build.

The Tioga Pass highway, California 120 from Yosemite Valley to Lee Vining was very difficult and of questionable need as it's through the park.

Yeah but a lot of Tioga was already there through Lee Vining Canyon and to Yosemite via Big Oak Flat due to the mines, really all that was left was to connect the two roads.  Basically the grade from Big Oak Flat to Tioga Pass is very gentle, so you already have the difficult part with Lee Vining Canyon why not?  Back in those days there was some pretty aggressive road building up in the mountains.  Even the Generals Highway got finished by the mid-1930s.  I'd argue that the Generals Highway was a much more difficult build out of the two since it was basically brand new road completely on a high mountain grade.

[Revive 755]

I don't live in metro St Louis so what do I know but was MO-364 really that necessary? Both I-64 and I-70 aren't very far away why do you need another freeway in between them?

Because both I-70 and US 40 had major congestion at their crossings of the Missouri River before MO 364 was built.  Now MO 364 allows some of the congestion on US 40 west of Route K to be bypassed as well.

Also i-64 in downtown st louis, why not multiplex it with i-44 just to the south, and have it split off at hampton ave?

The freeway section of US 40 between Skinker and Vandeventer existed long before I-44 was built.  I-44 was also intended to relieve some of the congestion on US 40.

[roadman65]

Having both I-69E and I-69C.  They both are within 20 miles of each other, you think that NAFTA would have suggested just an I-69E only that runs midway between the two or only use one of the two suggested freeways.

Considering that Kenedy County, Texas will never get sprawl, the upgrade of US 77 is totally unnecessary.  The way it is now gets the same freeway speed limit, and how many cars pulling out from driveways are there to cause an issue with major slowdowns.

[silverback1065]

Having both I-69E and I-69C.  They both are within 20 miles of each other, you think that NAFTA would have suggested just an I-69E only that runs midway between the two or only use one of the two suggested freeways.

Considering that Kenedy County, Texas will never get sprawl, the upgrade of US 77 is totally unnecessary.  The way it is now gets the same freeway speed limit, and how many cars pulling out from driveways are there to cause an issue with major slowdowns.

texas kind of lost it's mind with 69, there only needed to be one, but honestly I don't think they really needed it at all.

[Gnutella]

Some would argue I-77 from Charleston to Cleveland...this is being discussed in another thread I believe.

I-77 also serves Akron, Canton and Parkersburg. It seems plenty useful to me.

[silverback1065]

I'd honestly rethink the downtown interstates in almost every major city.  But I'll put 2 here: in kansas city, reroute 70 onto 670, and don't build that northern portion of the box around the downtown area, route 35 on the southern portion of downtown.  Pittsburgh, replace 579 with a surface street.

[TXtoNJ]

Did anyone mention I-80(N) in PA? Pretty sure that would have made us apoplectic in the '60s.

[DandyDan]

Illinois's I-180 is garbage.  Everyone knows that.

I-180 is mostly just a wasted interstate shield.  If they had built a freeway to Peoria, that alone would justify it.  As it is, it's better if you are trying to get somewhere fast to follow I-180 to IL 29 than to follow IL 29 around the curve of the Illinois River.  As for the east west segment, that includes a bridge which I assume is an upgrade of an old bridge which I assume went to High Street in Hennepin and used to be signed as IL 26.  The only truly objectionable aspect of I-180 is making that route an interstate.  But all the parts make sense.

[vdeane]

I-180 was built to serve a steel company (which presumably sold the steel to defense contractors) in Hennepin.  In hindsight, it probably shouldn't have been built, since the company folded soon after I-180 opened, but there was presumably no way to know that at the time.

[cpzilliacus]

Try telling someone 100 years ago that people working in a city would live 20-30+ miles away from it.

In some metropolitan areas they were definitely  doing this 100 years ago.

Probably not "streetcar suburbs," but definitely suburbs served by railroads with what would today be called commuter rail service.  In the suburbs of Washington, D.C. that includes Rockville, Maryland (around  20 miles out by car, less by railroad); Washington Grove, (about 25 miles out), and Gaithersburg (about 27 miles out).

Similarly, I believe it was possible to ride trains to relatively distant locations on the Long Island Railroad and predecessors to the Metro-North Railroad over 100 years ago.

[kkt]

Try telling someone 100 years ago that people working in a city would live 20-30+ miles away from it.

In some metropolitan areas they were definitely  doing this 100 years ago.

Probably not "streetcar suburbs," but definitely suburbs served by railroads with what would today be called commuter rail service.  In the suburbs of Washington, D.C. that includes Rockville, Maryland (around  20 miles out by car, less by railroad); Washington Grove, (about 25 miles out), and Gaithersburg (about 27 miles out).

Similarly, I believe it was possible to ride trains to relatively distant locations on the Long Island Railroad and predecessors to the Metro-North Railroad over 100 years ago.

Yes, even San Francisco had railroad commuter suburbs south to Atherton by 1916.

However automobiles were still very much in the "toys for the very rich" stage.

[GCrites]

Try telling someone 100 years ago that people working in a city would live 20-30+ miles away from it.

In some metropolitan areas they were definitely  doing this 100 years ago.

Probably not "streetcar suburbs," but definitely suburbs served by railroads with what would today be called commuter rail service.  In the suburbs of Washington, D.C. that includes Rockville, Maryland (around  20 miles out by car, less by railroad); Washington Grove, (about 25 miles out), and Gaithersburg (about 27 miles out).

Similarly, I believe it was possible to ride trains to relatively distant locations on the Long Island Railroad and predecessors to the Metro-North Railroad over 100 years ago.

The Ohio electric Interurbans hit 80-90 mph 100 years ago. They probably shouldn't have considering the track conditions of the time but they did it. I have the schedule cards somewhere digitally. They were stopping at a lot of places that simply don't exist any more though.

[Max Rockatansky]

Try telling someone 100 years ago that people working in a city would live 20-30+ miles away from it.

In some metropolitan areas they were definitely  doing this 100 years ago.

Probably not "streetcar suburbs," but definitely suburbs served by railroads with what would today be called commuter rail service.  In the suburbs of Washington, D.C. that includes Rockville, Maryland (around  20 miles out by car, less by railroad); Washington Grove, (about 25 miles out), and Gaithersburg (about 27 miles out).

Similarly, I believe it was possible to ride trains to relatively distant locations on the Long Island Railroad and predecessors to the Metro-North Railroad over 100 years ago.

The Ohio electric Interurbans hit 80-90 mph 100 years ago. They probably shouldn't have considering the track conditions of the time but they did it. I have the schedule cards somewhere digitally. They were stopping at a lot of places that simply don't exist any more though.

The stops are true of almost any railroad coming out of the steam age at the time though.  There are so many dead towns across the country that used to service the rails and in turns had stopping points.  That's where a lot of those weird little blips on the map come from most of the time along side rail tracks, usually there was a rail siding that no longer exists.  I still don't get why Google Maps shows so many of them.

[mgk920]

I would have raised major objections to I-87 north of Albany, NY - build it through what?!?!?!



Instead, I would have routed it along US 7 through Vermont, crossing over to the Capitol region via NY 7.

Mike

[vdeane]

US 4 to NY 7 would be better than NY 7 - that way you still service Saratoga Springs and Lake George.  NY 7 and US 7 through southern Vermont could be I-487 or something.