Road provisions/built for future use...that actually became a reality

[mgk920]

Another one in Texas that I'm surprised that everyone is missing is at the I-10/610 east interchange in Houston, ghost ramp and bridge provisions were made within that stack for a future freeway to diverve to the northeast.  That freeway extension (the Crosby Freeway/US 90) opened within the past year or two.



Mike

[machias]

The western end of I-890 in Schenectady County, N.Y. had ghost ramps for the full interchange for Exit 1A (NY Route 5S) and leading up to the bridge over the Mohawk from the 70s until the mid 1990s when they completed it all.

[jcarte29]

I only see one NC reference, so I will try to add another. US 311 from Winston to High Point has been a freeway for quite a few years, and the Guilford County portion it is now officially I-74 (still referenced as "Future" in Forsyth).

US 52 south from Winston to Lexington was built to freeway (but just short of Interstate) standards back about 15 years ago, and now it is designated to be I-285 (just a bit of shoulder work is all that it needs).

[PHLBOS]

Man, how could I forget this one.

In Boston, the original Central Artery/Northeast Expressway interchange.  The Bi-Level interchange was built in the 1950s with stub-outs for the then-Future Inner Belt (I-695).  The stub-outs would ultimately be connected w/I-93 in the early 70s.  

However, the interchange had some controversy and safety issues.  Controversial because its originally-intended purpose for those stub-outs were for a bypass/beltway that would diverted through-traffic AWAY from the Artery & Downtown Boston.  Linking I-93 to the Artery WITHOUT the Inner Belt would mean that more traffic would be dumped on the then-already crowed Artery.  Safety-wise, the distance between the interchange ramps with those of the Storrow Drive interchange was about 800 feet (?); which created a dangerous weaving situation.  

One Boston Globe article commented that the I-93 connection to that interchange turned out to be a political embarassment for then-Governor Frank Sargent.  When the decision was made to kill off the Inner Belt, much of the I-93 portions (including the link to the Central Artery) were already built but not yet opened to traffic; at the time, I-93 just ended in Somerville at Route 28 (McGrath Highway).

In view of that decision (nixing I-695) and concerns regarding dumping more traffic on the Central Artery, Gov. Sargent originally decided NOT to open I-93 but later relented after residents protested the state of constructing a lengthy highway and denying traffic of using it.

In the early 90s, the interchange would be partially replaced with re-routed ramps to/from the Northeast Expressway (US 1) located further north and onto the west side of I-93 as part of the Central Artery North Area (CANA) Project; the original ramps were on the east side of the Artery.  This project was a precursor to the Big Dig project; the latter project would ultimately replace the entire interchange with what's currently there.

[bsmart]

Near Gettysburg, PA, US 15 was built as a super two with rights of way for expansion to the full freeway it is now.

Except for two underpasses which only had enough ofan opening in them for the original two lanes.  When they did expand 15 they had to close the roads on the embankments that raised them above 15 so they could cut new openings in them.

back in 1987 or so I worked for a Office automation company that had a contract with PenDot. I was working on a unit in the executive suites at PenDot HQ and got to talking with one of the senior staff people and mentioned that I wish they would expand 15 (I was driving from Frederick MD to Harrisburg to support their site) and that to me it looked easy except for those two embankments.  He started laughing. He said no one would admit to allowing those two to be built that way but they had been holding up the project for years. It seemed like they started doing the dualization about six months after the Office automation company went belly up and I didn't have to run up that way anymore.

[PurdueBill]

Man, how could I forget this one.

In Boston, the original Central Artery/Northeast Expressway interchange.  The Bi-Level interchange was built in the 1950s with stub-outs for the then-Future Inner Belt (I-695).  The stub-outs would ultimately be connected w/I-93 in the early 70s. 

However, the interchange had some controversy and safety issues.  Controversial because its originally-intended purpose for those stub-outs were for a bypass/beltway that would diverted through-traffic AWAY from the Artery & Downtown Boston.  Linking I-93 to the Artery WITHOUT the Inner Belt would mean that more traffic would be dumped on the then-already crowed Artery.  Safety-wise, the distance between the interchange ramps with those of the Storrow Drive interchange was about 800 feet (?); which created a dangerous weaving situation. 

The other upshot of a lot of traffic coming from Leverett Circle up to the northbound level was that it necessitated the lane drop northbound on the Artery, squeezing to 2 lanes what really needed more than the 3 the Artery had south of there.  When that logjam was removed with the Leverett Connector opened, it's amazing what a difference there was.  The same kind of dangerous weave existed northbound, albeit not quite as bad, with those coming from Leverett Circle headed for the Tobin Bridge needing to move over at least one lane within the short length of the High Bridge.  What a mess.

The other stubs, those for 695 north of there on 93, did manage to get half-used when the Leverett Connector opened, which I believe was already mentioned upthread.  Amazing that those old stubs sat unused for so long and that they managed to find a use for them.

[PHLBOS]

One can also add the I-76/476 interchange in W.Conshocken to that list.  The mainline 476 overpass and the ramps to 476 South/from 476 North were built in the 70s but weren't opened until 1991.

Prior to that interchange opening, a 70s PennDOT-era button-copy northbound pull-through sign was erected over the then-unused section read "476 NORTH Allentown"  Ironically, the sign was taken down once the road fully-opened in 1991.  Note: the sign bridge is still there today though unused - a new exit sign for 76 West was erected on a cantilever structure further back before the underpass.

On the southbound side, there was a similar sign but it just showed a blank 3di shield on the upper-left corner of the sign.  The sign would've likely have read "476 SOUTH Chester had PennDOT supplied the button-copy numerals and letters when the southern extension opened; but, again the sign was taken down when the road actually opened.

The below-link: shows a distant photo of the original button-copy signs at the I-76/476/PA 23 interchange (middle photo):

http://www.pennways.com/I476_PA_WCI.html