How much has your home town changed (from a highway perspective)?

[frankenroad]

Being the same age as the Interstate Highway System (both of us "born" in 1956), I've seen a lot of changes not only in my hometown, but other places I've lived.

As a kid, I remember every summer when we'd vacation, there would be new sections of Interstate to explore.  Sometimes, I was able to convince my Dad to take a new road even if it was not the most direct way to go, just so I could see it.  I was the family navigator from age 9 on, so sometimes he didn't realize what I was doing 

Locally, the construction of I-75, I-71 and their interchange at the north end of the Brent Spence Bridge devastated acres and acres of urban neighborhoods.  I'm sure that's true in many older cities.

[epzik8]

I currently live in Aberdeen, Maryland. A long time ago, MD 22 and US 40 met at-grade at Bel Air Avenue and Post Road. MD 22 went through downtown Aberdeen and had a grade crossing of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. In the early 1930s US 40 was shifted to Philadelphia Boulevard a few blocks to the north, and Post Road from Bel Air Avenue out to Pulaski Highway (also US 40) eventually became an extension of MD 22.

I-95 opened in 1963, and in 1969 the Aberdeen Thruway opened between I-95 and just north of the Aberdeen Proving Ground gate. MD 22 was moved there, Bel Air Avenue from I-95 to Post Road and Post Road from Bel Air Avenue to US 40 became MD 132, and the rest of Bel Air Avenue to the APG gate was transferred to municipal and county maintenance. MD 22 and US 40 now meet at an interchange between their current alignments.

Bel Air Avenue was split in half in 1982 by the removal of the grade crossing at the Northeast Corridor to make way for a pedestrian bridge. Just to the south (of both the pedestrian bridge and Aberdeen station), a road bridge was built to carry APG Road over the train tracks. MD 132 reaches just south of the end of that bridge. The other portion of MD 132, officially MD 132B, begins at present-day MD 22, as Post Road between Bel Air Avenue and that intersection is now maintained by the city of Aberdeen.

During the second half of the 2010s, the Aberdeen Thruway was expanded to accommodate increasing traffic. One through lane was added in each direction between I-95 and MD 462, and between US 40 and Post Road. Sound barriers were added at MD 462 and between US 40 and Post Road, the entire highway was repaved, and concrete replaced the grass on some portions of the median.

[Nacho]

The obvious change for Bloomington, Indiana is the construction of I-69. Next most significant would be the SR 45/46 bypass being expanded to four lanes and the SR 46 portion being extended to Ellettsville. Previously to travel to Ellettsville on SR 46 you needed to briefly head north on SR 37 and then take a left onto Arlington Rd (incidentally, a friend of mine had his car totaled while making that turn). 

[Big John]

Green Bay

That they expanded US 41, now I-41
Roundabouts are now rampant, most of them near 41, including at exit ramps.

[Flint1979]

For Saginaw and Flint nothing really has changed a whole lot.

I-69 being completed to Port Huron happened in my lifetime. It use to be M-21 that took you from Port Huron to Grand Rapids but now since I-69 has been completed east of Flint M-21 now ends in Flint. Another stretch use to be M-78 between Flint and Lansing and on the other side of Lansing as well.

I-75 being widened to eight lanes between Flint and Saginaw and the new Zilwaukee Bridge now 33 years old has been completed. The old drawbridge use to cause some of the longest traffic jams on the Interstate system which is one of the reason's that I-675 was built to bypass it and another reason for I-675 was to allow easier access to downtown Saginaw.

I remember between Bay City and Detroit it use to be I-75/US-10/US-23 then I-75/US-10 then just I-75 until US-10 was scaled back to end in Bay City. Detroit use to have US-10 signs (they really were suppose to be M-10 signs) into the 2000's. They also removed the freeway names from the BGS signs in Detroit, such as one for I-94 would include Ford Frwy or one for I-96 would include Jeffries Frwy.

All the highway talk in Detroit people at least use to know the highways by their freeway names rather than the number. Like I-75 is the Chrysler Freeway north of downtown, Fisher Freeway south of downtown; I-94 is the Ford Freeway; I-96 is the Jeffries Freeway; M-10 is the Lodge Freeway; M-39 is the Southfield Freeway; I-696 is the Ruether Freeway and so on. Same thing with the main streets you'd call M-1 just Woodward, US-24 just Telegraph and stuff like that.

[sparker]

My original home town, Glendale, CA, saw most of its actual changes during my school years there (1954-67) and for a while afterward when I was away at college.  First, the original section of the Golden State Freeway (then US 6/99) from Riverside Drive in Griffith Park (site of today's I-5/CA 134 interchange) north to Alameda Ave. in Burbank was opened in early 1957, followed a few month afterward by the section south alongside the park's east side to Glendale Blvd, where it terminated for the following 4 years.  That section included the "Colorado St. Extension", the 4-lane freeway "stub" that was to take CA 134 east to its Colorado St. alignment in downtown Glendale.  When that section of freeway opened, US 6 & 99 were rerouted over it and the main freeway alignment north of there, segueing onto Alameda Ave. west for a couple of blocks before shifting north onto Victory Blvd. into Burbank, and then north onto Victory Place, which merged with the original San Fernando Road alignment in northwest Burbank near (then) Lockheed Field.  The reroute was necessary because further freeway construction through central Burbank subsumed the original US 99/6 Front Street alignment.  That lasted a couple of years until the freeway was extended through Burbank in the fall of 1959. 

The next major thing to happen in Glendale was the deployment of the CA 134 freeway; it had reached I-5 from the west by early 1963, but its path across Glendale had been the subject of much debate over the previous several years.  The "north" route, slicing across downtown at the north side of the town's major commercial area was the one favored by both DOH engineers and folks living in Eagle Rock, just to the east of town.  The "south" alternative stayed south of the existing SSR 134 Colorado Street alignment, taking fewer commercial properties in Glendale but quite a few in Eagle Rock; it also skirted Occidental College in the latter community (part of L.A. City).  In late 1959, after several rancorous public meetings in Glendale, Pasadena, and right at Occidental College, the DOH selected the northern route, which hugged the hillside above Eagle Rock with minimal property acquisition.  The entreaties by the college swayed the selection committee (while the Glendale Chamber of Commerce was absolutely livid!).  Nevertheless, property acquisition (including the home of one of my great-aunts) commenced in 1962 and the path was cleared by early 1967, when excavation for the trench crossing downtown started.  The stub-end east of I-5 and extending to San Fernando Road had opened in the summer of '67; the remainder of the freeway to Harvey Drive on the Glendale/Eagle Rock line was opened in July 1969, with the extension to Pasadena coming two years later.  The initial phase of the CA 134/CA 2 freeway interchange, which was just west of the Harvey Drive temporary terminus, was part of the original construction (flyovers came later). 

From 1972 to 1976 the final pieces of the Glendale-sited freeway network came into place with the completion of I-210 through La Crescenta in 1973-74 and the CA 2/Glendale Freeway in 1976; that was also the year that I-210 was completed through downtown Pasadena as well, which drastically increased the traffic on CA 134 through Glendale.  Since then nothing really significant has changed, road-wise -- but the area of north-downtown Glendale centered on the CA 134 interchange has seen massive levels of corporate development, including several HQ's.   When I was a kid growing up there in the '50's, it was considered to be something of a sleepy "bedroom community"; in the six decades since, it not only doubled in population but became something of a regional corporate center -- likely because of freeway access on three sides of downtown!

[ahj2000]

Well we grew a beltway...I'm originally from Charlotte. We had a less than 10 mi strip of I 485 when I was born to a full fledged 67 mile beltway. We've had Express lanes, a never ending amount of construction on 85, 77, 74, you name it. I remember projects from little circumferential roads, extensions for more suburbia, and new lanes and flyovers (521->485 Inner comes to mind)
The city was an interesting place to grow up in, growing a ton before I graduated HS and left.

[hobsini2]

I was born in Oshkosh but moved to the Southwest Suburbs of Chicago when I was 4. So I will post the changes in my 40 years in this area from when I was a kid/teen.
Bolingbrook & Far West & Southwest Suburbs Area:
I-55: Widened first to Naperville Rd (Veterans Pkwy) then again to I-80. Weigh Station moved from east of IL 53 to near Veterans Pkwy. New interchange at Weber Rd. Interchange with I-355 & Joliet Rd completely redone for the extension of 355.
I-88: It was IL 5. Orchard Rd, Eola Rd, & Winfield Rd were new interchanges.
I-355: Came into existence. Boughton Rd becomes a full interchange. Extended again down to I-80.
US 30: Interchange with US 34 is removed and becomes a stoplight. Widened from Hennepin Dr in Joliet to Larkin Ave. Rerouted off Lockport St in Plainfield to 135th St and Route 59.
US 66: Decommissioned.
IL 59: Widened from a 2 lane country road between Plainfield and 75th St in Naperville.
IL 53: Widened from Boughton Rd in Bolingbrook to Maple Ave in Lisle.
Weber Rd: Was called Williams Rd and was a one lane gravel road. Renamed Weber Rd and a bridge over 55 is paved for 4 lanes with no interchange. Weber is 4 lanes from Naperville Rd to US 30 in Crest Hill. Interchange comes a few years later. Weber and Naperville Rd are reconfigured in Bolingbrook to make Weber the through road.
Boughton Rd: Widened to 4 lanes from Schmidt Rd to Kings Rd/95th St.
75th St: Widened to 4 & 6 lanes from US 34 Ogden Ave to Route 83.  Only Washington St to Naper Blvd was divided highway when we moved here.
83rd St: Truncated east of Book Rd to Naperville/Plainfield Rd for the Dragon Lake Forest Preserve.
95th St: New bridge over the DuPage River and extended to Boughton Rd & Kings Rd.
Kings Rd: Long awaited finally built from Boughton Rd to passed Rodeo Rd (119th).
107th St: Renamed Lily Cache Ln. Extended west and south to 111th St. Widened to 4 lanes between Route 53 and Raider Ln. Stoplights go from just 1 at Route 53 to 7 plus a crosswalk signal for Jane Addams Middle School.
111th St (1): Gravel road becomes a paved mostly 4 lane road from Weber Rd to Route 59. Renamed Hastert Blvd.
111th St (2): Renamed Remington Blvd between Route 53 and Schmidt Rd. Widened and extended from Schmidt Rd to Veterans Pkwy.
115th St: Renamed Claar Blvd (this year).
119th St: Becomes another extension of Remington Blvd east of Weber Rd. Renamed Rodeo Dr west of Weber Rd.
Naperville Rd (Will Co): First widened to 4 lanes undivided from Washington St & Naper Blvd in Naperville to Weber Rd/Grady Ln. Rerouted along with Weber Rd to make Weber Rd the through road. South of Weber Rd intersection, widened as a divided highway and renamed Veterans Pkwy. into Romeoville. At Schmidt Rd, the road was rerouted. It had been on then Luther Dr (now Dalhart Ave).
Naperville Rd (DuPage Co): Widened to 4 lanes from US 34 Ogden Ave to IL 38 Roosevelt Rd.
127th St: Renamed Reagan Blvd and rerouted to meet Weber Rd as a part of Remington Blvd.
Briarcliffe Rd: Extended west passed the ComEd Lines to Jennifer Ln.
Crossroads Pkwy: A new divided 2 lane road between Joliet Rd and Weber Rd via Normantown Rd south of I-55.
Naper Blvd: Gravel road south of Bailey is paved. Extended south to meet Washington St just north of Royce Rd and widened to 4 lanes as an East Bypass of Downtown Naperville.
Naperville/Plainfield Rd: Widened to 4 lanes from 75th St to 111th St.
Washington St: Widened to 4 lanes from Naper Blvd to Aurora Ave in Naperville.
New York St (WB) & Galena Blvd (EB) in Aurora: Both had been one way streets. Now there is 2 way traffic between Smith St and IL 25 Broadway.

[OCGuy81]

Green Bay

That they expanded US 41, now I-41
Roundabouts are now rampant, most of them near 41, including at exit ramps.

I noticed last time I was back there that Wisconsin is becoming enamored with roundabouts

[kphoger]

Naperville Rd (DuPage Co): Widened to 4 lanes from US 34 Ogden Ave to IL 38 Roosevelt Rd.

Naper Blvd: Gravel road south of Bailey is paved. Extended south to meet Washington St just north of Royce Rd and widened to 4 lanes as an East Bypass of Downtown Naperville.

Wowwwwww......

I moved to the area in 2000.  It's hard to imagine Naperville Road with fewer than four lanes.  But, then again, without Danada Square's existence, I suppose it wasn't much different than Butterfield Road, which I remember having two-lane sections when I was there.

And my now-wife was a live-in nanny southwest of 75th and Bailey.  It's REALLY hard to imagine that as a gravel road!

Then again, I have early childhood memories of a gravel Laraway Road, so...

[thspfc]

Green Bay

That they expanded US 41, now I-41
Roundabouts are now rampant, most of them near 41, including at exit ramps.

I noticed last time I was back there that Wisconsin is becoming enamored with roundabouts

WISDOT is putting roundabouts at almost every new interchange they build. Which is fine with me.

[ozarkman417]

Since 2003:
-addition of flyover ramps at both the US-60/65 and 65/I-44 interchange
-Several railroad grade separations with major roads, including the dangerous crossing near the 60/65 interchange
-Upgrades to some highways leading out of the city, upgrading US 60 and 65 as well as MO 13 to four-line expressways.
-lots of roundabouts and Diverging Diamonds
-six-laning US 65 as well as auxiliary lanes on James River Freeway

[SEWIGuy]

Green Bay

That they expanded US 41, now I-41
Roundabouts are now rampant, most of them near 41, including at exit ramps.

I noticed last time I was back there that Wisconsin is becoming enamored with roundabouts

WISDOT is putting roundabouts at almost every new interchange they build. Which is fine with me.

When I moved up to Green Bay a few years ago, roundabouts annoyed me.  Now I love them.  Much better than traffic lights.

[triplemultiplex]

Green Bay

That they expanded US 41, now I-41
Roundabouts are now rampant, most of them near 41, including at exit ramps.

There has also been the freeway conversion of WI 29 heading west out of town and the WI 54/57 duplex northeast of I-43.

WI 32 was moved from Lombardi Ave to Mason Street about 20 years ago.

The Northeast District of WisDOT went all-in on roundabouts before other areas of the state.  Pretty good strategy to carpet bomb the region with a whole pile of them and force people to adapt.  For all the crumudgeoning and harumphing this created, I think most people have begrudgingly warmed up to roundabouts as a result.

[Henry]

I know a lot of it has been mentioned about my hometown of Chicago, but this is worth repeating:

The conversion of IL 5 to I-88
The addition of I-355
The decommissioning of US 66
All various street and highway widenings and intersection reconfigurations

I will add the following to the list:

IL 390, Elgin-O'Hare eastern section
Future I-490, O'Hare Western Bypass
I-41, even though it stops just a few hundred feet south of the state line

[ran4sh]

Athens GA in the past 30 years:

* SR 316 was completed to US 78/SR 10, with US 29 being rerouted onto 316, in the early 90s. Then in 1995 the final section of 316, from US 78 to SR 10 Loop (Athens Perimeter), was completed. Which resulted in rerouting 78 from SR 10 to that short segment of 316, and also, rerouting US 29 from the north side of 10 Loop to the south side (as that is the shorter route with 316 being complete).
* In the mid-late 90s, reconstruction of the 10 Loop and US 129 north interchange, to improve capacity as well as eliminating a complicated 5-leg intersection (moving the eastbound ramps to a different intersection)
* In the late 90s, SR 72 was widened from 2 to 4 lanes (as one of Georgia's "GRIP" corridors).
* Also in the late 90s, the Epps Bridge Parkway widening, between the 316/10 Loop interchange and US 78 Business/SR 10.
* In 1999, SR 10 Loop got exit numbers for the first time. MUTCD-compliant mile-based numbers starting at the 316 interchange and increasing clockwise.
* In 2000, US 441 on the north side of Athens was converted from 4 lane undivided, to an asymmetric road of 2 NB, 1 SB, and 1 two-way turn lane.
* In 2000, US 129/441 was widened between Athens and Watkinsville, and a new alignment was built in order to build a full interchange with 10 Loop (The previous interchange only had access to and from the west, with traffic having to proceed about 1 mile to the east to access 10 Loop in that direction)
* In 2004, 10 Loop signage was completely replaced and exits were renumbered to increase counterclockwise instead of clockwise. Many non-local roadgeeks have their ideas about why the exits were changed, but as a local I'm pretty sure it's because the dominant visiting traffic flow on 10 Loop is from 316 to the UGA campus, and having a continuous exit number range for that traffic is more useful than strictly complying with the MUTCD. (Specifically, traffic from 316 to UGA enters at exit 1 and passes by exits 4, 6, and exits at 7. With MUTCD-compliant numbering they would still enter at 1, but pass by exit 17 and 15 before exiting at 14.)
* In 2008-2009, widening of US 441 north of Athens to I-85 from 2 lane to 4 lane (with the segment further north, I-85 to US 23, having already been widened), again as a "GRIP" corridor. For whatever reason, the previously mentioned section with 2 NB and 1 SB lane, remains in that configuration. US 129 north of Athens to I-85 also widened from 2 lane to 4 lane.
* In the mid-2010s, the last at-grade intersection on SR 10 Loop was upgraded to an interchange, making SR 10 Loop a full freeway.

[SEWIGuy]

Green Bay

That they expanded US 41, now I-41
Roundabouts are now rampant, most of them near 41, including at exit ramps.

There has also been the freeway conversion of WI 29 heading west out of town and the WI 54/57 duplex northeast of I-43.

WI 32 was moved from Lombardi Ave to Mason Street about 20 years ago.

The Northeast District of WisDOT went all-in on roundabouts before other areas of the state.  Pretty good strategy to carpet bomb the region with a whole pile of them and force people to adapt.  For all the crumudgeoning and harumphing this created, I think most people have begrudgingly warmed up to roundabouts as a result.

So WI-32 used to follow Ashland, Lombardi, Military and Shawano to WI-29 out of town.  Now it follows Ashland, Mason and US-41 to WI-29.

That saved about 2.25 miles for the state highway system!

[SkyPesos]

Indiana is even better. They purposely made IN 26 discontinuous by removing the section in Lafayette and West Lafayette between US 52 and I-65 to shave off 6.4 miles.

[NWI_Irish96]

Indiana is even better. They purposely made IN 26 discontinuous by removing the section in Lafayette and West Lafayette between US 52 and I-65 to shave off 6.4 miles.

The point of Indiana decommissioning highways in cities isn't about the total number of highway miles. It's that they want to focus their resources on improving intercity routes and leaving maintenance within cities to the cities.

[Rothman]

Indiana is even better. They purposely made IN 26 discontinuous by removing the section in Lafayette and West Lafayette between US 52 and I-65 to shave off 6.4 miles.

The point of Indiana decommissioning highways in cities isn't about the total number of highway miles. It's that they want to focus their resources on improving intercity routes and leaving maintenance within cities to the cities.

...thus lessening the strain on the state budget and having municalities assume it.

[Flint1979]

Indiana has a cap of 12,000 miles for INDOT but they are well under that. The business routes in Indiana are locally maintained not by INDOT as well.

[Nacho]

If I expand my scope to nearby then there's also the move of US 50 from Mitchell Road in Bedford to follow the Indiana 37 bypass and then take 16th Street (former Indiana 450) into Bedford instead. This seems pretty clearly motivated by shedding responsibility for maintenance as the "Business 50" routing along Mitchell Road is more logical for intercity traffic.

Another change in the area was extending the divided segment of SR 37 down to Mitchell. Previously it had narrowed to a two lane road just south of where US 50 splits off to the west. I wound up learning a lot about former alignments of SR 37 and US 50 as well as their predecessors in the area due to curiosity about the abandoned piers visible to the south of the current White River East Fork crossing but as those changes generally occurred well before I was born, they're outside the scope of this topic.

[ftballfan]

Some small changes in Manistee since I was born:
- Red Apple Rd was extended from Maple Rd to US-31
- The western portion of Stronach Rd was built from US-31 to the PCA plant; as of now, that road is temporary M-55!
- Memorial Bridge (US-31 over the Manistee River) was heavily redone
- The M-55 bridge over the Manistee River is in the middle of being completely replaced

[Roadgeekteen]

They built a new exit with Kendrick street.

[FrCorySticha]

I'm going to use Williston, ND. It isn't my hometown, as we moved around a lot and really don't have a town that I consider a hometown. It is, however, the town I've lived in that has had the most highway changes.

Originally US 2 and 85 came into the town from the west, turned north in downtown, made a little two-block jog to go around a city park, and exited to the north. https://goo.gl/maps/v4tAmWnKTDHyTeev5

In the 80's, a 4-lane bypass was built in the NW side of town due to increased oil traffic, also as part of ND's ongoing 4-lane upgrade of US 2. https://goo.gl/maps/7gk6TFpAsDFwFRTH6

Finally, during the Bakken Boom of the 2000's, US 85 was moved to a new 4-lane bypass much further to the NW. https://goo.gl/maps/sVWT66V88tvcqRod9
Also, a US 85B was established on the east side of town from the new junction of US 2 and 85 north of town to ND 1804 on the east. https://goo.gl/maps/22wheU5D5jPNyTnZ6