2-lane interstates

[relaxok]

[post removed]

I hadn't zoomed around further at the location, I was going to suggest I-70 in Wheeling, WV was another 2-lane section of the interstate system, but it's only for a few hundred feet and not worth mentioning.  I was misled by a fellow roadgeek over instant messenger  

Please mods remove this thread, as apparently it doesn't let you do it yourself.
[Or we could repurpose it as a general "two-lane interstates" thread. We're sneaky like that. -S.]

[ctsignguy]

Well, there WERE some Interstates at one time that were 2-lanes....the ones i know of for certain were parts of I-95 in Maine...see here for an old photo of 2-lane I-95 near Houlton ME
http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/me/i-95/  (see the very bottom)
www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=ME19720951&view=1

I think I-77 was also a two-laner at one time, but i would have to find a map of W VA from the 60s or 70s to confirm that....

[FreewayDan]

I-15 in northeast Idaho and southwest Montana once had two lanes.  

[J N Winkler]

Part of Maryland I-695 used to have just two lanes (I drove it before it was later expanded to four lane divided).

[xonhulu]

I believe I-70 through the San Rafael Swell in Utah was 2-lanes when it was first built.

[agentsteel53]

a lot of temporary interstates were two-laners.  For example, US-40 was signed as I-80 in Nevada despite having at-grade crossings, traffic lights, whatnot, until the new freeway was built in the 70s and 80s.

as for roads specifically built with two lanes under the interstate banner, those are much less common, but I-70 across Utah and I-95 in northern Maine are two examples I can definitely think of.  I do not know whether the I-15 that FreewayDan mentioned was a new I-15 or the old US-91 signed as an interstate.

[Brandon]

I believe I-70 through the San Rafael Swell in Utah was 2-lanes when it was first built.

Yes, it was.  I remember going across it in 1984, and it was two lanes through there.

[agentsteel53]

it was around by '84?  Here I thought it had been built in '86.  well, that does help a bit towards explaining the use of '57 spec route markers.

[NE2]

Wasn't I-70 signed as temporary? http://alpsroads.net/roads/ut/us_89/ Or was that only the piece west of US 89?

[FreewayDan]

a lot of temporary interstates were two-laners.  For example, US-40 was signed as I-80 in Nevada despite having at-grade crossings, traffic lights, whatnot, until the new freeway was built in the 70s and 80s.

as for roads specifically built with two lanes under the interstate banner, those are much less common, but I-70 across Utah and I-95 in northern Maine are two examples I can definitely think of.  I do not know whether the I-15 that FreewayDan mentioned was a new I-15 or the old US-91 signed as an interstate.

I have a 1981 Rand McNally atlas specifying that I-15 was two lanes in that region.  The unfinished segments of I-15 at that time were near Dillon, MT, and between Butte and Boulder.

[mightyace]

I remember that in 1972, I-90 through part of the Badlands in South Dakota was only 2 lanes.

And, there was a bridge on I-390 in New York that was 2 lanes for many years.

[huskeroadgeek]

Well, there WERE some Interstates at one time that were 2-lanes....the ones i know of for certain were parts of I-95 in Maine...see here for an old photo of 2-lane I-95 near Houlton ME
http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/me/i-95/  (see the very bottom)
www.aaroads.com/shields/show.php?image=ME19720951&view=1

I think I-77 was also a two-laner at one time, but i would have to find a map of W VA from the 60s or 70s to confirm that....

The portion of I-77 that is also the WV Turnpike S. of Charleston was two lane until it was upgraded to 4 lane in the late 70s and 80s. By 1987, the entire road was 4 lane.

[relaxok]

ah a re-purposed thread i guess 

In that case, I'll paste two images of the ones that ACTUALLY exist.. though these are probably well known to you all.

I-81 in northern New York at the border with Canada - Thousand Islands bridge (wikipedia page):


I-93 through Franconia Notch State Park (from this very site):


In the latter case, the description says it's technically not I-93 because it's not to interstate standards, but is signed I-93 to avoid confusion that you might have gone off it.. odd, but there you go.

[Bickendan]

I remember back in 2004 a family road trip from Portland to Provo to drop my sister off at BYU, I-84 through the Snake River Valley was being reconstructed. Obviously it was a temporary setup, but I-84 was converted into a long Super-2 with only yellow plastic posts (as depicted in the I-93 pic above) as the physical median, and it was marked at 65 mph!

[corco]

I remember back in 2004 a family road trip from Portland to Provo to drop my sister off at BYU, I-84 through the Snake River Valley was being reconstructed. Obviously it was a temporary setup, but I-84 was converted into a long Super-2 with only yellow plastic posts (as depicted in the I-93 pic above) as the physical median, and it was marked at 65 mph!

That's how we do it in Idaho. I remember around 2006 between Ontario and Nampa the same thing happening.

The worst for me was in 2009 the windy stretch of I-84 between Echo and Ogden was under construction and they divided a single carriageway with jersey barriers (often poorly placed)  dividing the two lanes and I believe left the speed limit at 60 or 65. All I remember was that it felt way too fast.

[Eth]

Unfortunately I don't have it anymore, but I remember my old 1996 RMcN labeled I-75 in south Florida (the Alligator Alley portion) as being two lanes.

[Duke87]

There's also the matter of the Pennsylvania Turnpike tunnels...

[Brandon]

Wasn't I-70 signed as temporary? http://alpsroads.net/roads/ut/us_89/ Or was that only the piece west of US 89?

I believe it was along US-89.  I-70 was finished at the time from Cove Fort to Sevier, and then east from Salina as two lanes from there to east of Moab.  I distinctly remember getting off at the Moab exit and it was two lanes with a diamond interchange.

[mightyace]

There's also the matter of the Pennsylvania Turnpike tunnels...

That was certainly true in the past, but hasn't been true for nearly 20 years when the 2nd Lehigh Tunnel opened in 1991 on the Northeast Extension.

[vdeane]

ah a re-purposed thread i guess 

In that case, I'll paste two images of the ones that ACTUALLY exist.. though these are probably well known to you all.

I-81 in northern New York at the border with Canada - Thousand Islands bridge (wikipedia page):

That picture is actually the Canadian span of the bridge.  You just posted about ON 137.  But the American span is also two lanes.

[PAHighways]

There's also the matter of the Pennsylvania Turnpike tunnels...

That was certainly true in the past, but hasn't been true for nearly 20 years when the 2nd Lehigh Tunnel opened in 1991 on the Northeast Extension.

Even then it was just PA 9.

[mightyace]

^^^

Thanks, I forgot to look up when the I-476 transition was.

BTW, when was the last two lane tunnel bottleneck removed on the PA Turnpike mainline?

[PAHighways]

The new tunnels at Tuscarora, Kittatinny, and Blue Mountain and the Sideling Hill-Rays Hill bypass, opened to traffic on November 26, 1968.

[Michael]

I went over the 1000 Islands Bridge about 10 years ago (when I was 10 or 11), and I remember thinking how narrow it was (I was in a camper).  I'd say the lanes were at most 10 feet wide with no shoulder.  I looked in Street View, and it looks the same as I remember.

[DeaconG]

Part of Maryland I-695 used to have just two lanes (I drove it before it was later expanded to four lane divided).

IIRC, it was just before the Key Bridge on the east side.  I don't remember whether it was as far back as MD 151 or MD 157, but I do remember driving it and passing the old Bethlehem Steel mill...