"Bypasses" around Nothing Special

[Dirt Roads]

Today marks the opening of the Scott Miller Hill Bypass on US-33, a 4.3-mile realignment which is mostly in western Roane County, West Virginia.  This project was first planned about 40 years ago, and WVDOH has called this project a "bypass" for at least 30 years.  But the route bypasses no villages or other populated areas. 

I am not familiar with any other named "bypasses" that do not bypass a town (typically to avoid reduced speed limits).  In the eastern part of West Virginia (as in much of the Northeast), the term "Cutoff" is generally used.  In some parts of North Carolina, the term "Shortcut" is also used.  Looking for other modern-day cutoffs, shortcuts and bypasses that don't really bypass anything important.

[NWI_Irish96]

Back when Otis Bowen was governor of Indiana, he pushed through a US 6 bypass of Bremen, a town of under 5,000 with all of two stoplights. I was an 8 year old living on US 6 in town when it became IN 106, thus my avatar.

[TheStranger]

The East Nicolaus, CA bypass along Route 70 in Sutter County (opened in the early 2010s) was designed mostly to avoid one intersection with a stop sign, though the area was developed enough that simply building on top of the old alignment would have been challenging:
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.9088043,-121.5486505,15.92z?entry=ttu

[1995hoo]

US-70 Bypass near Selma, North Carolina, comes to mind because it's not a bypass of the designated business route and rather serves as a bypass of an interchange.

[roadman65]

US-70 Bypass near Selma, North Carolina, comes to mind because it's not a bypass of the designated business route and rather serves as a bypass of an interchange.

When I-42 gets completed I'm sure the bypass shields will go.

[Rothman]

US-70 Bypass near Selma, North Carolina, comes to mind because it's not a bypass of the designated business route and rather serves as a bypass of an interchange.

Nope.  There's a traffic light there and a good Cook Out location at that intersection.  Speaking from experience.

[hbelkins]

Looking for other modern-day cutoffs, shortcuts and bypasses that don't really bypass anything important.

The Gene Snyder Freeway (I-265/KY 841/IN 265).

[bwana39]

Looking for other modern-day cutoffs, shortcuts and bypasses that don't really bypass anything important.

The Gene Snyder Freeway (I-265/KY 841/IN 265).

This is not a bypass. It is a loop. In the best of cases, these outer loops might make transition from one inbound freeway to a different outbound freeway shorter / more convenient, but all in all, they have more local utility than use for through traffic.

[PColumbus73]

US-70 Bypass near Selma, North Carolina, comes to mind because it's not a bypass of the designated business route and rather serves as a bypass of an interchange.

Nope.  There's a traffic light there and a good Cook Out location at that intersection.  Speaking from experience.

US 70 Bypass bypasses the Cook Out to the south, mainline US 70 goes through the traffic light.
 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cook+Out/@35.5195986,-78.3050838,3752m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x89ac12ab4bd176bd:0x419cdc2be9d75da9!8m2!3d35.5221008!4d-78.2926742!16s%2Fg%2F11x9l4jdy?entry=ttu

[Rothman]

US-70 Bypass near Selma, North Carolina, comes to mind because it's not a bypass of the designated business route and rather serves as a bypass of an interchange.

Nope.  There's a traffic light there and a good Cook Out location at that intersection.  Speaking from experience.

US 70 Bypass bypasses the Cook Out to the south, mainline US 70 goes through the traffic light.
 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cook+Out/@35.5195986,-78.3050838,3752m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x89ac12ab4bd176bd:0x419cdc2be9d75da9!8m2!3d35.5221008!4d-78.2926742!16s%2Fg%2F11x9l4jdy?entry=ttu

Thanks for the echo.

[1995hoo]

I personally don't consider a Cook Out to be something "special," but I guess if you really like their food....

[Rothman]

I personally don't consider a Cook Out to be something "special," but I guess if you really like their food....

Heh.  Fair enough.  Point is that the bypass does serve a purpose.

[1995hoo]

I personally don't consider a Cook Out to be something "special," but I guess if you really like their food....

Heh.  Fair enough.  Point is that the bypass does serve a purpose.

Yeah, I know why it's there. The cigar outlet is at that interchange as well. Back in the early 1990s there was a Nathan's a few doors down from the cigar outlet (by far the furthest-south Nathan's I ever remember encountering).

I was more focused on the final sentence in the original post: "Looking for other modern-day cutoffs, shortcuts[,] and bypasses that don't really bypass anything important." I viewed it mainly as the bypass serving to let people avoid a few traffic lights and businesses and so I didn't view it as anything all that "important," even though it's certainly "useful" for thru traffic.

[TheStranger]

I-215 and Old 215 (originally old US 395/TEMP I-15E) near Alessandro Boulevard in Moreno Valley.

The 215 realignment to the west (opened ca. 1994) seems to have been created for a railroad track in the area...that is no longer in use and has been removed, in favor of warehouses built since the newer freeway opened.  Historicaerials shows the area around the old alignment being semi-rural in the 1980s.

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.9210153,-117.2862229,2752m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu

[Road Hog]

When TxDOT expanded US 380 to a 4-lane divided in Hunt County about 2 decades ago, they straightened a curve and bypassed the unincorporated community of Floyd, leaving a half-mile loop of Business 380. Only thing that was there was an elementary school and (I think) a church.

[algorerhythms]

Yeah, but if we didn't build bypasses around nothing special, then how are the Vogons going to demolish Arthur Dent's house?

[roadman65]

In New Orleans, though not signed a Bypass, US 90 mainline between the end points of US 90 Business bypasses nothing as the business route is expressway grade.  In essence, US 90 Business is a better route than the mainline it loops around.

So what does mainline US 90 on Clairborn Avenue really bypass? ( Rhetorical  question ) A freeway that's faster.

[Dirt Roads]

Looking for other modern-day cutoffs, shortcuts and bypasses that don't really bypass anything important.

The Gene Snyder Freeway (I-265/KY 841/IN 265).

This is not a bypass. It is a loop. <snipped>

Rickroll!  Better check out hbelkins' avatar.

[Dirt Roads]

Yeah, but if we didn't build bypasses around nothing special, then how are the Vogons going to demolish Arthur Dent's house?

Is that meant to be another reference to Future I-42 in North Carolina?   

[Rothman]

Yeah, but if we didn't build bypasses around nothing special, then how are the Vogons going to demolish Arthur Dent's house?

That was Mr. Prosser.

[hbelkins]

Looking for other modern-day cutoffs, shortcuts and bypasses that don't really bypass anything important.

The Gene Snyder Freeway (I-265/KY 841/IN 265).

This is not a bypass. It is a loop. <snipped>

Rickroll!  Better check out hbelkins' avatar.

 

Seriously, how about the short four-lane section of US 52 between Kenova and Fort Gay? It bypasses Prichard, but Prichard is just a wide spot in the road.

[Rothman]

Looking for other modern-day cutoffs, shortcuts and bypasses that don't really bypass anything important.

The Gene Snyder Freeway (I-265/KY 841/IN 265).

This is not a bypass. It is a loop. <snipped>

Rickroll!  Better check out hbelkins' avatar.

 

Seriously, how about the short four-lane section of US 52 between Kenova and Fort Gay? It bypasses Prichard, but Prichard is just a wide spot in the road.

Heh.  Reminds me of one time when my family was driving along KY 122.  Locals have all sorts of names for little places out there that aren't marked.  Upper Burton, Lower Burton, Jack's Creek, Mead Hill, etc.  So, that one time, we were driving along, I think just on the north side of Mead Hill (old route before the new "bypass" was built) and my mother made the remark, "Eh, this wide spot in the road had a name, but I can't remember it now."

[Quillz]

The new US-395 bypass around Olancha. Not exactly the most crowded place in the world, but the bypass has more to do with maintaining the expressway-like standards of 395.

About a decade ago, a bypass was built on US-101 around Willits. (And like the new one with 395, CA-20 was extended a little bit to junction with the new bypass). Willits is another community that isn't exactly New York in terms of traffic, but I guess the logic was having a freeway bypass was better for safety.

[pderocco]

The new US-395 bypass around Olancha. Not exactly the most crowded place in the world, but the bypass has more to do with maintaining the expressway-like standards of 395.

About a decade ago, a bypass was built on US-101 around Willits. (And like the new one with 395, CA-20 was extended a little bit to junction with the new bypass). Willits is another community that isn't exactly New York in terms of traffic, but I guess the logic was having a freeway bypass was better for safety.

I think the Olancha/Cartago Bypass is the first time they've significantly rerouted US-395 in California since they bypassed Crowley Lake in 1970 (unless you count moving the road over 200 feet around Manzanar, which was silly and pointless). I'm not sure why they bothered with this major project, because it looked like there was room to widen the road to four lanes.

Willits had plenty of precedent. Most significant towns along US-101 have gotten bypassed over the years. I hate the fact that it's only two lanes, made stupidly expensive by being a viaduct for over a mile, and not having any intersections for its entire length. I'd rather drive through Willits.

[Max Rockatansky]

For some reason CA 99 (formerly US 99) bypasses the site of Quail siding at Exit 73 north of Pixley.  The former surface grade of US 99 in Quail was never removed and is very easy to access from the southbound off-ramp.  Quail was dead as a place people lived even by the 1950s.