The Most Useless US Interstates 

Get 83% off at AtlasVPN! get.atlasvpn.com/Beaver

dude what?? a sponsor?? this is a great sign for the growth of your channel

I-72 & 172 are legit very useful roads. 172 is part of the Chicago/Kansas City Expressway, a series of fast but often not quite Interstate level roads between those two metros that gives a good alternate route for siphoning some truck traffic off of the much busier I-55 to I-70 route, while I-72 and US36 provide a high speed more rural alternative to I-70 that is really useful for commercial traffic on routes from north and west of Nebraska to the Mid-Atlantic and the southeast USA (or vice-versa).

5:20 In addition to I-990, another major thoroughfare was planned just north of it. The aptly named Lake Ontario State Parkway, which runs along Lake Ontario, had much of its planned route constructed. It began in Rochester, New York, and traveled all the way to Hamlin Beach State Park. It was _supposed_ to keep going, likely to the other towns on the lake to the west of the state park, possibly terminating at Niagara-on-the-Lake or even Niagara Falls, like I-990. I've driven along it and seen where it currently ends. It looks a lot like the ending to I-990, which a key difference being a trumpet intersection that redirects you to the nearby Route 18, a small highway. I am grateful that you featured another Western New York highway project! This is such a great and well put together video.

I just found your channel and I am genuinely impressed. I am learning so much about geography and I can safely say that you are a channel on the rise! Keep up the good work!

I-172 is a non-chargeable interstate, which means means only state funds were used to build the road. The reason for I-72 going to Hannibal was Congress designating US 36 as a high-priority corridor across Missouri in April 1995, and was slated to upgrade to I-72 across Missouri, which never happened to due the powerful Ag lobby. As a compromise, US 36 was upgraded to an expressway. Today, a lot of truck traffic uses US 36 and I-72 as a direct route between Kansas City and Chicago.

When building I-40 through Memphis, the plan was that it would go through town and then cross the Mississippi at the Hernando Desoto Bridge. I-240 would loop around town. While building the highway through town, Protesters wanted to save a park with some old-growth trees in it. A judge blocked further construction, so they had to change the plan. On the east side, I-40 would merge with I-240 and go around town on the northern leg of the loop. When it reached the bridge, it would split to the west and continue on across the river. As a result, there was a section of highway into town that just ended. They named it Sam Cooper Blvd. The built an s-shaped ramp at the end to merge it onto the city streets. People traveling from the east would often miss the exit to continue on I-40 and, instead, head toward town on Sam Cooper. The most common result was people would end up on a street and have no idea where they were. I worked in the area, and we frequently had people come in and ask directions. It was also a place where trucks had accidents. The driver would be surprised by the highway ending and not be able to slow enough for the S-ramp. In one case, a cattle truck overturned, releasing the cows onto the city streets. Hilarity ensued as the police chased the cows around trying to round them up.

Awesome video! Check out I-587 in Kingston NY. Runs for only about 1 mile, doesn’t directly connect to any other interstate, has no inter changes, and both begins and ends at roundabouts.

I believe the plan for interstate 72 was to follow the US 36 corridor through northern Missouri all the way to st. Joseph and down to Kansas City. The US36 corridor is a really nice (but old) 4 lane divided highway all the way through the state.

Congrats on the sponsor! I've been following your channel for the last couple months and I always look forward to new content

Unpopular opinion: I'm actually pro-toll... people should pay for roads that they use, rather than pushing the costs onto all taxpayers equally. Especially relatively niche interstates like I-185.

Could you do a video on unfinished Interstates? For example I-49 will eventually stretch from Kansas City, MO to Lafayette, LA, but Currently It's in 3 sections, and until recently, it was in 4 sections. The northern part stretches from Kansas City to Alma, AR. The middle part is only a few miles long outside of Fort Smith, AR, which will eventually be connected over the Arkansas River to Alma. And the southern part stretches from Texarkana to Lafayette. It appears that Texarkana and Fort Smith will not be connected anytime soon. If you could make a video on other unfinished interstates across the country, that would be great.

Hey man, congrats on the sponsor! Also, I absolutely love the content! I drive over the road for a living and really enjoy learning more about the highways that I travel. If I might make a topic suggestion, the US highway system is pretty extensive and there's so many stories waiting to told!

What a great video, I love the fact that you’ve got a sponsor now! One highway I’d like to nominate for this list is I-675 in the Atlanta,GA area. Originally it was supposed to connect with SR-400 and bypass downtown ATL to the east but local opposition & then Governor Jimmy Carter later cancelled the plans so only one portion got built. It’s a useless spur off I-75 imo.

Another great video Beav, great that you're getting sponsors now, you've come a long way

Congrats on getting a sponsorship! Also thanks for talking about my I381! I live only 10 mins from it!

1. CONGRATS ON THE SPONSOR! 2. I live in Greenville and the I-185 is pretty useless now but when I was in elemetry school and stayed with my aunt we used that toll when running late in the morning to get from Piedmont to Simpsonville, it’s really nostalgic but it’s is useless now. Edit: it does help though a lot still avoiding traffic on I-85, seeing other resident of the 864 and what I’m saying really shows how it was used a lot but not anymore

I-640 in Knoxville. It had an Extremely shortsighted design and leads to some really nasty traffic.

I-990 was not planned concurrently with the planned Niagara Falls - Rochester route. That route had been partially built far north of the route indicated in the video. It was constructed in the early 1960s as part of the New York State network of divided parkways. The route was planned to skirt the shore of Lake Ontario and the 2 sections built, ending in Youngstown on the western part and in Irondequoit on the eastern part. The 990 was constructed as a spur to connect to Lockport, about nine miles north of the end of I-990, with the Buffalo I-290 bypass, in Amherst. The 990 serves as the primary connection from the Buffalo interstate highways to the massive State University at Buffalo's main Amherst campus, serving approximately 30,000 students and faculty. The sprawling campus lies at the junction of i-990 and i-290. It was built in the early 1980s.

Good video homie. I like looking at stuff like this. Especially the cancelled freeways that just end randomly

Yesterday, one of your videos got recommended to me. Since the topic interested me, I watched it. Needless to say, your content is very good and can't wait for new uploads!

yesss! i’m proud of how far you’ve come since i first watched you when you had around 800 subscribers, keep up the great content! :D

love that you put actual effort into video topics 👌🏻 actual original content is a breath of fresh air compared to so many channels that try to grow by recycling other peoples content

The 990 in Buffalo also goes to the State University at Buffalo. Made it very convenient to get into campus from the 290.

As a New Yorker, I can say that I-990 makes no sense being an Interstate. It doesn’t even directly connect to I-90! It is somewhat useful for those trying to get from Amherst and Lockport to I-290 and the University at Buffalo, but NY 263 (or the Millersport Highway) basically takes the same exact path. Western New York has a lot of highways created from plans that fell through when it was too late. The Lake Ontario State Parkway currently runs from Rochester to NY 18 in the town of Hamlin. The road is notable for having it’s first chunk closed in winter and also being very rough. Most of the exits are at-grade intersections (which means there’s no ramps or anything, the road just meets the highway like a normal street) and the only notable exit on it is NY 390, which becomes I-390 later on. There was a planned freeway stretching from Niagara Falls around Buffalo to the Southern Tier (Hamburg and the likes), but the plan quickly fell flat. It didn’t fall flat quickly enough for the ends of this route to be constructed, though. Thus, NY 179 (The Mile Strip Expressway) exists in Blasdell, running into I-90 and US 219, and the Lasalle Expressway exists in Niagara Falls, beginning at I-190 and ending around the infamous Love Canal site. Lastly, there’s the Niagara Scenic Parkway (formerly the Robert Moses State Parkway), which runs from NY 18 in Porter (a town on Lake Ontario) to the Lasalle Expressway... kinda. The parkway destroyed a lot of gorge-lining real estate, and failed so badly that major sections have been dismantled. The parkway gets cut off in downtown Niagara Falls, with it currently picking back up north of the city, in residential areas. Then, until it goes down the Niagara Escarpment (past I-190 going into Canada), it’s a two-lane road, much like any other. The other two lanes have been turned into a trail slowly being reclaimed by nature. Hell, even where it dumps onto a random street in Niagara Falls, one can still see the old signage buried in weeds. North of NY 104 in Lewiston, the parkway functions like a standard highway, although it isn’t used much. The most practical use is for getting from Fort Niagara or any of Lake Ontario’s small coastal towns to the Niagara River Gorge trails, Niagara University, or the power plant. When you need politicians making disastrous plans, look no further than the (former) Empire State!

As someone from Hannibal, MO, even when I was a kid, I didn't exactly understand why I-172 exists. It terminates north of Quincy and continues as an IL state highway, and there's a couple other four lane non-interstate routes that are perfectly servicible between Quincy, Hannibal, and Springfield. One goes down to St.Louis, another between Kansas City, Hannibal, Quincy, and Chicago.

You should consider including in such a list Connecticut's I-384, which is less than 10 miles connecting the outskirts of Hartford to the suburbs in the east. This highway was originally meant to connect to I-95 near Providence, RI. In fact, I-84 was supposed to terminate in Rhode Island at 95 rather than in Massachusetts at I-90. The current 84 alignment was originally designated as I-86. Honestly, I have no idea what became of the original 84/86 alignments, which could make for a video. But when 86 was cancelled and 84 routed to 90, the portion east of Hartford received the 384 designation. Then, Rhode Island ended the project over pollution concerns for a reservoir. Connecticut has tried multiple times to get the highway completed but Rhode Island has little to no interest in the project. As someone who drives through these states, a lack of a direct connection between 2 of the regions biggest cities seems odd.

My man blew up real quick. He got a sponsor now! Keep up the great work!

Awesome Geography channel! Congratulations on the sponsor and good luck on 100k!

thank you again for shedding light on I-180 i explored it and had an absolute blast. it really does end in the tiniest, but admittedly pretty cool little town.

You know Beaver becomes a big channel when he gets sponsored by a VPN

The steel mill in Hennepin was running on & off under different owners until 2008 when ArcelorMittal took the equipment and shut it down. The steel mill is gone but Marquis Energy still has trucks that use I-180

Hey! Awesome video! I live right by the i-990, and many people I know use it on a daily basis. For those trying to get in or out of Buffalo, the 990 is much faster. The Millersport Highway is full of lights and traffic. In my area, its interesting to think that there once was a plan to branch further out and connect Buffalo, Niagara Falls, and Rochester north of where the current i-90 runs.

5:05 This is JUST how the Cumberland Parkway ends. You can tell they were going to do more, but it just dumps you off on a half-finished cloverleaf interchange.

Congrats on the sponsor. This account deserves it. I want to see a video on the Blue Ridge parkway if you ever get around to that

I love that that interchange for the M6 and US131 keeps popping up when people talk about interchanges... (@0:13). It's such an overkill behemoth.

I look forward to seeing this channel grow.

Quickly becoming a favorite creator! Looking forward to seeing you big one day

I find that for your very first sponsor (congratulations, BTW!), I could not have imagined a more appropriate name for a VPN service related to your channel than Atlas, sinse an atlas is basically a fancy map, now almost exclusively found on our cell phones in the form of Google Maps.

Congrats on the SPONSER!!! Interesting video as always.

Always interesting coming to the comments and then looking at the areas mentioned on Google maps!!

good stuff beavs

Just yesterday I was googling this very question. Crazy timing on this video

Congrats on your first sponsorship! Continued success!!

My hometown is 38 miles from Bristol. When I clicked on the video I wondered what are the chances I-381 will be covered.

i drive on the 990 all the time and i always wondered wtf was going on

I-990 is not useless. I drove on it every day when I lived in the area. It's a good bypass to get around the UB campus and Rt. 263, which has a ton of traffic and traffic lights. I could name several useless highways in Western New York (Lake Ontario Parkway, LaSalle Expressway, Robert Moses Parkway, the Scajaquada just to name a few), I-990 isn't one of them.

Congrats on your first sponsor, Beaver!!!

There is I-587 in KIngston, NY. It has a roundabout on each end and are considered interchanges.

NO INTERSTATE should be a toll road! The interstate system is a public service and a national security structure. It should come out of our taxes.

I-990 is not useless. If you want useless interstates in New York try I-895, I-790, I-587 and I-781.

I used to live off I-381 and no one has even noticed it's technically posted like that. It's just 'the really long entrance/exit ramp off of exit 3'. Which is probably why it's 3-81. Granted no one would ever call the road after it VA381 either because it's named Commonwealth Ave. for that entire stretch too.

Dang surprised I-705 in Tacoma, WA didn't make the list. Around 1.5 miles long!

I-185, The Southern Connector. They had a ton of TV ads for it when my parents lived in the area around 2000, mostly really corny ones showing a footrace on a track but the runner leaves the track and goes up and down the grandstand, etc.

As someone who lives in South Carolina, I can confirm the toll road part of I-185 is very unused. The bike course for the national duathlon championships was literally on this interstate a few times and the road being closed probably only slightly inconvenienced like 20 people.

Also, if I-185 is a LOOP, it should begin with an even number. Beginning with an odd number was supposed to indicate a spur route. Radials/ beltways and other loops were supposed to be given an even number. More and more, this "rule" is not being used. Sure, it was just a small help to the motorist, but it was a help. I know for a time up until the later 1970s, I-81 was still in development through the Bristols (VA and TN). Maybe that little spur, I-381, was given as an apology-or was part of temporary I-81? That would explain the interchange not being a complete one for years.

U just earned a new sub

Gotta plug Control City Freak on these interstate videos. I’m sure he’d agree with some of these

YaY my favorite beaver! Love your videos, could you look up 395 in Washington? Like to know your opinions on it.

I'm going to once again mention the Chickasaw Turnpike in Oklahoma as a road you should check out. It's the most pointless toll road in the nation: one lane in each direction and around 13 miles long it goes from nowhere to nowhere. It's the vestigial remnant of some dealmaking between urban and rural politicians to attempt to create a route between I-35 and I-40 that circumvented OKC.

Greenville, SC resident. I-185 originally was just a spur off into downtown Greenville from I-85. Around 2000 they built the “Southern Connector” portion. I have only used it to get between suburbs of Easley to Simpsonville. Or if I’m going towards Columbia from Easley. However the bypass doesn’t take more than maybe 15 minutes off and costs you $4. It could be used more one day as both Powdersville (near the first toll) and more so Simpsonville (end of the toll) are growing rapidly. But I don’t think it should be there. I would have rather seen an interstate towards the north side of Greenville and Greer where traffic can be backed up forever. Congrats on the sponsor. Been a silent subscriber for a while now. Nice to see the channel grow.

love your content

I used to live in Buffalo to go to the university. Millersport was definitely the main highway for the North Campus but I think I once came in on 990 when coming from an odd part of town.

Congrats on the sponsor! You're got a great thing going!

I-691 in Connecticut, and I-87 in North Carolina

Cool, someone talking about how useless I-185 is! On my way to work I’ve always passed over it and always looked to see one or two cars or trucks going along or sometimes none. And here they built this thing through some really nice countryside too. But it is I guess one way to get to 385 while coming up from Atlanta without going all the way up to the main interchange.

Here are two others in the "undone" category. I-39 currently runs from Wausaw, WI to Bloomington-Normal, IL. It was originally to be a relief highway to avoid Chicago, going straight down the middle of the state, roughly parallel to US 51, and ending at I-57 north of Cairo. The Rockford-Bloomington stretch is done. Right-of-way was bought between Bloomington and I-72 at Decatur. The grading was done for an interchange there, but the concrete was never poured and the bridges weren't built. It's still there, 50 years later. A four-lane freeway was built south of Decatur, bannered these days as US 51, but it ends about 15 miles south of there. And the southern terminus interchange at I-57 was fully built when that highway was; folks down there call it the 'road to nowhere'. And the "Avenue of the Saints" was to connect St. Louis with St. Paul, MN via a freeway with a new Interstate designation. Right now, it's parts of I-64/US 40, US 61 and MO 27 in Missouri; IA 27/US 218 and I-380 in Iowa and US 218 and I-35/35E in Minnesota. In Missouri, it's all four-lane divided expressway and in Iowa to north of Cedar Rapids. From there, it's still old two-lane roads up to I-35 at Owatonna and interstate on to St. Paul. The highway's been on the planning board for some 40 years.

I-72 is part of a Chicago to Kansas City route that is to bypass St. Louis. There are long term plans brought up to extend the route west to at least I-35

Can you do a video on highway 470 in Colorado? It nearly wraps around Denver but was never fully connected. It was built to interstate standards but never became an official interstate

Congrats on the sponsor! Keep up the good work.

I took 990 near Buffalo because my GPS told me to. It took me close to where I needed to go. It seemed strange that the highway just ended but it was fine. I enjoy seeing different parts of the country.

Part of this rochester-Niagra falls freeway exists in rochester, or at least lines up with what's highlighted in the video. State route 104 in Rochester goes from webster over towards greece as a freeway, but then right before greece, it stops and becomes a stroad. I guess with i90 connecting rochester and buffalo, the full connection didnt make much sense, as well as the fact that i390 goes up even further than this proposed connection and runs right along lake ontario. But driving in rochester, its annoying that State route 104 doesnt at least continue as a freeway up to where it meets i390 in Greece, as if it did, rochester would have a complete outer-ring highway with the combination of i390, i590, and 104

You missed the Interstate in Pennsylvania that exists solely as a monument to Bud Shuster's tenure as House Transportation Committee chairman.

I live a mile from I-990, it was supposed to go to Lockport but that freeway idea i think was supposed to be the Lake Ontario Parkway which was partly built from Rochester to Sunset Beach and then the Moses Parkway from Youngstown to the falls

Wyoming’s I-180 is pretty much useless.

And there may be some other road projects that never got the full designation as part of the interstate system, although the initial projects may have intended for it. (Amstutz Expressway was supposed to connect Chicago and Milwaukee, but the project fell through very very early given the planned routing. However that stretch of road that was built is to the proper 4-lane highway interstate standards of the time. Now it's just an oddball branch of the state route designated over Sheridan Rd. Used in a quite a few movies because it can be closed off without affecting other traffic all that much.)

381 is just a Very Long Exit Ramp and did not need its own number.

2:53 That's surprising to see a highway in greenville looking as empty as Interstate 180!

I-185 is great if you live in southeast Greenville County because you have your own private interstate if you're heading west and can skip the worst traffic on 85.

I drive I-72 and I-172 very often. And while there are hardly any cars on those highways, they definitely are nice to have to make it quicker to get across the middle section of illinois

Omg a sponsor now, Beaver getting big don't forget us lil folk,I'm really happy for you congratulations

You had my interest for 20 seconds until the fursona popped up on screen

The I-781 near Watertown NY goes east from I-81 and has one interchange with US Route 11 than goes a little further and just empties on Fort Drum Military Reservation onto local roads.

Personally I appreciate the route between Hannibal and Springfield. Travelling East after going south to St Joseph, it's a direct path continuing east after crossing the Mississippi.

When you talked about I-381 (which I didn’t know before then) it reminded me of I-115 in Butte, Montana, I feel like they kinda have a similar case. Idk though Also another thing is I-86 in Idaho, It’s pretty short and would work better as a spur route of I-84. Not that it’s completely useless but it would work better as a spur

One interstate that most people sleep on is I-345 in Dallas. It's a super short interstate that extends from the northern terminus of I-45, and it only serves as the eastern portion of an elevated "loop" around downtown Dallas. Even then, it's better off as US 75...

0:08 hey that’s my city! You can’t even tell the air is made of hot soup.

These are the the types of interstates I would be willing to trade for just a few key HSR routes

I-170 in St. Louis does do anything but get people up to north county easily, which is now pretty useless

this made me think of the 710 in LA it gets a decent amount of use for most of its route but there are large end pieces that are underused, and for most of its route it cuts off the city from the la river, most notably the west side of long beach, where they likely had to destroy a bunch of houses to build it and it's one of the rarely used ends

990 is a huge beautiful road to nowhere. It also goes around a huge university-corporate park built in the swampy terrain. Also pretty useless is 86. It was started back in my teen years 1970’s. A massively over kill roadway with scant traffic.

Saw 990 earlier on RU-vid, and saw where it ends at a traffic light at its last exit-- I think that if they were going to do that, they would have been better served with an exit that had on-ramps to the road it ended on depending on which way you wanted to go, instead of a traffic light.

What are your thoughts on I190 in Rapid City SD? It's a spur off of I90 that goes south into downtown that's barely over a mile long that only has one interchange before ending at Omaha st. It doesn't even line up with US 16, a major highway that goes from Rapid City up into the Black Hills and eventually Mt Rushmore. It only somewhat lines up with the downtown area, you have to make a left turn Omaha st to get to downtown or US 16. If you keep going straight you end up on a residential boulevard.

0:15 is actually an interchange of two non-Interstate freeways in Michigan and I go through that interchange every day going to and from work

"They didn't want to see an interstate going through the downtown area" You don't say!

Interstate 72 itself is useful, it's going to be expanded to meet i35 in Western Missouri along the us36 corridor.

I would love to see a video on the shortest interstates, we have two in Saint Pete Florida that are tiny! I375 and I175 coming off of I275 right next to down town

I-180 (Illinois) might have been useful if they'd followed through with the route going south to connect to Peoria. You can see evidence that this was at one time planned, because IL-6 north of Peoria seems to terminate with a layout design that suggests it was suppose to connect up with a never-completed freeway. But then I-39 was built, and that alleviated the need for a North-South interstate in Northern Illinois. I drive I-180 fairly regularly, and it is probably the worst maintained portion of interstate in the state. You can tell that no one cares about it.

Ike took one look at the Autobahn, and said We need sumthin like that", but then it got politicized, and it all went to hell, jus like everything else.

You should cover I-35 in Kansas and how it’s a unavoidable toll road coming into Kansas from Oklahoma…maybe forced toll roads on major single/double interstates and why that exists?