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[Beltway]

I find it hard to believe that I-94 from Milwaukee to the Twin cities was not complete until the 80's. Seems like the would have built that corridor before they built I-90 in WI.

What section wasn't complete until then?  What was the pre-existing highway, was it a 4-lane highway?

Two sections of I-95 in Virginia and N.C. weren't completed until the early 1980s, but the pre-existing highway segments were high-speed 4-lane highways and in the case of VA it was rural with near-freeway average speed.

[thspfc]

I find it hard to believe that I-94 from Milwaukee to the Twin cities was not complete until the 80's. Seems like the would have built that corridor before they built I-90 in WI.

What section wasn't complete until then?  What was the pre-existing highway, was it a 4-lane highway?

Two sections of I-95 in Virginia and N.C. weren't completed until the early 1980s, but the pre-existing highway segments were high-speed 4-lane highways and in the case of VA it was rural with near-freeway average speed.

The two lane US-12 would have been there before I-94.

[PHLBOS]

That link got the timing of MA's Interstates completely wrong.  I-90, which consists of the Mass Pike, came into existence during the 1950s but the site doesn't show it until 1990.

Examples:

I-95 outside of the 128 portion largely existed since the 50s for most of the northern stretch (north of Danvers) and mid-60s for the Canton-to-RI stretch; but the site doesn't show those pieces until the mid-1970s.

I-495 north of Mansfield (I-95) was fully-completed by 1969-1970 but the site shows it along with the 1982 extension to MA 24 & the former-MA 25 portion coming into existence circa 1975.

[Beltway]

I find it hard to believe that I-94 from Milwaukee to the Twin cities was not complete until the 80's. Seems like the would have built that corridor before they built I-90 in WI.

What section wasn't complete until then?  What was the pre-existing highway, was it a 4-lane highway?
Two sections of I-95 in Virginia and N.C. weren't completed until the early 1980s, but the pre-existing highway segments were high-speed 4-lane highways and in the case of VA it was rural with near-freeway average speed.

The two lane US-12 would have been there before I-94.

Where was that?

[sprjus4]

I find it hard to believe that I-94 from Milwaukee to the Twin cities was not complete until the 80's. Seems like the would have built that corridor before they built I-90 in WI.

What section wasn't complete until then?  What was the pre-existing highway, was it a 4-lane highway?

Two sections of I-95 in Virginia and N.C. weren't completed until the early 1980s, but the pre-existing highway segments were high-speed 4-lane highways and in the case of VA it was rural with near-freeway average speed.

I-64 was similar as well between Williamsburg and Richmond, 4-lane rural highway. The segment around Williamsburg was upgraded directly to I-64, then north of there was built north of the pre-existing alignment. That segment that was bypassed now often gets used as a bypass to I-64 when traffic is heavy. I've driven it a few times because of this, and there's only a few of traffic signals on the ~20-30 mile stretch. Mostly 55 mph, 45 mph in a couple areas, rural areas could reasonably be 60 mph under Virginia law.

[Beltway]

Two sections of I-95 in Virginia and N.C. weren't completed until the early 1980s, but the pre-existing highway segments were high-speed 4-lane highways and in the case of VA it was rural with near-freeway average speed.

I-64 was similar as well between Williamsburg and Richmond, 4-lane rural highway. The segment around Williamsburg was upgraded directly to I-64, then north of there was built north of the pre-existing alignment.

The segments on 2-lane routing obviously had the first priority for new rural Interstate segment construction.

The rest of I-95 in Virginia was completed by 1965.  The rest of I-64 between I-95 and the HRBT in 1968.  Parallel HRBT in 1976.

[thspfc]

I find it hard to believe that I-94 from Milwaukee to the Twin cities was not complete until the 80's. Seems like the would have built that corridor before they built I-90 in WI.

What section wasn't complete until then?  What was the pre-existing highway, was it a 4-lane highway?
Two sections of I-95 in Virginia and N.C. weren't completed until the early 1980s, but the pre-existing highway segments were high-speed 4-lane highways and in the case of VA it was rural with near-freeway average speed.

The two lane US-12 would have been there before I-94.

Where was that?

Between Madison and St. Paul.

[Beltway]

What section wasn't complete until then?  What was the pre-existing highway, was it a 4-lane highway?
Two sections of I-95 in Virginia and N.C. weren't completed until the early 1980s, but the pre-existing highway segments were high-speed 4-lane highways and in the case of VA it was rural with near-freeway average speed.

The two lane US-12 would have been there before I-94.

Where was that?

Between Madison and St. Paul.

That is 259 miles.  How much of that wasn't completed until the 1980s?

[triplemultiplex]

I-94 was completely done in Wisconsin by the end of 1969.
http://www.wisconsinhighways.org/listings/WiscHwys90-99.html#I-094

[J N Winkler]

That is 259 miles.  How much of that wasn't completed until the 1980s?

I used HistoricAerials to check the route between Tomah (west end of I-90/I-94 overlap) and the St. Croix River crossing, a distance of about 145 miles, and as near as I can tell, more or less the entire length of it was undergoing at least rough grading by the mid- to late 1960's and was open to traffic by 1972.  This does not preclude there being a few isolated segments that did not open until much later.

Unfortunately, Wisconsin DOT is one of the few state DOTs that has not yet gotten around to putting its old official state highway maps online.

Thspfc, can you cite your source for the Interstate route between Madison and St. Paul not being open until the 1980's?  If it is the interactive timeline that has been cited in this thread, then it is highly likely to be inaccurate.

Edit:  TripleMultiplex posted as I was composing this post.

[sprjus4]

Those maps are reasonably accurate, but in a number of cases the opening year can be one or two years off from what can be gleaned from the maps.  Some few cases more than that. 

They are a reasonable guide but are not always accurate to the year which is what I would want.

Then what happens if you don't have every single year of that map?  Missing a year or few?

My thing with using state maps is a lot of times it's the only source. When I've done my freeway opening maps in North Carolina, Maryland, South Carolina, and Indiana (not published yet), state highway maps were a lot of the time the only source I had. Whenever possible, I tried using freeway history websites, old articles, etc, but for a lot of rural isolated segments, that's generally not available.

[froggie]

Regarding I-94 between the Twin Cities and Madison, the segment in question is from I-494/694 to the St. Croix River.  That segment was not completed until the mid-1980s.  To answer Scott's question, it was a 4-lane divided at-grade US 12 prior to upgrading.

[Beltway]

Regarding I-94 between the Twin Cities and Madison, the segment in question is from I-494/694 to the St. Croix River.  That segment was not completed until the mid-1980s.  To answer Scott's question, it was a 4-lane divided at-grade US 12 prior to upgrading.

That answers the question.  About 9.5 miles of highway.

[thspfc]

The whole point of my original post was to say that the graphic was probably incorrect, and it was. I'm not sure what all the confusion was about.