Freeway business routes

[bugo]

US 71 between Webb City, and Carthage, MO (soon to be BL 49)
US 131 in Michigan
US 70 in Hot Springs, AR

What other freeway business routes exist?

How many of these roads were originally built as business routes and how many of them were bypassed?

[TheStranger]

Found my old thread on this, with lots of examples listed:

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5670.msg123612#msg123612

Wonder if any more have emerged since then.

[bugo]

Wonder if any more have emerged since then.

US 71B -> BL 49, but that isn't slated to change until December.

[Takumi]

US 29 through Danville and Lynchburg.

[NE2]

All freeway:
I-40 in Winston-Salem (and briefly in Greensboro)
I-80 in Sacto
I-85 in Greensboro
I-85 in Spartanburg

Partly freeway:
I-85 south of Greensboro
I-95 in Fayetteville
US 90 in New Orleans

[US12]

partly freeway I 94 in Ann Arbor

[roadman]

The Lowell Connector in Lowell, MA is a freeway (it's one half of a beltway that was never completed due to neighborhood opposition) that was once signed as 'Business Spur 495" on the side streets approaching entrance ramps.

However, in my mind, it still remains uncertain as to whether it was ever an offically sanctioned business spur or not.  Based on my research looking thorough available MassDPW files, as well as old signing and construction plans for I-495, US 3, and the Lowell Connector, there is no evidence that "Business Spur 495" shields ever appeared on the BGS panels for the Lowell Connector on either I-495 or US 3.  And while independent Business shields were installed on side streets, there is no evidence that similar shields were ever installed on the Connector mainline.

So (and with due respect to the contributors and editors of AA Roads Interstate Guide page), until I find concrete evidence to the contrary, I surmise that the "Business 495" was simply a creation of MassDPW engineers and District officials to appease local politicos in Lowell.

[agentsteel53]

as I have mentioned elsewhere, I distinctly remember a pair of green and white interstate Massachusetts 495 shields posted at the south end of the Lowell Connector in 1990 or 1991.

while these are clearly contractor errors, this is the closest thing to green Business Loop 495 shields being posted on the mainline that I know of.

[NE2]

What does posting on guide signs have to do with being officially recognized by AASHTO?

[Henry]

All freeway:
I-40 in Winston-Salem (and briefly in Greensboro)
I-85 in Greensboro

One has to wonder why a regular and Business Interstate are signed on the same highway (I-40/Business I-85 in Greensboro)!

[TheStranger]

All freeway:
I-40 in Winston-Salem (and briefly in Greensboro)
I-85 in Greensboro

One has to wonder why a regular and Business Interstate are signed on the same highway (I-40/Business I-85 in Greensboro)!

I-40 was a business route in Greensboro for 7 months in 2008, but driver confusion and the fact the road there was no longer eligible for Interstate funding led to NCDOT restoring the mainline to that alignment:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_40_Business_(North_Carolina)#Greensboro

[roadman]

What does posting on guide signs have to do with being officially recognized by AASHTO?

Why would MassDPW NOT want to include the Business 495 designation on applicable guide signs, unless it was never officially sanctioned in the first place by AASHO or AASHTO?

And, while I agree with you that the two items may seem to be mutually exclusive, common logic dictates that, having gotten official approval, MassDPW would have no issues with placing the Business Spur 495 shields on the guide signs for the Connector exits from I-495 and US 3.  By my count, the applicable signs were updated twice during the time period that "Business Spur 495" existed, so re-fitting existing BGS panels would not have been an issue.  Or at the very least, they could have placed supplemental ground-mounted BGS or LGS panels on 495 and 3 at the Lowell Connector exits (like those for the short-lived Business Loop 3 that briefly appeared at a couple of the Everett Turnpike exits in Manchester NH in the late 1960s).

As I stated, I have yet to find any substanstive proof that the Lowell Connector was officially designated as "Business Spur I-495" by AASHO (American Association of State Highway Officials, the precursor to AASHTO) in the 1950s or 1960s.  The lack of such proof - like an application or an approval letter (or even a letter officially decomissioning the route in the mid-1970s as Interstate Guide claims), plus the fact the designation never appeared on any guide signs, strongly suggests to me otherwise.  But, if somebody has actual evidence (perhaps copies of any official correspondence) that supports the claims that the Business Spur 495 designation was actually sought by MassDPW and granted by AASHO, I for one would be welcome to see it.

[hbelkins]

Green I-24 in Paducah was once signed "Downtown Loop" instead of "Business Loop" but all the "Downtown Loop" signs are now gone.

[roadman]

as I have mentioned elsewhere, I distinctly remember a pair of green and white interstate Massachusetts 495 shields posted at the south end of the Lowell Connector in 1990 or 1991.

while these are clearly contractor errors, this is the closest thing to green Business Loop 495 shields being posted on the mainline that I know of.

That was the timeframe when MassHighway was starting to transition from numerals to route shields on their LGS signs (or "paddle signs" as PennDOTFan calls them), so a contractor making white on green Interstate shields (especially if it was for a temporary condition) would not be an unlikely error.

[agentsteel53]

That was the timeframe when MassHighway was starting to transition from numerals to route shields on their LGS signs (or "paddle signs" as PennDOTFan calls them), so a contractor making white on green Interstate shields (especially if it was for a temporary condition) would not be an unlikely error.

these were independent mount cutouts, not on a green sign.

[NE2]

What does posting on guide signs have to do with being officially recognized by AASHTO?

Why would MassDPW NOT want to include the Business 495 designation on applicable guide signs, unless it was never officially sanctioned in the first place by AASHO or AASHTO?

Occam's razor says laziness trumps elaborate conspiracy theories.

[Alps]

What does posting on guide signs have to do with being officially recognized by AASHTO?

Why would MassDPW NOT want to include the Business 495 designation on applicable guide signs, unless it was never officially sanctioned in the first place by AASHO or AASHTO?

Occam's razor says laziness trumps elaborate conspiracy theories.

So did AASHO actually sanction green 495? That's the only question. If the answer is "no," we can then debate the rationale for signing it anyway. If the answer is "yes," we can then debate why it was never shown on guide signs. But we can't debate both of those at once without addressing the initial question.

("Sure we can." Yeah, we can be assholes. But let's not.)

[NE2]

I'm still having trouble seeing what AASHTO approval has to do with adding to guide signs. I can name several cases (US 117, US 377) of routes not approved by AASHTO yet signed normally. And other examples (I-910, I-129) of routes approved by AASHTO yet not signed normally.

[agentsteel53]

how is I-129 not signed normally?

do you mean the Nebraska/Iowa one, or is there another one?

[NE2]

how is I-129 not signed normally?

Maybe it's been fixed, but:


This to me (incorrectly) implies it's not an officially approved route much more than omitting shields altogether.

[agentsteel53]

I don't believe it has.

nice '61 spec US shields in that second photo, for sure.

[bugo]

I-129 is definitely real.

[NE2]

No shit.

[roadman]

So did AASHO actually sanction green 495? That's the only question. If the answer is "no," we can then debate the rationale for signing it anyway. If the answer is "yes," we can then debate why it was never shown on guide signs. But we can't debate both of those at once without addressing the initial question.

("Sure we can." Yeah, we can be assholes. But let's not.)

Point taken.  However, not having the designation on the guide signs suggests to me that there was a specific reason for not doing so.  And yes, there could be several reasons why MassDPW never placed Business Spur 495 shields on the Lowell Connector (Occam's razor among them).

I have offered one possibilty (no official AASHO approval) for this matter that seems to to be strongly supported by the evidence I've studied (lack of any MassDPW and/or AASHO correspondence, no shields on guide signs despite multiple sign upgrade projects in the time period the designation was in place, lack of markers on the mainline roadway).  I would call that conducting a reasonable analysis of the facts, and not some "elaborate conspiracy theory".

And, with respect, making a blind assumption (as most Internet pages about the Lowell Connector have done for years) that "they must have gotten AASHO approval for the designation" doesn't quite wash it with me.

[agentsteel53]

I-129 is definitely real.

[neutered shield]

that's not real.  a neutered shield is meaningless.

(I do have a state-named Nebraska I-129 hanging on my fence!  '70 spec, alas, not '57 or '61.)