List of gaps in Interstate Highways

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Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways
Interstate Highways in the 48 contiguous states
System information
Formed: June 29, 1956[1]
Highway names
Interstates: Interstate X (I-X)
System links
I-70 briefly follows an at-grade portion of US 30 with traffic lights in Breezewood, Pennsylvania

There are gaps in the Interstate Highway system, where the roadway carrying an Interstate shield does not conform to the standards set by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), the body that sets the regulations for the Interstate Highway System. For the most part, the Interstate Highway System in the United States is a connected system, with most freeways completed; however, some Interstates still have gaps. These gaps can be due to unconnected segments of the same route or from failure of the road to fully conform to Interstate standards by including such things as at-grade crossings, traffic lights, undivided or narrow freeways, or movable bridges (lift bridges and drawbridges). This article deals with present day gaps, as such examples were far more numerous during construction of the Interstate Highway System and the upgrading of existing roads to meet these standards, which did not occur everywhere at the same time. Temporary gaps, such as lane closures that reduce traffic to one lane and reduce speed limits, are also excluded.

True gaps

True gaps are where two disjoint sections of road have the same Interstate highway number and can reasonably be considered part of "one highway" in theory, based on the directness of connections via other highways, or based on future plans to fill in the gap in the Interstate, or simply based on the shortness of the gap. The two sections are either not physically connected at all, or they are connected but the connection is not signed as part of the highway. It should be noted that most of these gaps (except for the one on I-95) exist because the two segments are actually two unrelated highways that were built at different times, but assigned the same number; many times, the same number was assigned to the second segment with the intention of eventually connecting it to the first segment.

Freeway gaps

Freeway gaps occur where the Interstate is signed as a continuous route, but part or all of it is not up to freeway standards. This includes drawbridges where traffic on the Interstate can be stopped for vessels. This does not include facilities such as tollbooths, toll plazas, agricultural inspection stations, or border stations.

At-grade intersections and traffic lights

Surface street section of I-78 in Jersey City, New Jersey

Several Interstates in rural areas of the U.S. have at-grade intersections (including median breaks) with minor farm access roads. This is usually due to the lack of an old highway; the need to provide access to property that was accessed via the road prior to its upgrade to an Interstate; and the high cost to construct an interchange for the small amount of traffic that would use such a connection or to build a frontage road parallel to the freeway to the nearest interchange. Other at-grade intersections are restricted to municipal service vehicles, of which make it easier for maintenance to be done in places like in the mountains as well as tollways.

Undivided and narrow freeways

Two-lane stretch of I-93 through Franconia Notch in New Hampshire
Two-lane stretch of I-81 on the Thousand Islands Bridge crossing part of the Saint Lawrence River
The Mackinac Bridge, which carries I-75, has no hard shoulders, and only has a 4-inch-tall (10 cm) divider between the opposing directions

This section addresses two-lane freeways and other narrow or undivided freeway sections of the Interstate, excepting instances of continuing routes using one-lane ramps and merge leads. Narrow gaps between opposing directions with jersey barriers taller than four feet (1.2 m) are excluded from this section; therefore the separation criteria is really either a 4-foot-tall (1.2 m) wall, or a 100-foot-wide (30 m) median, whichever is greater.

Movable bridges

A six lane freeway in an urban area with a vertical lift bridge in the distance. A green sign with flashing lights on the right side of the road reads Drawbridge ahead 700 feet.
I-280 westbound approaching the movable Stickel Bridge over the Passaic River in New Jersey

By Interstate standard, all bridges on the Interstate system must be fixed as to not interrupt the flow of traffic. Several bridges on the system, however, are movable:

Other movable bridges on the Interstate System have been replaced after spending many years as part of the system. These include:

  • I-75 had a bascule bridge from 1960 to 1988 at Zilwaukee, Michigan, just north of Saginaw; the high-level Zilwaukee Bridge replaced it on December 23, 1987, for northbound traffic, and on September 19, 1988, for southbound traffic.[17] Interstate 675 was built as an in-town bypass of the bascule bridge prior to the construction of the tall Zilwaukee bridge. Since the completion of the tall Zilwaukee bridge in 1987, I-675 has had less traffic than its capacity; though it is a feasible detour for bridge, or other maintenance between both ends of the loop.
  • I-280 formerly had a drawbridge, the Craig Bridge, in Toledo, Ohio. The fixed-span Veterans' Glass City Skyway replaced the drawbridge on the Interstate Highway in 2007.

Freeway-to-freeway crosspaths without direct connection

Connection gaps

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Current day examples

  • I-210 in California does not currently connect directly to I-10 - it connected to I-10 until 1998, when California State Route 57 replaced the portion of I-210 through Covina and San Dimas to provide a proper connection to current State Route 210. State Route 210, built as an extension to replace Route 30, connects to I-10, and California is petitioning to have that portion signed as I-210 as well. When that happens, this gap will close. I-210 also does not connect to any of the spurs of I-10, with the exception of a short, unsigned, unfinished section of I-710 which connects to I-110 and State Route 110 only via surface streets.
  • Interstate 269 is near Memphis, Tennessee, but doesn't actually connect to Interstate 69 yet, since I-69 is still under construction.
  • None of the spurs of I-78 (I-278, I-478, I-678, I-878) connect to its parent, nor is there any surface-street with a state route designation with the same number that continues with a solid connection. (see disputed gaps below)
  • Interstate 585 near Spartanburg, South Carolina uses a business loop, albeit in freeway form of I-85, but this puts the example in some dispute of consensus (see disputed gaps below)
  • Interstate 495 doesn't currently have any official connection to Interstate 95, though it has a FUTURE sign along US-64 in North Carolina until as far east as Interstate 95.
  • Numerous three-digit Interstate routes are unsigned on some portions, which would lead some to think they were "connection gaps". However these aforementioned "connection gaps" don't even have internal unsigned concurrencies on other Interstate highway segments between the "parent route" and signed terminus.

Disputed gaps

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  • I-265—the Indiana portion of I-265 does not yet connect with the Kentucky portion. Each of the two segments, circling the outskirts and suburbs of Louisville, ends before crossing the Ohio River, making them completely in separate states, thus following numbering guidelines. A bridge to connect the two segments is currently under construction.[18]
  • None of the spurs of I-78 (I-278, I-478, I-678, I-878) connect to its parent. I-78 was planned to extend through New York City and end as two branches, where I-295 and I-695 now end at I-95. I-478 comes the closest, and would have intersected if the Westway project were not canceled; I-278, the only I-78 spur to leave New York City, was planned to extend northwest to I-78 at Route 24. Since all the spurs are interconnected, only one of them needs to be eventually connected to its parent route for all of them to conform to numbering standards.
  • I-585 used to connect with I-85 in Spartanburg, South Carolina, but I-85 was moved to a new bypassing route, where I-585 now ends. The signed connection to I-85 is via a surface section of US 176.
  • I-90 at the Chicago Skyway—historically, the Skyway was commonly considered to be, and was signed as, part of I-90 (originally I-94). However, around 1999, the City of Chicago determined it may never have applied for approval to sign it as an Interstate. (It also is not designed to Interstate standards.) The city re-signed the Skyway, and it is now mostly posted with "TO I-90/94" signs with a few older signs remaining. However, the Illinois Department of Transportation has always and continues to report the Skyway as part of the Interstate system, and the Federal Highway Administration still considers it as such. An FHWA legal memo says "There is no doubt about it. The Chicago Skyway is officially part of I-90 that (has) always been included in the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways."[19][20]
  • The northern end of the I-99 freeway ends less than 1 mile (1.6 km) from I-80 in Pennsylvania, and motorists can continue north on US 220/PA 26 along surface street to grade-level ramps to access I-80, which is planned to overlap in the eastward direction with I-99 northbound, once the extension of I-99 is completed.

See also

References

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  4. http://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot/commission/2015/0326/5.pdf
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External links