Railroad grades that parallel highways for miles

[roadman65]

I do not know if any one ever started this thread or not, but we seem to have many roads that closely follow highways.  Some are next to each other like NJ 27 in Colonia, NJ, yet the same rail line runs pretty close to most of NJ 27's route from New Brunswick to Newark.  I am looking at directly next to the highway at with no businesses in between and both rights of ways touching one another for many or a few miles. 

I will start out by posting I-195 in Richmond, VA with the CSX rail line in its median for most of its length.  Also part of VA 76 continues part of what I-195 started before crossing the James River.

[Alps]

You're gonna quickly exhaust people with this topic because almost all of the old highways across the West followed railroads.

[mgk920]

That is S.O.P. throughout much of the midwest - in many cases, the road was built to follow the railroad, which in turn was built on the easiest routing.

Mike

[NE2]

Yes, roads evolved from informal trails alongside railroads. The Lincoln Highway from Salt Lake west was one of the exceptions, since going across the salt flats was slightly beyond the road technology of the time.

[roadman65]

T\

Yes, roads evolved from informal trails alongside railroads. The Lincoln Highway from Salt Lake west was one of the exceptions, since going across the salt flats was slightly beyond the road technology of the time.

Yeah how true.  Even towns were erected cause of the railroads.  Hershey, PA for example was because of not only dairy farms in that region for the milk to manufacture the chocalate, but cause of the pre existing railroad that was there. It allowed Milton Hershey to build his plant and needed a place for workers to dwell that ended up as the "Sweetest Place on Earth."

It is interesting to know, though, where many are and peoples opinion and reaction to places.  Not all of us have gotten the luxury to move around the country like we would like.

[Duke87]

In rural areas (especially flat rural areas) it's a matter of following the easiest and most logical path, so naturally things run parallel.

But there can be other considerations. For instance, how I-95 runs directly parallel to the northeast corridor a lot in New York and Connecticut... not so much a matter of easiest path, but in this case a matter of that it's easier and less disruptive to build a highway through a developed area if you expand an existing ROW rather than carving out a completely new one. And clustering things that people don't want to live next to together puts them in fewer people's backyards.

[mgk920]

In rural areas (especially flat rural areas) it's a matter of following the easiest and most logical path, so naturally things run parallel.

But there can be other considerations. For instance, how I-95 runs directly parallel to the northeast corridor a lot in New York and Connecticut... not so much a matter of easiest path, but in this case a matter of that it's easier and less disruptive to build a highway through a developed area if you expand an existing ROW rather than carving out a completely new one. And clustering things that people don't want to live next to together puts them in fewer people's backyards.

AKA - 'the easiest path'



Mike

[US71]

As others have already said, many original alignments (such as much of US 66)  did follow a "path of least resistance" . In later years, with improved road building technology this has changed. But I think someone already said that, too.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

^ What everybody else said above. 

[Brian556]

How 'bout highways that were built over former railroad grades?
In Dallas, there are three that I know of.
In the cases of US 75 Central Expy and the Dallas North Tollway, railroads that were in use were removed so that their right-of-ways could be used for the highways.
In the case of SH 114, much of the highway was built over an old railroad grade that never had tracks laid on it because the railroad company went bankrupt before completing the line.

[SidS1045]

Almost the entire Massachusetts Turnpike ROW was purchased from the now-defunct Boston & Albany Railroad, and the portion between the I-95 and I-93 interchanges still runs next to those tracks, which are now part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail lines.

[The High Plains Traveler]

How 'bout highways that were built over former railroad grades?
* * *

There are roads, many of them 4WD, through the Rockies that are originally narrow-gauge railroad grades. The one nearest to me is the Phantom Canyon Road, which for a time from the 1930s to the 1950s was designated as part of CO-67. It is along a railroad grade from Florence on the Arkansas River to Victor, nearly 10,000 feet in elevation, in a major gold mining area (that's almost a 5000 foot elevation difference in maybe 30 miles). This rail line only existed for about 20 years, from the 1890s to the 1910s. The road in many areas is one vehicle wide, and one bridge is part of the original rail line. This road is actually navigable by most vehicles, though you have to be prepared to stop at a wide spot or even back up to one.

So, trivia quiz, how many know the rule of the road regarding vehicles that meet on a one-lane mountain road section. Who by right backs up? Hint: not the guy with the biggest car.

[NE2]

Almost the entire Massachusetts Turnpike ROW was purchased from the now-defunct Boston & Albany Railroad, and the portion between the I-95 and I-93 interchanges still runs next to those tracks, which are now part of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail lines.

What the crap? The old Boston and Albany is the CSX line from Boston to (duh) Albany. The two are nowhere near each other outside 128.

(You may be thinking of the never-finished Southern New England Railway, but that's also unrelated to the Masspike, except that its grading can be seen in at least one place.)

[Zmapper]

I would think the gazillion "Railroad Ave" streets would count. 

[D-Dey65]

How 'bout highways that were built over former railroad grades?

I know of one that was realigned onto part of an old railroad grade. Back when Florida State Road 54 was being widened between Pasco CR 1 and US 41, a short segment between the former Tampa Bay Executive Airport and Pasco CR 587(Gunn Highway) was relocated to the former Silver Springs, Ocala and Gulf Railroad line. Suffolk County built County Road 81 on a short section of the former LIRR Sag Harbor Branch, and tried to build Suffolk County Road 91 on the Manorville Branch.

[ap70621]

I believe I remember US 13 in Virginia along the Delmarva Peninsula having a railroad right next to it for a while.

[Alps]

NJ 129 was built on a former railroad ROW, as was NM 485.

[NE2]

NJ 129 was built on a former railroad ROW, as was NM 485.

NJ 129 is on the former Delaware and Raritan Canal. The railroad built on the towpath is now the River Line light rail.

[bugo]

This thread would be 1000 pages long if we tried to name every road that follows a railroad.  I will, however give one fairly unique example: a stretch of OK 51/US 64/Broken Arrow Expressway in Tulsa was built along both sides of a railroad in between I-44 and I-444, and today the rail line runs down the median.

[mgk920]

A short section of the Neillsville, WI US 10 bypass was built on grade of the former CNW Wausau-Merrillon line and most of the US 53 Solon Springs, WI bypass was built on the former SOO Superior Sub, not long after Wisconsin Central (now CN) combined it with their then just-purchased CNW Superior Sub.  The line is now CN's western Canada-Chicago mainline.  Note that a bit farther south of Solon Springs, where the highway has a wide spread median the southbound side is also on that same former railroad grade.

Also, a section of I-94 (East-West Freeway) in the area of 27th St in Milwaukee, WI was built on the grade of an abandoned interurban/light rail line.

Mike

[NE2]

The MoPac Expressway in Austin straddes ex-Missouri Pacific Railroad tracks. The Katy Freeway goes from Houston to Katy, named for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad (MKT), and the recent expansion used the ex-MKT right-of-way.

[goobnav]

US 29 running North from Danville VA, to at least Alta Vista parallels a NS line.

[hbelkins]

Much of the new routing of US 60 in Morehead, Ky., is built on the old C&O rail line bed that ran between Lexington and Ashland.

The KY 77 Nada Tunnel in the Red River Gorge is an old narrow-gauge railroad tunnel.

Sherman Cahal can provide more information on these two examples, but I think there are roads using old railroad bridges in Floyd County off US 23 and in Carter County off KY 7.

There are a couple of counties that have local roads called "Old Railroad Grade Road/Lane" and that would appear to be fairly obvious.

[achilles765]

How 'bout highways that were built over former railroad grades?
In Dallas, there are three that I know of.
In the cases of US 75 Central Expy and the Dallas North Tollway, railroads that were in use were removed so that their right-of-ways could be used for the highways.
In the case of SH 114, much of the highway was built over an old railroad grade that never had tracks laid on it because the railroad company went bankrupt before completing the line.

Here in Houston the Westpark Tollway sits right in the narrow ROW where a railroad line used to run, which explains the sometimes odd way the tollway runs (in some places the eastbound side elevates while the westbound side remains at grade, it is a super-3 from US 59 to its eastern end at Post Oak Blvd. 
As for running parallel, the Hardy Toll Road has a railroad line running through the median of it for a fairly long stretch.
If they ever build the Hempstead Tollway along US 290, I imagine it will look like either Westpark or Hardy.

[PAHighways]

How 'bout highways that were built over former railroad grades?

The original section of Pennsylvania Turnpike utilizes a ROW that William H. Vanderbilt intended to be a Pittsburgh-Harrisburg rail line, and part of which was used by the Pittsburgh, Westmoreland, and Somerset short line railroad.