"Semi-Abandoned" Expressways

[thenetwork]

There are a few places I have visited in my travels in which for one reason or another (usually because it was replaced by a finished, paralleling  interstate) a 4-lane, divided expressway was trimmed back to a regular 2-lane road. This usually involved using one half of the existing lanes.

And instead of the state's DOT removing the now-unused/abandoned paralleling lanes, they just let them sit there empty and not maintain them -- just place a few barricades or signs at each crossroad stating the road is closed to through traffic.

Illinois is notorious for this type of semi abandonment.  Case in point, here is a view of a semi-abandonment of US 40 just west of the Indiana State Line: http://goo.gl/maps/0dZi


...and a former 4-lane divided ex-way on Old Route 66 near Pontiac, IL: http://goo.gl/maps/5FFt.


Just like the old BGSs on California Freeways, I like to think of this as not a cheap way to save money, but a preservation of the past.

What other states have gone the way of I-DOT and have left the remains of half of an abandoned expressway virtually intact while keeping the other half maintained as a regular 2-way road?

[froggie]

To be fair, there aren't very many cases of this style of abandonment to begin with.

[agentsteel53]

another 66 alignment is semi-abandoned: Cajon Blvd. between San Bernardino and Cajon Pass.

[TheStranger]

Several I can think of immediately on the top of my head:

- Former US 66/91/395 (Cajon Boulevard) north of Devore, paralleling today's Interstate 15, which was co-signed with 66/91/395 in the 1960s  (which Jake noted above)

- former Route 401 east of Gananoque, Ontario...now the Thousand Islands Parkway
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thousand_Islands_Parkway

[Alps]

Two that come to mind right away:
Robert Moses Pkwy. in the Niagara Falls area, part of which was turned back to the park as a mixed-use path.
Former US 13, now accessed off DE 7 under US 1.

Part of VA 114 has the WB lanes closed due to an old truss bridge, while to the east the new WB lanes have been built and the EB lanes are being rehabbed.  Don't know what, if any, plan there is to replace the truss.

[PAHighways]

The current alignment of OH 158 between I-70 and US 40 southwest of Kirkersville was a temporary alignment for I-70 before it was built west of OH 158.

[rawmustard]

There are a few places I have visited in my travels in which for one reason or another (usually because it was replaced by a finished, paralleling  interstate) a 4-lane, divided expressway was trimmed back to a regular 2-lane road. This usually involved using one half of the existing lanes.

And instead of the state's DOT removing the now-unused/abandoned paralleling lanes, they just let them sit there empty and not maintain them -- just place a few barricades or signs at each crossroad stating the road is closed to through traffic.

Illinois is notorious for this type of semi abandonment.  Case in point, here is a view of a semi-abandonment of US 40 just west of the Indiana State Line: <snip links>

In the case of US 40 you mention, some of us have surmised that the newer alignment was simply built to the north to minimize traffic disruption. That portion was never intended to be four-laned, and as far as I'm concerned, that old brick alignment should be left alone, especially if it dates all the way back to the National Road's initial construction.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Speaking of US 40, you can see some old abandoned 4 lane parts from I-70 between exits 202 and 204 in Eastern Ohio.

[US71]

There are several sections along old US 66 in Illinois.

In at least one case, the old SB lane of 66 became the new northbound lane of I-55 (north of Lexington, IIRC). But the part through town still has the extra lane intact though abandoned & overgrown.

[hm insulators]

Many years ago, the main road between Pasadena and La Canada Flintridge, California was the Foothill Freeway, a short, stubby little four-laner not much more than three miles long. It was a part of California 118 which wound uncertainly from Pasadena almost out to Ventura via La Canada Flintridge, Tujunga, the north end of the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley.

In the 1970s, I-210 was built through La Canada Flintridge and on down to Pasadena. Part of the old Foothill Freeway by La Canada High School was obliterated by the new 210, and the rest passing by Devil's Gate Dam was turned into an extension of Woodbury Road, a street running more or less along the Pasadena/Altadena border. The westernmost end of the old Foothill Freeway cum Woodbury Road was rerouted and hooked into the intersection of Oak Grove Drive and Berkshire Place just within the La Canada Flintridge city limits. The eastern half of California 118 disappeared completely and California 118 now ends at the I-210 in Pacoima.

[agentsteel53]

up until about 10 years ago, there used to be a 1950s white distance sign along that unused freeway alignment.

I certainly have never seen it hanging in anyone's living room 

[mapman1071]

The Former AZ153 Sky Harbor Expressway Is A 6 Lane "Freeway" that is being reduced to a 4 lane limited Access street "S 44th Street". The 2 Lanes removed are going to be used for Sky Harbor Airport Sky Train.

[mgk920]

Before the WI 29 bypass of Chippewa Falls, WI was built, WI 29's four lanes from the east (it was a fully interstate-compatible freeway in that area) ended at a *NASTY* trumpet interchange at WI 124 (old US 53) on Chippewa Fall's south side.  Its 'loop' ramp went from the WB WI 29 freeway to SB WI 124 and had a *NASTY* declining-radius turn - I nearly drove off of it the first time that I drove through it in the early 1980s.

Fast-forward to the late 1990s, WisDOT began construction on the WI 29 bypass freeway, with the new bypass freeway diverging from the old highway well east of that trumpet.  As part of that project, the old WI 29 freeway between a curiously-designed new interchange at the diverge (Seymour Cray Bd/WI 178) and WI 124 has been downgraded to a local major street and the trumpet was replaced with a roundabout.

See:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=44.920054,-91.373034&spn=0.017686,0.043945&t=h&z=15
The aerial image still shows the old trumpet interchange and the overlaid map shows the current configuration with the roundabout.

Mike

[rickmastfan67]

See:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=44.920054,-91.373034&spn=0.017686,0.043945&t=h&z=15
The aerial image still shows the old trumpet interchange and the overlaid map shows the current configuration with the roundabout.

Mike

Wouldn't those extra ramps defeat the purpose of a roundabout?

[english si]

the roundabout deals with the left-turns.

[Revive 755]

The current alignment of OH 158 between I-70 and US 40 southwest of Kirkersville was a temporary alignment for I-70 before it was built west of OH 158.

Interesting.  I don't suppose ODOT was at one time thinking of simply upgrading the existing US 40 west of OH 158 instead of a new I-70 alignment?  It just seems like an awfully expensive and high-powered temporary connector.

[seicer]

https://goo.gl/maps/fqj9bkC8zfQxG5ce8

This section of four-lane National Route 1 in South Korea has been bypassed with a six-lane bypass. Portions of the old alignment are now a ... garden.

[Henry]

The infamous Highway to Nowhere comes to mind. Of course, the western parts of that freeway are no longer there.

https://www.alpsroads.net/roads/md/us_40/170.html

[SkyPesos]

Most of the examples I can think of already got mentioned, so I'll mention an expressway that I'm suprised haven't got semi-abandoned yet: US 40 between Springfield and Columbus, Ohio. Of course it justified being an expressway pre-Interstate era, but with I-70 paralling it a mile up north, it pretty much handles local traffic only now, with through traffic using the 6-lane I-70.

[ztonyg]

The current alignment of OH 158 between I-70 and US 40 southwest of Kirkersville was a temporary alignment for I-70 before it was built west of OH 158.

Interesting.  I don't suppose ODOT was at one time thinking of simply upgrading the existing US 40 west of OH 158 instead of a new I-70 alignment?  It just seems like an awfully expensive and high-powered temporary connector.

That looks like it was intended to be mainline I-70. I'm curious where I-70 was intended to go (continue going NW to the I-670 corridor perhaps?)

[SkyPesos]

The current alignment of OH 158 between I-70 and US 40 southwest of Kirkersville was a temporary alignment for I-70 before it was built west of OH 158.

Interesting.  I don't suppose ODOT was at one time thinking of simply upgrading the existing US 40 west of OH 158 instead of a new I-70 alignment?  It just seems like an awfully expensive and high-powered temporary connector.

That looks like it was intended to be mainline I-70. I'm curious where I-70 was intended to go (continue going NW to the I-670 corridor perhaps?)

It was only a temporary western termius for I-70. The section of I-70 west from Exit 122 to Columbus was still being built when that stub existed.

[3467]

Illinois has a number of 2 lanes on 4 lane right of way. It was state policy In.  the sixties and later the feds supported it for a while. Then it became rate but still happens. The 2 lane freeway bypass of Macomb has the ROW.
US 50 from Lebanon to Carlyle. It is going to get a connector the Lebanon bypass and much of 50 East of 57.
US 34 Galesburg to Wataga.
US 24 Washington bypass

There are probably others
Then there are those that were completed
A section of US 34 East of Monmouth and US 67 North of Macomb.

[ilpt4u]

The partially upgraded, then abandoned 2nd carriageway sections of US 50 across Illinois, from when it was originally slated to be I-64

I can list specific spots, if necessary. There are multiple.
One near Flora, IL: https://www.google.com/maps/@38.6804917,-88.5137337,3a,90y,355.47h,74.69t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sFE4yp8OGg5JE3GH_wtH8sA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Another between Breese and Carlyle, where the 2nd carriageway's bridge over a creek was even built, then abandonded: https://goo.gl/maps/jtJBz4RMFtNVQtxE7
West of Breese, another 2nd carriageway constructed then abandonded creek bridge: https://www.google.com/maps/@38.6151085,-89.5842801,3a,40.9y,200.3h,87.22t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sNkMGnORpHMUscZTBmfmifA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

For humor's sake, there is always IL I-180... 

[Max Rockatansky]

Given this thread got dug up I should note that Cajon Boulevard (US 66/91/395) has been since partially restored to a two-lane through route.

[ErmineNotyours]

Returning to the theme of pre-Interstate expressways that were bypassed, here's Homestead Valley Road, former US 10, bypassed by modern Interstate 90.  As seen in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.  Bing Maps view.