Bypasses that are shorter than the original route

[bugo]

The bypass of Poteau, OK (Cavanal Scenic Expressway, Bypass US 59) is slightly shorter than the old route through town.  It is much quicker as there are no lights on it, despite its slow speed limit of 55 (the 2 lane roads on either side of the bypass are 65.)  Are there any other bypasses that are shorter than the route through town?

[agentsteel53]

I-8 and US-80 can be considered this way, as a Phoenix bypass vs. a through route.  

US-99 Ridge Route Alternate (1931) was much shorter than the Ridge Route segment it replaced, mainly due to engineering advances that made the road a lot less winding.

it would be interesting to identify the shortest pair of segments, each of which is signed as a different route (whether different numbers, bypass/business, main/alternate designation, etc), which fits this criterion.  your US-59 example is quite short.

[Alps]

I guess this rules out bypasses like I-68 Sideling Hill, which also carries US 40 on a much shorter route than the original - you're specifically looking for shorter bypasses of towns, right? I know a lot of US 66 bypasses ended up being shorter because of the turns the original route would take through town, especially on up through Illinois where 66 heads diagonally.

Another - Truck US 19 / US 19 north of Pittsburgh, Truck route is shorter. Quite possibly south of Pittsburgh, as well.

[nexus73]

US 101 originally was routed Coos Bay-Coquille-Bandon.  The distance was 39 miles.  A new section of 101 was completed in 1961 that bypassed a good-sized chunk of the original 101 and the result was a distance of 23 miles between Bandon and Coos Bay.

Another example of where new sections of 101 (completed in 1965) shortened distance over the old one is between Gold Beach and Brookings.  The former distance was 40 miles.  The new sections of 101 made it 27 miles.

A goodly number of other bypasses of old 101 made the new 101 shorter and if things had been done any better, the Columbia would be the border between Washington and California...LOL!  Old 101 was a crooked narrow terrain-following affair.  The postwar period from 1947 to the early 1970's saw considerable improvement thanks to the bypassing of the old sections.  Today it's fun to follow those former 101 sections and see some pretty interesting back country, much of which is rather well-settled in a rural fashion as compared to the newer sections with much less heritage.

Rick 

[rawmustard]

I'm thinking most of M-60's realignments would fit this thread, most noticably the ones around Union City and Tekonsha.

[1995hoo]

I assume you mean shorter in terms of distance rather than time, right? The bypass that readily comes to my mind is the realignment of US-29 near Lynchburg, Virginia, onto the Madison Heights Bypass. It's eight-tenths of a mile longer distance-wise than taking the old route, but it's substantially faster due to the absence of traffic lights and the higher speed (a 70-mph speed limit was posted earlier this month, Virginia's first 70-mph speed limit on a non-Interstate in the post-NMSL era). But that sort of thing isn't really all that remarkable because it's common for a bypass to be a higher-speed route that is supposed to save time even if the distance is longer.

To give an example more in keeping with the distance model, I-475 around Macon is an example of a 3di bypass having a shorter distance than the 2di route through the city. It saves around six miles. I don't know whether it was built later than I-75, so I don't know if the "original route" terminology is appropriate.

[texaskdog]

US 61 in Duluth used to have the "bypass" straight thru, whereas 61 ran a few blocks up the hill, then came back down

[bassoon1986]

US 71 bypass in Alexandria, LA is 0.9 miles shorter. It gets routed onto I-49 which is a much straighter shot than MacArthur Drive around town

[bassoon1986]

And US 165 in Monroe, LA is 1.8 shorter than the original alignment

[vdeane]

US 11 around Brasher Falls and Winthrop; the old route is now NY 11C.

[TheStranger]

Route 36 from Mineral eastward to east of Mill Creek is 7 miles long, while Route 172 (the older alignment) is 9.1 miles.

Route 9 from Boulder Creek north to Castle Rock State Park is 7 miles long, supplanting the old alignment along Route 236 through Big Basin which is 17 miles long.

Current US 101 on the Bayshore and Central Freeways is approximately 76 miles from Gilroy to San Francisco's Alemany Maze interchange, while the old Monterey Road/El Camino Real/Southern Freeway routing (now Business US 101, Route 82, and I-280) from pre-1964 is 78.6 miles.

[kphoger]

I didn't think this thread was about realignments of highways, but rather that an entirely different route, intended to be a bypass, is shorter than the 'through' route.  Otherwise, wouldn't almost every realignment be shorter?  Isn't that why most roads get realigned?

[TheStranger]

I didn't think this thread was about realignments of highways, but rather that an entirely different route, intended to be a bypass, is shorter than the 'through' route.  Otherwise, wouldn't almost every realignment be shorter?  Isn't that why most roads get realigned?

I think "faster" is a better way to describe a realignment - compare I-78 to US 22 in the Lehigh Valley.

In the case of US 101, Bayshore Freeway (and before that, Bayshore Highway) was indeed actually "US 101 Bypass" for years so I would say that counts.

[kphoger]

Yes, we need to stop conflating the terms 'realignment' and 'bypass'..

[1995hoo]

Yes, we need to stop conflating the terms 'realignment' and 'bypass'..

In the case of the portion of US-29 I cited, "realignment" was probably the wrong term, but the term "bypass" is itself not entirely clear in this case because the new bypass supersedes an old bypass route that has itself now become the new "business" route. US-29 Business used to go through a couple of city streets, while US-29 Bypass used the Lynchburg Expressway (a freeway on the east side of town; the freeway was a bit narrow and reminded me a lot of Pennsylvania's Interstates or I-68 in Cumberland, Maryland). The new bypass route is considerably further to the east and the former bypass is now US-29 Business; that latter designation, in turn, has been removed from the city streets it used to follow. Those are now VA-163.

[TheStranger]

Yes, we need to stop conflating the terms 'realignment' and 'bypass'..

As 1995hoo pointed out though, sometimes this distinction still isn't clear at all in practice.

101 being shifted from El Camino Real to Bayshore is a realignment of the route...by placing it on what had been the designated bypass road. 

I guess we could say that trying to straighten a route by avoiding curves, etc. would be a realignment that doesn't necessarily qualify as "bypass" but I think the examples I brought up do represent bypass roads being used as the new trajectory of those numbered routes.

[vdeane]

NY 3A and NY 3 in the Carthage area are an interesting pair.  Using NY 3 as a through route is about twice as long as NY 3A, yet NY 3A isn't even state maintained (it's a county road and passes through Fort Drum).

[bassoon1986]

well, both my US 71 and US 165 examples are signed as a bypass at least once, even if they aren't called a bypass. Also one more I found: LA 1 and LA 6 bypass in Natchitoches, LA. You used to have to drive through the center of town for both of these routes. I measured distance and the LA 6 bypass is shorter in distance but the LA 1 isn't. In terms of time the bypasses are definitely a lot shorter because that town is so packed and tourist-y.

[kphoger]

OK, well, depending on definitions, these may qualify.........
I can think of a couple of obvious ones in México.

The city of San Luis Potosí originally had highway 57 running right through town:
http://g.co/maps/rkbuw
The Anillo Periférico was later built as a ring road, and now provides the free bypass around the city:
http://g.co/maps/khd2b 2.6 km shorter
Since that time, yet another bypass was constructed, forming the toll bypass–signed 57(D):
http://g.co/maps/z7ttn a further 7.7 km, for a total of 10.3 km shaved off

Farther south, the city of Querétaro originally had highway 57 running through town:
http://g.co/maps/pgn9j
Blvr. Bernardo Quintana provides the main free bypass, though it still quite urban:
http://g.co/maps/bnb4p 0.9 km shorter
Since that time, yet another bypass was constructed (the Vía Corta), forming the toll bypass–signed 57(D):
http://g.co/maps/qvhrt 9 km shorter, for a total of 9.9 km shaved off

Querétaro has also seen the recent construction of a western bypass:
http://g.co/maps/vn8c8 2.7 km shorter than the route through town, and is signed as 57(D) at least at the exit from 45(D).
Post Merge: March 23, 2012, 11:51:32 AM
Similarly.....

The new bypass around the town of Arriaga (Chis.) shaves 1.1 km off the original route through town–both signed as highway 200:
http://g.co/maps/yjw5x

The toll bypass around the city of Coatzacalcos (Ver.) shaves 4.6 km off the original route through town–the bypass signed as 180(D):
http://g.co/maps/ym2cn
Post Merge: December 31, 1969, 06:59:59 PM
And, following right along.....

The toll bypass–part of a larger beast–around Tecate (B.C.) is 1.6 km shorter than its free cousin through town.
http://g.co/maps/sjqkw

[MrDisco99]

The thing that first came to my mind was I-10 and I-610 in New Orleans.  I-10 goes into downtown then makes a sharp turn up, while I-610 is the shortcut across the gap.

[mgk920]

The first one that came to my mind is US 61 at Lancaster, WI.  The 'bypass' (WI 129) is much, much shorter than the marked route of US 61 through town.

http://maps.google.com/?ll=42.845639,-90.691452&spn=0.07174,0.110378&t=m&z=13

Some evidence that I have seen on the ground when I drove through that area a few years back leads me to think that WI 129 has (or had) aspirations of being more than it is now, too.

Mike

[bugo]

I didn't think this thread was about realignments of highways, but rather that an entirely different route, intended to be a bypass, is shorter than the 'through' route.  Otherwise, wouldn't almost every realignment be shorter?  Isn't that why most roads get realigned?

No.  Many bypasses go straight through town where the bypass swings around the town.

[vtk]

Many bypasses go straight through town where the bypass swings around the town.

I think you might have misspoken. [Elaborated in a later post.]



US 42 at Plain City, OH.  Old route through center of town, about 1½ miles at 35 MPH. New route, about ¾ mile at 50 MPH.  Okay, it might be seen as a simple realignment which may have been done even if the town weren't there, but the project was definitely first posed as a "bypass of Plain City", intended to take trucks off streets at the city's center.

[bugo]

"Many."  I didn't misspeak.

[Alps]

"Many."  I didn't misspeak.

I think you meant many "routes" rather than many "bypasses"