Largest (US) Cities Without a US Highway or an Interstate

[debragga]

The largest I can come up with is Farmerville, LA, pop. 3860. What are some bigger ones?

[Max Rockatansky]

Pretty sure it's Fresno. 

[ozarkman417]

As well as other cities in the central valley like Bakersfield and Modesto, only because US 99 no longer exists.

Also in CA, some suburbs of LA north of Angeles NF, including Lancaster, also lack these types of highways.

[bing101]

Bakersfield is another large city without an interstate.

[RobbieL2415]

Fitchburg, MA
Salem, MA
Amherst, MA

[roadman65]

Panama City, FL is one that is not one.  In fact all other big cities in Florida have connections to the interstate system.

[-- US 175 --]

About the only sizable city I can think of in TX with neither US nor interstate is College Station.  Pretty much all the bigger metros have 1 of them or both.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

At least the OP specified US cities, otherwise I would have thrown Shanghai .

Even though technically not a city, the town of Hempstead in New York is definitely the largest populated place without an Interstate or a US Route, and has never been on one of either (I-495 misses it).

Panama City, FL is one that is not one.  In fact all other big cities in Florida have connections to the interstate system.

Title: Largest (US) Cities Without a US Highway or an Interstate. Panama City has US 98 and 231.

[formulanone]

Santa Cruz, California - population 64,700 (served primarily by CA 1, CA 9 , CA 17; 40 miles to US 101, 30 miles to I-280)

Gilbert, Arizona - population 242,300 - misses US 60 by a half-mile to the north, and I-10 by about 6-8 miles.

[Super Mateo]

The largest I can come up with is Farmerville, LA, pop. 3860. What are some bigger ones?

There may be more, but two examples I found in Chicagoland:

-Flossmoor, IL, about 9,400, has no numbered routes at all.
-Wheaton, IL, pop. 53,150 per Wikipedia, only has IL routes 38 and 56, looking at Google Maps.  It does not reach I-355 or I-88.

[Flint1979]

For Michigan it would be Sterling Heights although it's a suburb of Detroit it's the fourth largest city in the state and is not served by a US highway or an interstate highway.

[marleythedog]

For Ohio, the largest city I could find was Newark, pop. 47500. It has a state route freeway, but I-70 and US-40 are both several miles south of town.

[US 89]

If we go by city limits, the largest one in Utah is West Jordan (pop. 116,000), which just misses I-15 and I-215 by about a half mile. It does have Bangerter Highway (SR-154), which is now a freeway through most of the city limits.

It seems like cheating to use suburbs, though. I feel like a better measurement would be to use the Census Bureau's urbanized area and urban cluster definitions, in which case Utah's winner would be the Tooele urban cluster (pop. 32,000).

[Eth]

For the state of Georgia, going by city limits would produce the uninteresting answer of Johns Creek (2018 est. population 84,310), an Atlanta suburb incorporated in 2006.

It seems like cheating to use suburbs, though. I feel like a better measurement would be to use the Census Bureau's urbanized area and urban cluster definitions, in which case Utah's winner would be the Tooele urban cluster (pop. 32,000).

Going with these definitions, we arrive at the St. Simons urban cluster (2010 pop. 12,226), an island just east of Brunswick served by a single (unsigned?) state route.

[gonealookin]

Nevada has only 19 incorporated cities and all of them have an Interstate, a US Highway or an Alternate US Highway within the city limits.  The only one that has nothing other than an Alternate US Highway is Yerington (population 3,048 in 2010) which settles for Alternate US 95.

The largest unincorporated Census-Designated Place in the state without any of these types of highways is Pahrump in Nye County (population 36,441), which is served by NV 160 and NV 372.

Edit: Re-checking, whoops I missed an unincorporated Census-Designated Place:  Spring Valley in the southwest corner of the Las Vegas Valley (population 178,395), which includes the Clark County 215 freeway and several state highway designations on city streets, but no US Highways or Interstates.  Pahrump is a distant #2.

[Thing 342]

The largest incorporated area in VA without an Interstate or US route is Manassas, est. at 41,641 people. However, I-66 and US-29 come within about a mile of city limits.

[tdindy88]

It took a while but the largest Indiana city not on an interstate or U.S. highway should be New Castle in eastern Indiana. While Interstate 70 is several miles away from the main urban core of the city there is a tiny sliver of annexed land that follows SR 3 from New Castle south toward the interstate. But at least a couple of maps have shown the annexation to stop just short of the interstate.

For the longest time Bloomington was the obvious choice for this, but Interstate 69 has "ruined" that.

[nexus73]

McMinnville OR at 32K population looks like Oregon's largest city with no Interstate or US route.  In the past, 99W was an US route though. 

Looking closely at the Rand McNally atlas shows that some cities closer to PDX have boundaries abutting I-5 but some have no direct connection. 

To bing101: Bakersfield city limits do go to I-5.  There is no exit there for the city though.  Maybe someday?

https://www.istanbul-city-guide.com/map/united-states/bakersfield-california/map_of_bakersfield.jpg

You can see the thin tendril of city land going to I-5 on this map.

Rick

T

[Konza]

Three fairly large cities in Arizona outside of the Phoenix metropolitan area without an Interstate or US Highway:

Lake Havasu City, population 52,527

Prescott, population 39,843, and Prescott Valley, population 38,822

Sierra Vista, population 43,888

Prescott was on US 89 before it was decommissioned south of Flagstaff, but none of the others has ever been on a US or Interstate route.

[Mark68]

The Town of Parker (55k) is the largest in Colorado not served by an Interstate or US highway. The Town is served by CO 83 (Parker Rd) and E-470 Tollway. I-25 is about 5 miles to the west.


Parker is pretty much the southeastern-most suburb of Denver.

[Flint1979]

The Town of Parker (55k) is the largest in Colorado not served by an Interstate or US highway. The Town is served by CO 83 (Parker Rd) and E-470 Tollway. I-25 is about 5 miles to the west.


Parker is pretty much the southeastern-most suburb of Denver.

I know Parker because of KOA radio's transmitter being located there.

[bing101]

Napa, California  population 76,000 does not have an interstate or US Route within its city limits though. But the interstates closest to Napa, CA are I-80 and I-680 at the Cordelia Interchange in Fairfield, CA.

[bing101]

McMinnville OR at 32K population looks like Oregon's largest city with no Interstate or US route.  In the past, 99W was an US route though. 

Looking closely at the Rand McNally atlas shows that some cities closer to PDX have boundaries abutting I-5 but some have no direct connection. 

To bing101: Bakersfield city limits do go to I-5.  There is no exit there for the city though.  Maybe someday?

https://www.istanbul-city-guide.com/map/united-states/bakersfield-california/map_of_bakersfield.jpg

You can see the thin tendril of city land going to I-5 on this map.

Rick

T

I thought there were talks for I-40, I-7 or I-9 to head to the center Bakersfield though? Also if Bakersfield has I-5 why did Caltrans remove it from the control cities list for Downtown Sacramento in the late 1970's early 1980's.


Yes I mean North/South freeways in LA North of I-10 use Sacramento as its control cities such as I-405, I-5, CA-170 and I-210.

[formulanone]

I think Alabama's biggest city without a US Highway and without an Interstate might be Jacksonville, with a population of 12,500. It's only served by AL 21 and AL 204; it's about 10 miles to US 431, and another 8-10 miles to I-20.

Maybe there's a suburb that doesn't quite border either type of route, but Alabama has a fairly tight network of US Routes to choose from.

[Mark68]

The Town of Parker (55k) is the largest in Colorado not served by an Interstate or US highway. The Town is served by CO 83 (Parker Rd) and E-470 Tollway. I-25 is about 5 miles to the west.


Parker is pretty much the southeastern-most suburb of Denver.

I know Parker because of KOA radio's transmitter being located there.

So THAT'S what that really tall tower (near Parker & 20 Mile/Hilltop) is...I've always wondered.