Highway revolts in the United States

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In Tucson, Arizona, proposed Interstate 710 was to follow current Kino Parkway from I-10 to Broadway Boulevard, connecting I-10 to the University of Arizona and the downtown area. However, heavy opposition to the freeway caused for its cancellation in 1982, and the Tucson area has long been opposed to the rapid urban sprawl and freeways ever since.

California

San Francisco

In

• A portion of the Mission Freeway was built and still exists as the near-freeway portion of San Jose Avenue from Interstate 280 to Randall Street. Northeast of that section, it would have run parallel to Mission Street to meet the Central Freeway above Duboce Avenue.
• The
  Crosstown Freeway would have run parallel to Bosworth Street and O'Shaughnessy Boulevard (and through Glen Canyon Park) from Interstate 280 to the Western Freeway near 7th Avenue. Most of the right of way for this freeway was cleared but it was never built.^[3]
• The Western Freeway would have run north from
  Crosstown Freeway. It would have then continued north to the southern edge of Golden Gate Park and followed an unspecified route (in the 1951 version, a tunnel under the park and then a depressed routing through the Panhandle) northeast to the eastern end of the Panhandle, continuing east from there between Fell and Oak Streets to meet the Central Freeway
  .
• A portion of the Park Presidio Freeway was built as and still exists as CA 1 through the Presidio from the Golden Gate Bridge. South of that section the freeway would have continued, replacing what is now Park Presidio Boulevard, and then tunneled under Golden Gate Park to meet the Western Freeway.
• A portion of the
  Golden Gate Freeway
  was never built.
• A portion of the
  Golden Gate Freeway was never built. The entire freeway was removed after the Loma Prieta earthquake
  .
• Most of the
  Southern Embarcadero Freeway was built and still exists as part of Interstate 280
  , but the section from Third Street to the Bay Bridge approach was never built. The section between Sixth and Third Streets was removed after the Loma Prieta earthquake.
• The
  Embarcadero Freeway to the Golden Gate Bridge
  approach was never built.
• The freeway approach from
  US 101 and Interstate 280 to the Southern Crossing bridge
  was never built because the bridge was not built.

• The
  Hunters Point to meet Interstate 280 near what is Army Street (now Cesar Chavez Street
  ).

In 1959, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to cancel seven of ten planned freeways, including an extension of the Central Freeway. In 1964, protests against a freeway through the Panhandle and Golden Gate Park led to its cancellation, and in 1966 the Board of Supervisors rejected an extension of the Embarcadero Freeway to the Golden Gate Bridge.^[4]

Opposition to the Embarcadero Freeway continued, and in 1985, the Board of Supervisors voted to demolish it. It was closed after sustaining heavy damage in 1989's

Oakland

In Oakland, California, the Richmond Boulevard Freeway would have run along Valdez Street, Richmond Boulevard, Glen Echo Creek, and Moraga Avenue from 20th Street to SR 13. It was approved by Oakland voters in a 1945 bond issue, but was canceled August 16, 1956, when the city of Piedmont was unable to pay for its portion of the route.^[5] In 1949, the Richmond Boulevard Protective Association had protested the route and its planned destruction of their homes.^[6]

Berkeley

In Berkeley, California, the Ashby Freeway would have run approximately along the line of Ashby Avenue from Interstate 80 to California State Route 24. The Berkeley Department of Public Works and Planning Commission proposed possible routings for it in 1952, and were met with 5,000 signatures on a petition in opposition. Nevertheless, the commission included the route in the 1955 Berkeley Master Plan. A 1957 public hearing drew 100 protesters. The 1959 Alameda County transportation plan attempted to relocate the proposed freeway to the Oakland–Berkeley border, but Oakland was no more receptive to the freeway, and the Berkeley City Council voted to stop planning it in 1961.^[7]

Bakersfield

In Bakersfield, California, the SR 178 freeway terminates two miles east of the SR 99 freeway. The section through downtown Bakersfield and the Westchester residential district was never completed due to opposition from Westchester residents. The controversy continues to this day, as the Bakersfield City Council's plans to widen Highway 178 through the Westchester area are being strongly protested.

Los Angeles

• The
  Laurel Canyon. Only the portion traversing the Baldwin Hills was finished, later being designated as La Cienega Boulevard
  .
• The
  Hancock Park. Caltrans acquired and cleared the land needed for the freeway in the city of Beverly Hills; the right-of-way later became a long greenway
  .
• The Slauson Freeway (
  Marina Freeway that runs between Marina del Rey and southern Culver City and the Richard M. Nixon Parkway in Yorba Linda
  .
• The
  Silver Lake
  .
• The Pacific Coast Freeway (
  South Bay
  region led to the project's abandonment. One segment, between Oxnard and the Point Mugu Naval Air Station, was built in the 1960s before the project was abandoned.
• The Redondo Beach Freeway (
  Gardena Freeway
  .
• The
  I-5) due to opposition from the city of Norwalk. One of the compromises allowing the freeway to be built caused the inclusion of a mass transit line in the median. This is the C Line
  , which opened on August 12, 1995. The Glenn Anderson Freeway opened on October 15, 1993.
• The
  I-710
  ) was initially intended to go from the port complex all the way north to Pasadena, linking up with the Ventura and Foothill Freeways (SR 134 & I-210), completing a bypass of Downtown Los Angeles to the east. The freeway was completed just past I-10 in Alhambra, and a half-mile stub was built in Pasadena (still unsigned, but officially SR 710). Opposition came from the small city of South Pasadena, which would have been cut in half, impacting its small but lively downtown. A six-mile (10 km) gap currently exists, and Caltrans is still attempting to build some sort of link, the latest idea of which has been a pair of tunnels.
  • Opposition to the building of the 710 extensions through South Pasadena has, for some 30 years, resulted in the suspension of plans to build an extension from the
    Caltrans to private parties. In 2006, the idea of completing the freeway using a tunnel was first proposed. This idea is currently under a funded study by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
    (LACMTA).

    Parts of this article (those related to sentence) need to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (November 2015)

  • A proposed rehabilitation and widening of the aged
    Caltrans and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) abandoned it within days of its unveiling in 2004. Caltrans and MTA have issued a new plan that would use MTA-owned utility right-of-way along the Los Angeles River
    and require the taking of fewer than ten residences.
• The portion of the
  I-210) running through the Crescenta Valley was not completed until the early 1980s, largely due to opposition by the wealthy city of La Cañada Flintridge
  . As part of the legal settlement allowing for the freeway's construction, it was built so far below grade that two creeks crossing its alignment traverse the freeway by means of aqueducts.

In Southern California, a number of environmental organizations including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation and others, along with the California State Parks Foundation, banded together to stop a planned extension to the SR 241 Foothill South Toll Road. The groups contend that the project threatens the fragile San Mateo Creek Watershed and would result in the loss of a significant portion of the popular San Onofre State Beach Park. In 2006, the coalition filed a lawsuit against the Transportation Corridor Agency – the agency responsible for the project – stating that deficiencies in the project's environmental impact report violated the California Environmental Quality Act. The groups were joined in the lawsuit by the California State Attorney General's Office.

San Diego

Throughout the four-year duration of a $300M construction project to reroute U.S. Route 101 to the east side of Willits as a bypass, numerous environmental coalitions raised concerns about the impact of the bypass on the local wetlands and cultural sites. The Pomo Native American tribe joined in the protests.^[10] In 2013, a federal judge rejected a lawsuit, which was attempting to halt the project, filed against

A planned Interstate 470 beltway around Denver met opposition, including from Governor Richard Lamm, an environmentalist, who promised to "drive a silver spike" through the project.^[13] Eventually, a compromise was reached, and the beltway was built, using three different designations: State Highway 470, E-470 and the Northwest Parkway. Currently, a gap remains in the beltway, as it stops short of reaching the Denver suburbs of Broomfield and Golden, where fierce opposition to the road continues. Golden is opposed to completion of the beltway; Broomfield supports it, and has been exploring alternate routes.

Connecticut

Hartford

In 1973 environmentalists filed lawsuits that effectively killed construction of the planned

Local opposition, particularly in the town of Wilton, convinced a federal judge to halt construction of the U.S. Route 7 Expressway (originally envisioned to be a segment of the then-proposed Interstate 89 through western New England) between Norwalk and Danbury in 1972. State and federal highway officials subsequently prepared an environmental impact statement for the expressway, and a Federal judge allowed construction to resume in 1983. By then however, the cost of construction had skyrocketed and there were no longer any funds available to complete the expressway, as all highway funds were diverted into a massive statewide highway repair program in the wake of the Mianus River Bridge collapse months earlier. Two short extensions of the Route 7 freeway were completed near the Danbury Fair Mall in 1986, and from Route 123 to Gristmill Road in Norwalk in 1992, before funds for further construction were exhausted. The proposal remained on the books until the CONNDOT canceled expressway plans in 1999 in lieu of widening the existing Route 7 to 4 lanes, citing a lack of funding and no feasible route that would avoid the environmentally sensitive Norwalk River basin. Some in Connecticut have been seeking to revive the expressway proposal, including those who originally opposed it, citing the rapidly increasing volume of traffic and the number of fatal accidents on the existing Route 7 over the past 20 years. Further north on US-7 however, officials in Brookfield have long pushed CONNDOT to construct a new US-7 freeway to the west of Brookfield. After decades of environmental studies and intense debate, construction on the Brookfield Bypass began in 2007 and opened in 2009.

Similarly, CONNDOT planned to construct a new freeway for

Since its opening in 1940, the Connecticut Department of Transportation has floated various plans to widen the Merritt Parkway, all of which have been thwarted by the efforts of conservationists who oppose the destruction of the Parkway's uniquely designed bridges and rustic character.

New Haven

The

Two other small sections of the planned Route 34 freeway were completed: a short freeway stub from Route 34 to a directional interchange with Interstate 84 in Newtown (originally built for the cancelled Route 25 freeway extension) built in the mid-1970s, and a short freeway segment near the Maltby Lakes in Orange that was completed in the 1980s but never put into service. The completed section in Orange was initially used as a commuter parking lot, but now serves as an access road to Yale New Haven Hospital's Regional Operations Center. The State of Connecticut sold off land originally cleared for the Route 34 freeway between York Street and Route 10 in New Haven in 2002, effectively ensuring the freeway could not be extended beyond York Street. Meanwhile, officials and community groups in New Haven began pressing the State of Connecticut to remove the existing freeway through downtown. In 2011, the city of New Haven and State of Connecticut reached an agreement to remove the Route 34 freeway west of the New Haven Railyard and construct a 4-lane landscaped boulevard in its place. A portion of the land recovered from the freeway would be sold for development, while the remainder reserved as park space. Demolition of the Route 34 freeway began in 2013, with completion scheduled for 2016. Similarly, the Connecticut Department of Transportation plans to remove the freeway stub at I-84 in Newtown and replace the directional interchange with a diamond interchange. ConnDOT also plans to build a rest area in the location of the current freeway stub once its removal is complete.

Florida

South Florida

In the 1970s, most of

• Cypress Creek Expressway: The Cypress Creek Expressway would have been an east–west expressway run along the present day Cypress Creek Road, serving
  Old Dixie Highway, the road would have dipped south and run along present-day Cypress Creek Road (west of Florida's Turnpike it connects with the western disjointed section of McNab Road), until terminating at the proposed University-Deerfield Expressway (now the Sawgrass Expressway
  ). There was no projected interchange with the Florida's Turnpike. It was to be four lanes for its entire length, and its total cost was slated at $22.6 million. It was never built due to funding and opposition.
• Airport Expressway. The second option was to build a spur route from the Dolphin Expressway that would connect to the entrance of Miami International Airport, thus relieving LeJeune Road. The spur would branch off the Tollway just east of NW 37th Avenue and run north–south on the west side of NW 37th Avenue. North of Melreese Golf Course, it would cross the Tamiami Canal and head west to the MIA terminal entrance on Northwest 21st Street. A stack interchange
  was built at LeJeune Rd and 21st Street and is used today between the two streets and the airport, as opposed as the originally planned expressway interchange.
• Fort Lauderdale and keep I-595 as an independent expressway. The Gratigny continues to the west as I-75 and curves northbound at 138th Street/Hialeah Gardens Drive. An extension to the Turnpike in the west is in MDX's 2025 master plan, that would slightly reduce the length of I-75 by around 1.5 to 2 miles.^{[citation needed}
  ]
• West Dade Expressway
  , now the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike, for a distance of 16 miles (26 km). Despite its cancellation, Northwest 74th Street was partially converted into an expressway.
• Interama Expressway: The Interama Expressway, also known as the Midbay Causeway was supposed to be a north–south expressway in eastern Dade County as an alternative route and reliever to
  Biscayne Boulevard (U.S. Route 1). It would have run from an intersection at I-95 and the proposed Snake Creek Expressway (originally proposed to run across State Road 858
  ), paralleled US 1 from there to an intersection with proposed South Dixie Expressway (see below) and I-95, slicing through downtown Miami along the way.
• LeJeune-Douglas Expressway: The expressway was to run from US 1 in
  LeJeune Road-Douglas Road corridor, passing directly by Miami International Airport
  .
• Rock Island Expressway: This would have been a north-south expressway built on Rock Island Road having its southern terminus at the Turnpike near Northwest 44th Street in Tamarac. The north terminus was most likely either Wiles Road or the University-Deerfield Expressway (now the Sawgrass Expressway) in Coral Springs.
• Sheridan Expressway: The Sheridan Expressway was planned to upgrade
  Cooper City (now University Drive
  ).
• South Dixie Expressway/I-95 Extension: This would have extended I-95 south of its terminus at US 1 near downtown Miami to Florida City, using an upgraded US 1 route. The southernmost ten miles of the Homestead Extension of Florida's Turnpike was part of the proposed I-95 extension.^[14]
• University-Deerfield Expressway
  : When it was first proposed in 1969, it was supposed to be the northernmost part of a chain of expressways from Deerfield Beach to Coral Gables, but the proposed Snake Creek Expressway (in Broward County) became part of the Florida's Turnpike Extension and the LeJeune-Douglas Expressway (in Dade County) failed in the 1970s as construction budgets narrowed roadbuilding capabilities. On the other hand, the rerouting of Interstate 75 from the Tamiami Trail to Alligator Alley increased the necessity of a northern/western bypass of coastal Broward County and invigorated the project which had acquired a new route and a new name, the Sawgrass-Deerfield Expressway, later shortened to the Sawgrass Expressway.
• There were two expressways proposed in
  Royal Palm Beach, and The Acreage. There were two proposed corridors: the first (and most desired by county commissioners) ran between Belvedere Road and Okeechobee Boulevard, displacing several homes and churches along its path.^[17][18] The second proposed corridor ran north of Okeechobee Boulevard and aligned with Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard.^[19] When community opposition to the aforementioned routes escalated, county officials offered to transform Southern Boulevard into a full expressway to avoid displacing any residences.^[20] All proposed expressways were eventually scrapped.^[21] More than a decade after shelving those expressway plans, Southern Boulevard was converted into a partial east–west expressway from I-95 to SR 7
  .

In the 1970s, there were plans for several freeways in the Tampa Bay area, but most were canceled by 1982. The high cost of acquiring right of way in this densely populated area, as well as community opposition, were the key factors in canceling most of these freeways. Instead, planners decided to widen existing roads.^[22]

• Belcher Freeway: 10.6 miles (17.1 km). This freeway is a casualty of the high cost of acquiring the wide girth of land needed to build it.
  U.S. Route 19
  was upgraded to a freeway in the area.
• Brandon Bypass: This expressway would have served as an alternative bypass route to State Road 60 in Brandon. It would have connected at the eastern end of the Southern Crosstown Expressway, passing to the south of Brandon, ending at an interchange with State Road 60 east of Brandon. By 1984 when city planners were ready to build the expressway, the area's population exploded, with high land prices and community opposition leading to its cancellation and instead widening of State Road 60 in Brandon.
• Clearwater North Freeway: 4 miles (6.4 km). This proposed freeway would have connected downtown Clearwater with US 19 and points north, and it never made it to design or planning.
• Dale Mabry Highway upgrade: Dale Mabry Highway was planned to be upgraded to an expressway north of the canceled Northtown Expressway to near Lutz. The upgrades were only applied to a couple of intersections due to community oppositions on most of the road.
• SR 595
  and connected the proposed east-west Gandy Freeway directly with the beaches. It was canceled by 1972, and never brought to public attention.
• Gandy Freeway: 12.6 miles (20.3 km). The Gandy Freeway would have connected with the proposed connection to the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway in Tampa, and provided a route due west to the beaches in Pinellas County on an upgraded Gandy Boulevard. The low likelihood of the Hillsborough County portion being constructed, and of increasing urbanization of Pinellas Park led to this freeway's cancellation in 1979. Remains of this freeway can be seen in the Gandy Boulevard interchange at I-275, the separated grade SPUI at US 19 with Gandy Boulevard as limited access, and of the very wide right-of-way preserved along Gandy Boulevard east of I-275. While the original plans are dead, the intersections of Gandy Boulevard with 4th, 9th and 16th Streets and Roosevelt Boulevard were flown in 2017; traffic in both directions is now unencumbered by signals from just east of I-275 all the way to the dog track.
• Hillsborough Bay Causeway: The freeway would have started near MacDill Air Force Base, heading southeast, crossing Tampa Bay to the U.S. 41 corridor in southern Hillsborough County, also doubling as a barrier against hurricanes for Tampa. It was canceled due to lack of growth in southern Hillsborough County and the fact that shipping would have been blocked by the bridge.
• Northwest Hillsborough Expressway: In the 1970s, an expressway crossing through northern Hillsborough County was proposed, but by the 1980s many of these communities (especially Lutz) opposed the road going through their towns. Eventually, the project was broken into two sections, Veterans Expressway
  which has since been built and the Lutz Freeway, now known as the East-West Road, which continues to create controversy in local politics.
• Pinellas Belt Expressway: 7.4 miles (11.9 km). The Pinellas Belt Expressway, or beltway, was budgeted in 1974 for construction in the 1979 fiscal year but intense community opposition stopped the freeway from progressing. Construction would have disrupted retail outlets along Tyrone Boulevard and
  US 19 Alt, and right-of-way acquisition would have been too expensive because of the neighborhoods it would have traversed. The full freeway interchange at US 19 Alt and SR 666 in Seminole
  is all that remains of this Belt Expressway.
• St. Petersburg-Clearwater Expressway: 20.2 miles (32.5 km). This freeway was the highest profile of all planned in the county, and would have been built as an interstate with mostly federal funds. It would have provided a route directly from downtown St. Petersburg to downtown Clearwater and would have replaced much of US 19 through Pinellas County. Land acquisition would have been easy as most of the route was railroad right-of-way. The freeway was officially canceled on May 12, 1978, because new federal guidelines for interstates indicated that any approved route going forward would have to be 10 miles (16 km) or less in length, and be a 'final link' in the interstate system as a whole, instead of a new road. Attention after that cancellation began to turn towards upgrading US 19 instead. The former railroad line is used as a bike–pedestrian trail, known as the Pinellas Trail.
• South Hillsborough Parkway: Planned as early as 1972 to anticipate growth along the U.S. Route 41 corridor, the road was to relieve traffic from somewhere in southern Hillsborough County north to the current Interstate 4. However, the local swampy landscape didn't allow for much growth and I-75's presence served as a reliever in U.S. Route 41's place, canceling the parkway by 1987.
• State Road 60 Freeway Upgrade: 6 miles (9.7 km). SR 60 is a busy, retail-loaded east/west route in Clearwater. Legions of tourists from the north and east use it as their primary route to Clearwater Beach and due to its high traffic, it was proposed to be upgraded to a freeway. Local merchants and residents were against this upgrade, and instead SR 60 instead was widened, and an arterial bypass of downtown Clearwater was constructed. The freeway was dropped from records in May 1975.
• Sunset Point Freeway: 7.2 miles (11.6 km). The Sunset Point Freeway was never seriously considered, with the upgrading of SR 60 to a freeway being favored at the time, although traffic studies in the early 1970s indicated that Drew Street, a major east-west road in downtown Clearwater, would need a reliever freeway route by 1990. The Sunset Point freeway never made it to the design or planning stage.
• Tampa Bay Crosstown Expressway System: This was a system of expressways proposed to span the entire Tampa Bay area, but most of it was eventually canceled. The Lee Roy Selmon Expressway is the successor of the South Crosstown Expressway.
• Ulmerton Expressway: 8 miles (13 km). The Ulmerton Expressway would have upgraded Ulmerton Road from I-275 westward to an expressway, and was to have provided an important link for east-west traffic through Largo. Land acquisition would have been extremely expensive, erasing the practicality of building the freeway, and it was canceled by 1976. All that remains of this freeway plan is Ulmerton Road's very wide right-of-way, preserved by the state for the freeway when Ulmerton Road was expanded in the early 1970s. Long-term widening of Ulmerton Road using the extended right-of-way to expand from four lanes to six lanes was completed in 2009. Expansion to 8 lanes is underway in stages in 2015, with some sections complete.

Georgia

Local opposition was responsible for the death knell of a number of freeway projects in Metro

Additional local protests and legislative action ended planning and construction of the Outer Perimeter and the Northern Arc, which would have surrounded Atlanta about 20 miles (32 km) outside of the present Perimeter Highway.

Illinois

Chicago metropolitan area

The

There were plans to upgrade Lake Shore Drive to full Interstate standards, and two separate designations were proposed for this upgrade. First designated as Interstate 494 (before that designation was moved to the Crosstown Expressway), and later, Interstate 694, the project was canceled after opposition from North Side residents who didn't want an interstate in their communities, fearing that land along the shores of Lake Michigan would be lost. Lake Shore Drive remains a US route, rather than an interstate highway, with a mix of interchanges and at-grade intersections.

The

The Illinois 53 freeway was planned to be extended into Lake County from its northern terminus at Lake Cook Road. The extension would have met a planned bypass for Illinois 120 near Grayslake, where it would split two ways. The eastern branch would head towards Interstate 94, while the western branch would head towards the existing Route 120 in western Lake County. The extension was turned over to the Illinois Tollway for further study, which was authorized in 1993 to construct and operate the highway. Due to opposition from some vocal citizens and elected officials, the tollway dropped the environmental study in 2019, shelving the project indefinitely.

Various attempts through the years to construct a freeway through the outer western suburbs of the Chicago metropolitan area were met with strong resistance and were ultimately unsuccessful. The Fox Valley Freeway was proposed to run from Interstate 55 in Plainfield to the Wisconsin border in Richmond, linking the far west suburbs. However, intense local opposition canceled the project in the 1990s.^[23][24] Later, the Prairie Parkway emerged from the failed Fox Valley Freeway efforts and was proposed to connect Interstate 80 and Interstate 88 in the outer western and southwestern suburbs. Despite getting over $200 million in earmarked funds, intense local opposition canceled the project in the early 2010s.^[25]

Other regions

The Peoria to Chicago Highway was a proposal that would have connected the cities of Peoria and Chicago with a direct multilane freeway. The Illinois interstate highway plan in the mid-1950s included a freeway from Peoria toward Chicago in the Interstate 180 corridor, but it was not approved by the Federal Highway Administration. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Illinois adopted a supplemental freeway plan, and the Interstate 180 to Peoria extension was part of this plan, but very few of these freeways were actually built.^[26][27] The freeway was going to be designated as Interstate 53 as well as present-day I-155 and part of I-180.^[28] In the mid-1990s, the state revived the proposal, calling it the "Heart of Illinois Freeway." A few alternatives were selected, among them the Illinois 6 to Interstate 180 connection.^[29] In late 2000, the state decided to proceed with the 6/180 connection but ran into opposition from farmers and withdrawn support from political leaders. In February 2002, IDOT stated there were no traffic need for the freeway, only political and economic reasons for advocating it; and that they only studied the issue because Peoria asked for it.^[30]

The Raoul Wallenberg Expressway, previously called the Woodruff Expressway, was a controversial plan that would have linked downtown Rockford, Illinois to Interstate 39. In the 1940s and 1950s, as the Northwest Tollway (now the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway) was being routed through the Rockford area, local politicians debated the costs and benefits of various routings of the tollway. One of the proposed tollway alignments that would serve downtown was considered. This was eventually turned down in favor of an alignment that was located miles east of downtown. At the same time, the commercial center of Rockford had shifted from downtown to the East. In an effort to draw residents and businesses back to the traditional center of town, the idea of a new crosstown expressway was born. The highway was to follow the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad line from Interstate 39/U.S. Route 20 interchange all the way to downtown Rockford. This partially-built interchange was built in the early 1980s, designed to allow for future extension northward.^[31][32] Part of this highway would have replaced Woodruff Avenue, a street that parallels the railroad, giving the expressway its original name. The highway was later renamed for Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat noted for saving many Hungarian Jews in the Holocaust. The project was eventually abandoned due to its heavy financial costs and the negative impacts the highway would have on its surrounding neighborhoods.^[33][34]

Illinois–Indiana

In the northwest corner of Indiana, the

The proposed Vieux Carré Riverfront Expressway would have run along the Mississippi River in the French Quarter of New Orleans. Local preservationists worked to build popular support to stop the proposed elevated expressway in the 1960s.^[37]

Maryland

Freeways

The 1948 plan[39] for Boston's inner suburbs included eight limited-access highways: the Central Artery and the East Boston, Western, Northern, Northeast, Northwest, Southeast, and Southwest Expressways.

Over time, several of the planned highways were constructed:

• East Boston Expressway
  (MA 1A), 1948–1951
• Central Artery, 1951–59
• Southeast Expressway
  (I-93), 1954–59
• Western Expressway (Massachusetts Turnpike) 1955–59, Boston Extension 1962–65
• Northern Expressway (I-93), 1956–73

In 1970, Governor

• The
  elevated railroad
  route over Washington Street in the Roxbury neighborhood. I-95 was rerouted to follow Route 128 around Boston.
• The
  Northeast Expressway (also I-95) to Peabody was largely eliminated. The southernmost part that includes the Tobin Bridge, from northern Revere, southward, which was already built, is U.S. Route 1. The scrapped northern section would have bisected the Lynn Woods Reservation and the Rumney Marsh Reservation
  .
• The Inner Belt (Interstate 695 and 95) around Boston was eliminated. A short section (which would have been the I-95 part of the Inner Belt) was built as a city street in Somerville.
• The 1965 plan for the
  Alewife. (A 1948 plan used a different path for Route 3.^[42]
  )

The Northern Expressway was granted an exemption because it was nearly complete. Its final 3-mile (4.8 km) segment was completed in 1973 with a section from East Somerville to the North Station area of downtown Boston.[43]

The

There was also a plan in Western Massachusetts of an upgrade of U.S. Route 7 from Lee to Pittsfield and points north of there. The highway was to have a 60-foot (18 m) median. There was also plans of a spur off to Dalton of Massachusetts Route 9. Local opposition led to the demise of the Route 7 Freeway.

Michigan

Detroit

In the 1970s, after significant protest about the Chrysler Freeway (I-75) destroying the

The cancellation also scrubbed plans to connect the Mound Road freeway which had already cleared the land to the existing M-53, Van Dyke Expressway, although further development of Macomb County has revived speculation on at least this portion of highway. The land impact would be minimized along the Mound Road corridor, as Mound was constructed as a multilane divided highway with a particularly wide median, suggesting that MDOT planned for this stretch to be upgraded to a full freeway at some point in the future.^[46]

While the revolts indeed had stopped the freeways from being built through several Detroit neighborhoods, many homes, neighborhoods, and even historical buildings had been destroyed to make way for interstate freeway construction, by the controversial means of Eminent Domain. All the saved neighborhoods suffered urban blight regardless.^{[citation needed]}

Oakland County

In the 1970s, Interstate 275 was planned to bypass Detroit and Pontiac, connecting with its parent route, Interstate 75, near the city of Monroe at the southern end, and Clarkston at the northern end. I-275 was slightly realigned when it was determined that it would be more feasible to align Interstate 96 along Schoolcraft Avenue instead of the more heavily developed Grand River Avenue as originally planned, and part of I-275 would now carry I-96.

As construction progressed on the massive ramps that would connect I-275 to the existing interchange of I-96 and the western terminus of I-696, fierce opposition rose up from residents within several Oakland County communities, including Commerce Township, through where much of I-275 would have run.^[47] Environmental concerns were cited, as well as fears of dropping property values. As a result, the construction of I-275 north of I-96/I-696 was canceled. A stub from the former eastern leg of I-96, redesignated part of M-102, to what would have been northbound I-275, was left behind, as was a ramp that ran parallel to the westbound I-96 ramp that would've carried northbound I-275 and connected with the ramp from M-102.

The stubs, as well as previously unbuilt bridges and ramps, were opened in 1994 as a freeway extension was built up to 12 Mile Road. This extension was designated as M-5. Between 1994 and 2002, M-5 was extended further northward along the right-of-way that had been reserved for I-275, but as a grade-level expressway with traffic lights at 13 Mile, 14 Mile, and Maple Roads, and a grade-level railroad crossing between Maple Road and M-5's northern terminus at Pontiac Trail. Local residents continue to resist further expansion, even as Commerce Township slowly succumbs to urban sprawl.

In addition to the resistance against I-275, a planned extension from Northwestern Highway to I-275 was shelved in the 1970s as part of the same revolt. Although talks of reviving the Northwestern Extension continued for decades, development of the land along the proposed extension's right-of-way, including a strip mall right at Northwestern's current terminus, has effectively ended any chance of such a freeway being constructed.^[48]

Minnesota

There were once plans for a northern bypass route of downtown

A similar plan involving Interstate 78 would have bisected the town of Phillipsburg, but NJDOT and PennDOT, under opposition from local residents, decided to reroute I-78 south of the Lehigh Valley area. This led to the downgrade of I-378 in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania from an Interstate highway to a PA State highway route. The completion of I-78 through the Watchung Reservation in Union County was also delayed until the early 1980s due to litigation opposing its route through the park.

New York

New York City

Several expressways in

• A.O. Smith Turnpike
  .
• Atlantic Expressway-Sunrise Highway.
• Babylon-Northport Expressway.
• Caumsett State Parkways
  .
• Broad Hollow Expressway.
• Cross River Drive Extension.
• Cedar Swamp Road
  .
• Freeport-Roslyn Expressway.^[55][56][57]
• Long Island Expressway Extension.
• Long Lane
  .
• MacArthur Airport Expressway.^[58]
• Nassau Expressway.
• Nicolls Road (completed, but intended to be upgraded to a limited-access highway for its full length)
• Northern State Parkway Extension.
• Nesconset-Port Jefferson Highway-North Shore Expressway.
• Ocean Parkway Extension.
• Cedar Beach Spur
  .
• Ponquogue Causeway
  .
• Port Jefferson-Westhampton Beach Highway
  .
• Seaford-Oyster Bay Expressway.
• Sound Shore Parkway.
• Southern State Parkway Extension.
• Veterans Memorial Highway Extension.
• Wantagh State Parkway Extension.
• West Babylon-Centerport Highway
  .
• Western Nassau Expressway
  .
• William Floyd Parkway.

Hudson Valley

• Bear Mountain Parkway is interrupted by a gap between Cortlandt and Yorktown.
• Blue Mountain Parkway
• Briarcliff-Peekskill Parkway
• Catskill Expressway
• Central Corridor Expressway (included the Bronx-White Plains and White Plains-Mahopac Expressways)
• Cross County Parkway Extensions
• Garden State Parkway Extension
• Hudson River Expressway
• New Jersey Turnpike—Northern Extension
• Northern Westchester Expressway
• Orange Expressway
• Ossining-South Salem Expressway
• Pearl River-Haverstraw Expressway
• Peekskill-Brewster Expressway
• Pelham-Port Chester Parkway
• Phelps Way
• Pound Ridge-Stamford Expressway
• Spring Valley Bypass
• A major 4-lane straightening and expansion of the Hutchinson River Parkway in Eastchester through a park was put on indefinite hold after outcry from local residents in 1978 and 1979.
• The Taconic State Parkway was rerouted further away from what is now Lake Taghkanic State Park in 1946 when owners of the vacation cottages that would have been condemned along the lake's west shore objected. Construction of the highway was held up for two years while a new route was acquired and planned

Capital District

• Mid-Crosstown Arterial (US 9-9W)-An expressway following Henry Johnson Boulevard and Lark Street to Interstate 787 and the New York State Thruway.
• Northern Albany Expressway-A highway connection from Interstate 90 to Interstate 87 through Colonie.
• Southern Albany Expressway-A free connection between the
  Adirondack Northway and the Riverfront Route
  running parallel to the New York State Thruway.
• Taconic State Parkway Extension-The parkway would've continued into Rensselaer County and Washington County and ended in Saratoga Springs
• Washington Park
  .
• South Mall Expressway-A highway from Albany to
  Defreestville through Rensselaer. Would've connected to present day New York State Route 43
  .
• Slingerlands Bypass
• Interstate 88 Extension or Interstate 92 (also known as the East–West Highway)-A highway through Northern New England from Albany or Glens Falls to Calais, Maine or Portsmouth, New Hampshire
  .

Buffalo-Niagara Falls was also not immune to freeway revolts. An extensive system of highways and parkways were planned to be built in the counties of Niagara and Erie.[59]

• Lake Ontario State Parkway Extension
• Robert Moses State Parkway
  Extension
• LaSalle Expressway This expressway was to be the beginning of the proposed Buffalo Belt Expressway, which was never built except for the LaSalle and the short Milestrip Expressway (New York State Route 179) in Blasdell, New York.
• Interstate 990 was originally to extend all the way to Lockport, New York and eventually to Rochester, New York; instead, it terminates at New York State Route 263. Also, the expressway was planned to cross the east side of Buffalo, in a portion to be called the Crosstown Expressway; it would have terminated at the Niagara section Interstate 190 near the northern sections of South Buffalo.
• New York State Route 5 (Southshore Expressway) expressway section to New York State Route 75.
• New York State Route 33 (Kensington Expressway) extension to the Outer Beltway.
• West Side Arterial to Interstate 190 in Downtown Buffalo – the existing Niagara Street exit ramps (Exit 8) from Interstate 190 are several blocks long because they were originally planned to be part of the West Side Arterial, which would have run along Virginia Street and along the north side of downtown to connect to Route 33.
• New York State Route 400 Extension from New York State Route 16 To Erie County Line and possibly to Olean, New York.
• Gowanda Expressway Angola, New York to Gowanda, New York.
• North Park Expressway From Interstate 190 to New York State Route 33 in North Buffalo.
• East Side Arterial New York State Route 33 to Interstate 90 New York State Thruway.
• Lancaster Expressway
  US Route 20
  .
• River Road Expressway Buffalo Beltway in Niagara Falls to South Grand Island Bridges.
• Tonawanda Expressway (Today's Twin Cities Memorial Highway New York State Route 425) Creating a freeway instead of an arterial from Interstate 290 to the Buffalo Beltway.
• Tuscarora Expressway An outer Beltway for the City of Niagara Falls from Tonawanda Expressway to
  Robert Moses State Parkway
  .
• Inner Belt Parkway
• Outer Belt Parkway

Other regions

• Watertown-Champlain Expressway
• New York State Route 13 Expressway, Ithaca
• East–West Highway (New England) along US 4
• Extension of Interstate 390 Genesee Expressway into Downtown Rochester^[60]

Ohio

Cleveland

In addition, the Cross County Highway, which was designed to connect the eastern and western sides of I-275 through Hamilton County, was built, but never fully completed. For years, the highway existed in two separate segments; the eastern segment was built between Galbraith Road and Montgomery Road (just east of I-71) in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the mid-1970s, the western stretch was built from Colerain Avenue (U.S. Route 27) to the western side of I-275. While these segments were finally connected in 1997, and the highway was renamed the Ronald Reagan Highway, the three-mile (5 km) stretch between Montgomery Road and the eastern side of I-275 was never built due to protests from wealthy residents of The Village of Indian Hill, who convinced officials to stop the highway's construction from occurring in the city. This resulted in the lack of a direct freeway connection between existing Interstate 74 and its proposed extension along Ohio State Route 32 to the east toward the Carolinas.

Oklahoma

Tulsa

In the 1960s, the Riverside Expressway was planned to be built in

Shortly after World War II, the city leaders of Portland, Oregon commissioned famed transportation planner Robert Moses to design a freeway network for the city. Moses produced a proposal which called for numerous freeways to crisscross the city; of this proposal six freeway routes made it to the planning stage. Four of the six were eventually constructed (in some cases in the face of intense opposition); these are:

• The Banfield Freeway (Interstate 84)
• The Baldock Freeway (Interstate 5)
• The Stadium Freeway (Interstate 405)
• The East Portland Freeway (Interstate 205)

However, two other planned freeways—the

The 1972 mayoral race, with Neil Goldschmidt representing the anti-freeway side and Frank Ivancie representing the supporters of the freeway, became a de facto referendum on the proposed route. The election was won by Goldschmidt and the freeway was canceled. The proposed federal funds for the project were instead made available for a planned light rail line, built in the 1980s to connect Portland with Gresham and now part of the MAX Blue Line. This light-rail network is steadily expanding, including sections along Interstate 205 in room that resulted from the controversy.^[65]

Soon after, the Interstate 505 proposal was also canceled; a shorter freeway "stub" was built instead, and U.S. Route 30 was routed on a new alignment through an industrial area (and away from the residential neighborhood that its prior alignment—and the I-505 proposal—ran through). A stub ramp is all that remains of the unbuilt proposed section of the interstate.

In addition to the cancellation of three proposed freeway routes, Portland saw another milestone in the freeway revolts: the destruction of an already-existing freeway. The first freeway to be built through the city—Harbor Drive (along the western shore of the Willamette River), which was, at the time, the route of Oregon Route 99W—was closed in May 1974, demolished and replaced with Tom McCall Waterfront Park, which opened in 1978. 99W was moved onto nearby Front Avenue (the stretch of 99W through Portland would be later decommissioned), and little evidence remains that there was once a freeway along the waterfront. The removal of Harbor Drive was not very controversial; the construction of I-5 on the river's East Bank, and I-405 through the downtown core, had made Harbor Drive unnecessary.

Elsewhere in Oregon

Other Oregon freeway revolts occurred in

Pennsylvania

Philadelphia

There were plans for the

A section of Pennsylvania Route 23 was once planned for an expressway upgrade, and construction on one segment of the expressway began, but lack of funding at the state level halted construction of further segments. The grading and several overpasses for the expressway still exist, but as a mostly unpaved section that has since gained popularity as the "Goat Path Expressway".^[66] As of 2008^[update], the route is still under consideration by PennDOT, and appears in the Commonwealth 12-Year Transportation Plan.^[67]

Pittsburgh

A freeway revolt also occurred in Pittsburgh, where stub ramps near the

Tennessee

The Trans-Texas Corridor plan was cancelled due to widespread opposition from environmental groups, fiscal conservatives, and property rights activists. The 4,000-mile network of supercorridors, were envisioned to be 1,200 feet in width and accommodate separate carriageways for automobiles and trucks; rail lines, and utility conduits. Opposition to the Trans-Texas Corridor plan was so strong that then-Governor Rick Perry and other high-level state officials were threatened with impeachment had they given final approval to move forward with construction.^[68]

Houston

The inner city segment of

The Burlington Beltline was a planned highway envisioned in the 1960s to be built around the Burlington metropolis with the freeway cutting through the waterfront for access to the core business district. The only part of this built to federal specifications was Interstate 189, a short two mile spur. Various parts of the Beltline have been built piecemeal as both divided and undivided two lane freeways.

Central and Northeastern

Another conceived freeway (proposed to be designated as either I-92 or I-98 in different versions of the plan) that has been continually protested is a proposal by the state of Maine and business interests in Maine and Vermont for a freeway extending from Montpelier at I-89, crossing to St. Johnsbury, meeting up with I-93, then splitting right after crossing into New Hampshire. The freeway would cut straight across northern New Hampshire into Maine, where it would cut down to Maine's coastal cities. The freeway has been called a critical link for loggers in Maine to reach Western markets in the U.S. and Canada.

Virginia

Construction of I-66 inside the Washington Beltway was blocked by environmental litigation until a compromise was reached that limited it to a four-lane limited access highway that is

Construction of a third reversible lane to be operated as

In the 1960s, the state legislature proposed Interstate 605 as a second bypass of Seattle. Similar proposals were made in 2000 and 2003. While the routings have varied, public opposition has shut down each of the projects. Additional freeways in the Seattle metropolitan area were proposed in transportation plans from the 1960s, but were not developed further.^[70]

After the

In 1964, the Spokane Metropolitan Area Transportation Study was formed to fulfill requirements of Federal Highway Act of 1962, and in 1970, along with the Department of Highways, released the "Corridor Study for North Spokane and North Suburban Area Freeway". It recommended a north–south freeway along Hamilton and Nevada streets (the corridor between Nevada and Helena). Though a full freeway interchange connecting Hamilton Street with I-90 was built, residents successfully blocked any further construction through this area. The remaining section of the freeway stub is now Washington State Route 290. The North-South Freeway (now known as the North Spokane Corridor) was reawakened in 1997 when a new corridor was chosen, and is currently under construction.

Washington, D.C.

Plans to build

In Milwaukee, several planned freeways were either never built, partially built, or partially built but subsequently demolished and replaced with an at-grade boulevard.

• The
  Lake Parkway
  .
• The northern end of the Lake Freeway turned westward, and this section became known as the
  Park West Freeway, with the dividing point at the intersection with I-43. The Park West Freeway was intended to run northwesterly along Fond du Lac Avenue, and then turn westward just north of North Avenue. A major intersection with the Stadium Freeway was planned for the area around 45th and North Avenue. The right-of-way for the entire corridor was cleared. Due to neighborhood opposition, the only section of this freeway completed was from Milwaukee Street to Walnut Street. The above-grade section between Milwaukee Street and 6th Street was removed and replaced by an at-grade boulevard – McKinley Boulevard. After several years, it has begun to be developed with the opening of the new Fiserv Forum arena and several facilities for the Milwaukee School of Engineering
  .
• The
  Park Freeway. From there it would jog northwesterly until heading north, parallelling 60th Street and continuing north to Port Washington, where it met with I-43. The only section built was that between National Avenue and Lisbon Avenue, today's Wisconsin Highway 175
  , along with an overbuilt interchange south of Port Washington converted to a surface road interchange.
• Another planned freeway was the
  Pewaukee where it would meet with Wisconsin Highway 16
  . No section of the Bay Freeway was ever built.
• The Belt Freeway was to be a freeway encircling the metro Milwaukee area on the south, west and north sides. No section of the Belt Freeway was ever built.

References