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I wouldn't be able to get to Texarkana any faster or easier on I-69 than I do on US-59. It's 70-75 mph all the way. If it doesn't translate into better travel conditions, why spend the money to build a hundred new overpasses?
I-69 is dead, it will never exist, and it is not needed.
I see on google maps that US-59 is redesigned at parts that don't really have any traffic flow, so thats agreed. if the speed limit in Texas is 70, then it should've just been kept a divided highway not upgraded to an interstate.
Probably Interstate 99. Useless. Could just use US 220.
I disagree. I-99 once completed will connect parts of the southern tier region of NY to the opposite site of PA. Essentially, helping truckers and travelers get from the major cities in upstate NY more quickly (the NY/PA border often has narrow roads along a plateau that you have to go slow on.) Already completed is the portion from Williamsport, PA to Corning, NY as well as a portion just miles east of Pittsburgh. I'm from Rochester area and we've seen some businesses from the south parts of the U.S. such as Dairy Queen, Sonic, Chick-fil-A gain attraction and travelers from all around and pop up in upstate NY. A business based here, Wegmans has actually expanded its NY & PA operations and is now considered one of the most popular grocery stores on the east coast.
The development of I-99 helps the economies in NY & PA.
There's no direct highway that links Hartford, CT to Providence, RI. As originally planned, I-84 was supposed to connect the two capitals. However that highway was rerouted from Hartford to Worcester, MA after it was determined the original path of the highway would have gone through the reservoirs of Providence's drinking water. A similar reason stopped the completion of a beltway around Hartford. The northern segment would have connected Farmington, CT with I-91, but would have gone through Hartford's drinking water source. If you've ever driven I-84 in Farmington, west of Hartford, and driven under a stack of highway bridges, that was where the beltway would have connected. Most of those stacked highway bridges remain unused.
I dunno about "useless" but I've always thought the Cleveland region has a lot of Interstates for its population.
There's some truth there. Several metropolitan areas had plans started in the 50s and 60s for large loops in anticipation of scaling up suburbs. I-635 in Dallas and I-271 around Cleveland were examples among many others. However, unlike Dallas, Cleveland's metropolitan growth stagnated around 1970 while Dallas' took off.
Also, the interstate system was mostly designed in the 1950s, while Cleveland was peaking, and it made sense to "dead end" several interstates into the Cleveland area: I-76, I-71, I-77.
As for most useless interstates, I could offer up several "roads to nowhere" that are built by an out of control DOT that offers jobs in exchange for political support to build spurs and bypasses around hick towns that don't need them.
For those who don't know, the "Highway to Nowhere" is a stretch of U.S. 40 (about 1.5 miles long) that runs as an expressway in a sub-surface trench from the western edge of downtown Baltimore through West Baltimore residential neighborhoods. U.S. 40 continues westward on the surface as Edmondson Avenue out into the suburbs, where it continues as Baltimore National Pike.
This road was supposed to be a spur of Interstate 70, but local opposition forced I-70 to be truncated at the Cooks Lane interchange, which is located at the City-County line. Thus, the spur does not connect to any other controlled-access expressway. That's why they call it the "Highway to Nowhere," though this is really a misnomer, since it serves the thru-routed U.S. 40.
If you're going to build an expressway through a city, laying it in a trench is far less disruptive than running it on the surface, or on an elevated viaduct. I-70 could have been a relatively benign access route from the western suburbs into the city. But instead, all that traffic pokes its way down Edmondson Avenue, making this road a far more divisive and ugly scar upon West Baltimore than a sub-surface expressway would have been.
For those who don't know, the "Highway to Nowhere" is a stretch of U.S. 40 (about 1.5 miles long) that runs as an expressway in a sub-surface trench from the western edge of downtown Baltimore through West Baltimore residential neighborhoods. U.S. 40 continues westward on the surface as Edmondson Avenue out into the suburbs, where it continues as Baltimore National Pike.
This road was supposed to be a spur of Interstate 70, but local opposition forced I-70 to be truncated at the Cooks Lane interchange, which is located at the City-County line. Thus, the spur does not connect to any other controlled-access expressway. That's why they call it the "Highway to Nowhere," though this is really a misnomer, since it serves the thru-routed U.S. 40.
If you're going to build an expressway through a city, laying it in a trench is far less disruptive than running it on the surface, or on an elevated viaduct. I-70 could have been a relatively benign access route from the western suburbs into the city. But instead, all that traffic pokes its way down Edmondson Avenue, making this road a far more divisive and ugly scar upon West Baltimore than a sub-surface expressway would have been.
I'm glad someone is aware of the story behind it lol. It's so infrequently used, that when it snows the city doesn't even plow it now a days.
Recent ruffles in the news say the city plans on removing it altogether and making it an trenched urban park. Think an antithesis to NYC's High Line. That area of the city needs some major investment anyways.
I know traffic counts on I55 and I44 are pretty low in St. Louis. Missouri 370 is now freeway grade and traffic is light to moderate at best along with 367 and 364 is a big ole 10 lane freeway without the volume. There is a lot of wasted money on bridges and stuff. But there again St. Louis is one of the easiest cities to get around in.
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