Bypasses of bypasses

[Bruce]

The Seattle area is served by I-5, with I-405 bypassing it to the east and serving the cities of Bellevue and Redmond. I-405 is really congested, so a bypass of the whole metro area is needed...in comes the mostly un-built I-605, proposed since 1968. WA-18 is already a freeway from I-5 to I-90 to the south of Seattle and would become a section of I-605.

[kkt]

The Seattle area is served by I-5, with I-405 bypassing it to the east and serving the cities of Bellevue and Redmond. I-405 is really congested, so a bypass of the whole metro area is needed...in comes the mostly un-built I-605, proposed since 1968. WA-18 is already a freeway from I-5 to I-90 to the south of Seattle and would become a section of I-605.

WA-18 still has some substandard short merges and short lines of sight, and there's not a full interchange with the Valley Freeway.  The northern part of proposed I-605 was very controversial and probably won't get built anytime soon, and the whole project takes money Washington doesn't have, what with the WA-99 tunnel and the 520 bridge.

[vtk]

Nelsonville, Ohio has a bypass under construction. However...

Ironically, soon-to-be-bypassed Canal Street was the first bypass of the old downtown business district. A federal Works Progress Administration project filled in and paved over the 19th-century canal ditch in 1939 and designated it as Rt. 33.

From http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/09/16/nelsonville-folks-turn-in-favor-of-bypass.html

[Alps]

Nelsonville, Ohio has a bypass under construction. However...

Ironically, soon-to-be-bypassed Canal Street was the first bypass of the old downtown business district. A federal Works Progress Administration project filled in and paved over the 19th-century canal ditch in 1939 and designated it as Rt. 33.

From http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2012/09/16/nelsonville-folks-turn-in-favor-of-bypass.html

From aerials, looks like it went Washington-Jefferson-Watkins-Chestnut.

[sbeaver44]

3 I can think of offhand:

• Fort Wayne, IN - Original US 30 followed what I believe is Jefferson Blvd through town.  Then a Bypass US 30 (now IN 930) was built via Coliseum Blvd.  Finally, US 30 now follows I-469 and I-69 around Fort Wayne.
• Reading, PA - Original US 222 followed US 222 Business up Lancaster Ave, through center city and up 5th Street Highway.  A US 222 Bypass was then built following US 422 from the Lancaster Ave exit and up to the PA 12 Interchange, then up PA 12 and then North on US 222 Business.  Finally, US 222 was placed on the outer bypass it is now, and after the construction south of Reading, the south end was moved from a duplex with 422 east of the PA 12 interchange to west of the PA 12 interchange.
• Corning, NY - I believe original routing of NY 17 actually involved NY 417 in this area, but then followed NY 415 through Painted Post and into Corning City.  New York moved NY 17 onto what is now NY 352 Dension Parkway, and then finally in the mid 90s, NY 17 was moved onto the current Corning Bypass before receiving the I-86 designation in 1999.

[vdeane]

NY 417 is just old 17 renumbered.  NY 415 east of NY 417 is too; the rest is old 15.  Almost all of NY 352 is also old 17 (ditto for NY 17C and NY 17M to the east as well).

[vtk]

I think shifting the routing of a highway from one street to a pre-existing street doesn't really count as a bypass.  Generally a bypass is a new road built primarily for the purpose of allowing traffic to get around a congested area.  Although I suppose a bypass can incorporate some pre-existing roads into it, if improvements are made to streamline it as a through route.

[Chris19001]

How about US-1 in the area of Langhorne, PA?
Old Lincoln Highway (orginal route);  Lincoln Highway (Present Day Business Route 1);  US Route 1 Super Highway (Present Day Route 1)

[NE2]

I see three bypasses of Greencastle IN: SR 240, US 40, and I-70. The innermost, SR 240, is the most recent. I think the National Road followed US 40, but the railroad came through Greencastle and made it an important town.

[silverback1065]

Kokomo, Indiana will soon be bypassed by a new US 31 freeway to replace the current US 31 expressway that circles the east side of the city with some 15 stoplights. Maybe INDOT will get it right this time.

How old is the current bypass of kokomo?

[theline]

Kokomo, Indiana will soon be bypassed by a new US 31 freeway to replace the current US 31 expressway that circles the east side of the city with some 15 stoplights. Maybe INDOT will get it right this time.

How old is the current bypass of kokomo?

Your answer is here: http://www.in.gov/indot/projects/2378.htm

The current U.S. 31 facility represents a bypass of the original U.S. 31 route that once passed through downtown Kokomo until 1952.

By the time I was passing through Kokomo as a child in the late '50s, the bypass was already congested, and jokes were made that Kokomo had just moved their downtown out to the bypass. It was already apparent that the lack of access control was lunacy. It just kept getting worse every year.

[agentsteel53]

By the time I was passing through Kokomo as a child in the late '50s, the bypass was already congested, and jokes were made that Kokomo had just moved their downtown out to the bypass.

one of the first "ring around the collar" districts.  that endless stream of box stores, car dealers, etc, which always seem to pop up at about 3-6 miles out of the city center.

[silverback1065]

By the time I was passing through Kokomo as a child in the late '50s, the bypass was already congested, and jokes were made that Kokomo had just moved their downtown out to the bypass.

one of the first "ring around the collar" districts.  that endless stream of box stores, car dealers, etc, which always seem to pop up at about 3-6 miles out of the city center.

This will soon be the fate of the new US 231/52 bypass of West Lafayette, Indiana.  As soon as they said they were building it, the mayor of WL immediately started plans with annexing land so that the new city limits would include the new bypass.  I find this annoying, I understand it can bring economic benefits, but it really defeats the purpose of the bypass.  It's supposed to avoid all of the businesses and congestion of a city.  In a few years it will be like Kokomo.  What do you guys think?  Should DOTs do something to mitigate this type of stuff happening?  (I'm not familiar with the zoning laws, so I'm not sure if DOTs could do anything)

[Brandon]

By the time I was passing through Kokomo as a child in the late '50s, the bypass was already congested, and jokes were made that Kokomo had just moved their downtown out to the bypass.

one of the first "ring around the collar" districts.  that endless stream of box stores, car dealers, etc, which always seem to pop up at about 3-6 miles out of the city center.

This will soon be the fate of the new US 231/52 bypass of West Lafayette, Indiana.  As soon as they said they were building it, the mayor of WL immediately started plans with annexing land so that the new city limits would include the new bypass.  I find this annoying, I understand it can bring economic benefits, but it really defeats the purpose of the bypass.  It's supposed to avoid all of the businesses and congestion of a city.  In a few years it will be like Kokomo.  What do you guys think?  Should DOTs do something to mitigate this type of stuff happening?  (I'm not familiar with the zoning laws, so I'm not sure if DOTs could do anything)

The only thing that I'm aware of that a DOT can do to stop development from happening on the road itself is to make a freeway bypass instead of a divided highway with traffic signals.

[kkt]

By the time I was passing through Kokomo as a child in the late '50s, the bypass was already congested, and jokes were made that Kokomo had just moved their downtown out to the bypass.

one of the first "ring around the collar" districts.  that endless stream of box stores, car dealers, etc, which always seem to pop up at about 3-6 miles out of the city center.

This will soon be the fate of the new US 231/52 bypass of West Lafayette, Indiana.  As soon as they said they were building it, the mayor of WL immediately started plans with annexing land so that the new city limits would include the new bypass.  I find this annoying, I understand it can bring economic benefits, but it really defeats the purpose of the bypass.  It's supposed to avoid all of the businesses and congestion of a city.  In a few years it will be like Kokomo.  What do you guys think?  Should DOTs do something to mitigate this type of stuff happening?  (I'm not familiar with the zoning laws, so I'm not sure if DOTs could do anything)

I think the suburban strip mall style development comes because there's cheap land that suddenly has freeway access.  Whether that land gets annexed by a city doesn't seem to make much difference, unless the city's taxes are a lot higher.

[theline]

The only thing that I'm aware of that a DOT can do to stop development from happening on the road itself is to make a freeway bypass instead of a divided highway with traffic signals.

Precisely! That's where INDOT fell down with the first bypass. There are many other such instances in Indiana and elsewhere, I'm sure, as well. It seems INDOT has learned the lesson finally with such projects as US 31 near Kokomo, South Bend and Indy.

I think the suburban strip mall style development comes because there's cheap land that suddenly has freeway access.  Whether that land gets annexed by a city doesn't seem to make much difference, unless the city's taxes are a lot higher.

I can't speak for other states, but Indiana cities can closely control the use of land within their limits through zoning, if they do it wisely. Zoning is not done outside city limits. This is why it's probably a good thing that West Lafayette is annexing out to the new bypass. Kokomo has done the same thing with their new BP. In Indiana at least, annexation may help to some degree control sprawl.

[NE2]

It doesn't matter if it's a freeway or not so much as whether access is controlled.

Do Indiana counties not have zoning powers?

[Brandon]

It doesn't matter if it's a freeway or not so much as whether access is controlled.

Do Indiana counties not have zoning powers?

You can zone to your heart's content, but you have to control the access.  That's the important part.  Here, in Illinois, some municipalities are better at it than others for limiting the number of driveways onto a street.  But, if the road is not limited or controlled access, driveways can pop up anywhere.  And then we have developers who ask for traffic signals for every damned shopping center and subdivision along the road, even when access is limited.

[mukade]

It doesn't matter if it's a freeway or not so much as whether access is controlled.

Do Indiana counties not have zoning powers?

The controlled access comment is correct. In the case of the new US 231 (US 52 re-route) western bypass of Lafayette, access is controlled - there will never be any driveway cuts on that road. From what I see, there will be traffic lights every half to full mile. In the end, this won't be like the original Kokomo US 31 bypass because of the controlled access, but it won't be as nice as the new US 31 Kokomo bypass which is a full freeway. I personally don't think the US 231 bypass needs to be a freeway at this point. What is really needed is an extension northward to I-65.

Indiana counties do have zoning powers, but often have no decent master plan. You tend to get spotty zoning due to the ease of rezoning from agricultural to business or manufacturing. In the end, you can have a mess like you see on US 30 from Valparaiso to Hobart (Southlake Mall). Some cities and towns aren't a whole lot better,  though.

[mukade]

I can't speak for other states, but Indiana cities can closely control the use of land within their limits through zoning, if they do it wisely. Zoning is not done outside city limits. This is why it's probably a good thing that West Lafayette is annexing out to the new bypass. Kokomo has done the same thing with their new BP. In Indiana at least, annexation may help to some degree control sprawl.

There is nothing stopping Indiana cities and counties from working together so the county conforms to a city's future master plan, and I believe this has happened. Whether it actually happens or not is usually a matter of politics.

[mgk920]

Whether or not the land along a new highway is inside of a city or is unincorporated (from the midwestern USA POV) has zero effect on whether or not it will be developed after the new bypass highway is built - it depends 100% on the provisions of access.  Here in the Appleton, WI area, *ALL* of land along US(I)-41 from about North St in Neenah to Richmond St (WI 47) in Appleton is entirely *unincorporated*.

If anything, IMHO, the fact that that land is in unincorporated townships made matters much worse than had it been in the cities of Appleton and Neenah precisely because until very recently (and even now it is only a rudimentary level of planning control), the townships took a 'look the other way' hands-off approach to land use and zoning along it - resulting in a total mish-mash chaos of highway-related development.

------------------------

OTOH, When WisDOT built the US 10 freeway westward from US(I)-41 (it opened west of WI 76 in December of 2003), it was purposely designed with only two interchanges between US(I)-41 (Bridgeview Interchange) and US 45 (Winchester Interchange) - and none at all west of WI 76 - so as to prevent that sort of premature development.

So far so good.   

Mike

[Rover_0]

One (non-freeway or expressway) route that came to mind was NV-320 around the west side of Pioche. US-93 bypasses to the east. Am I doing it right?

[roadfro]

One (non-freeway or expressway) route that came to mind was NV-320 around the west side of Pioche. US-93 bypasses to the east. Am I doing it right?

Not quite, in the sense that SR 320 was not meant to bypass Pioche but provide access to several mines near Pioche on the opposite side of the mountain west of the town (NDOT calls this route the "Caselton Mine Loop"). If 320 were built as a bypass, then it would qualify (as SR 321, running through Pioche, was the original US 93 before the current eastern bypass of the town along present US 93 was constructed).

SR 320 is the longest of the available routes, and takes the most time to traverse, according to the Goog.