The Most Worthless US Interstates 

New Orleans had probably the biggest freeway revolt outside of San Francisco. An off-ramp was originally planned to be IN the French Quarter. The tunnel is still there!

610 does have a purpose as the hazmat bypass around downtown

Concord is in New Hampshire, not in Connecticut. I do agree with you that I-10 needs to be rerouted to the north side of Lake Ponchatrain, and either designate current I-10 as I-610, or even I-6.

I lived Concord, NH (not Connecticut) for 12 years so I have my own slant on I-393. One of the reasons NHMS has a Nascar Race is I-393 because no one in their right mind would want to deal with Loudon Road which is Concord's main commercial retail road and also has half of the State Governments Administrative offices. During rush hour let alone having people coming back from a race. One of the key components to having a spur route is to provide easier movement of traffic within a community. In this case I-393 works perfectly. The sad part is NH will not produce any new highway connecting east to west unless the Feds give a huge chunk of change.

I don't know about useless, but I-787 in Albany almost completely cuts off downtown from the Hudson River waterfront, though it is a pretty big commuter road. It would be cool if you did a list of interstates that are similarly obstructive to the quality of life in the communities they serve.

The pronunciation for Pontchartrain might be the weirdest way I’ve heard it said

Concord is in New Hampshire not Connecticut

wow it's so cool that 2 places on this list I've driven through and I've only driven through a small chunk of the US, and they are the 384 near Manchester, CT and route 11 in CT and not many people drive on it, and I use route 11 to get to New London today as well.

384 definitely belongs on this list. It is a shame the road was never completed. It would alleviate traffic on 95 east of New Haven during the summer when New Yorkers drive up to Cape Cod. Connecticut has at times tried to get the project going again, but Rhode Island has no interest in it. Also, when you were discussing the 93 spur route, I believe you misidentified the state as Connecticut and not New Hampshire.

The Concord you're referring to is in NH. Matter of fact, it's the state capital....

I grew up in Pittsburgh and remember life before I-579. That little interstate alleviated a good bit of the traffic morass right at Point State Park where I-279 and I-376 come together between the Ft Pitt and Ft Duquesne Bridges, giving traffic from the eastern suburbs and neighborhoods another way to get to the booming northern suburbs. Also I’m sure Federal money was the only way the Veterans Bridge could be built over the Allegheny River. I-579 is a critical piece of Pittsburgh infrastructure and not deserving of your derogatory label of “useless”. Just ask the thousands of hockey fans leaving PPG Paints Arena after a Penguin game, all via I-579, the only highway connection to the arena, it’s way better than the Civic Arena days pre-579, where the only highway access was via downtown streets and several stoplights.

Love your content brother. Keep it up!

Almost surprised you didn't give a dishonorable mention to I-375 in Detroit. It really sucks, but I heard they're getting rid of it soon.

I get why they numbered I-10 and I-12 that way since it makes sense in the numbering system. What they could do is change the control cities on the approach to emphasize I-10 goes to New Orleans and I-12 is the thru route. So instead of Hammond coming from the west, say Gulfport/Biloxi. And Houston or Lafayette coming from the east

Great vid as usual. I love that both I-384 and CT-11 both made the list. They are both highways I grew up near and 11 in particular is an embarrassment.

Should do a video on state highways that could be designated interstates. Like NH16 from Portsmouth NH to Rochester NH. I’m from Maine we have a terrible road network. I’ve driven 47/50 states and find it fascinating how things are done differently state by state.

I'm from New Orleans and totally agree with you about I-10/12/610. And we pronounce Pontchartrain pon-cha-train.

Suggestion for another unless highway, I-794 in Milwaukee. It's been improved over the last couple decades but it use to literally be a freeway to nowhere, actually just to the sewage treatment plant. It was featured in the 1980 Blues Brothers movie when they drive the car off the freeway and it does have a cool bridge (the Hoan Bridge) but is it necessarily a useful interstate spur, no.

3:55 - I lived in Pittsburgh for a number of years. I know those highways well, especially that one.

The Great Falls one makes me think of the unsigned I-296 in Grand Rapids, MI. It's unsigned (again) and overlaps US-131 between I-96 and I-196. Come to think of it, have you done one on unsigned Interstates yet? That would be cool if not yet.

Route 25 in Bridgeport CT was suppose to hook up to I 84 in Danbury and it stops in Trumbull CT

Liked before watching

There’s also a half abandoned freeway stack interchange in Hartford Connecticut.

As someone who drives 579 all the time it's very nice to have, but it can be a lot at times, but I certainly want to have it versus not

You totally missed the main function of I393 in Concord. It connects I93 to the New Hampshire motor speedway for the Nascar races. Also, isn't it strange they named the speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway when its in Connecticut?

Very cool video, funnily enough when I clicked on the video the first interstate that came to mind for me was 384 Connecticut, and speaking of Connecticut I really feel like state route 2 should become part of the interstate system because of the amount of traffic that you see on it every day and the poor condition it is always in

There are two other examples of a situation like I-10 and I-610. I think these route numbers should be also swapped here: First is I-95 and I-495 in Northern Delaware. I-495 is a bypass route in Wilmington with a higher speed limit and even being signed for thru traffic going southbound, while I-95 has less lanes and a lower speed limit and goes through the downtown Second is I-70 and I-470 in Wheeling, WV. I-470 is a bypass that is encouraged for thru traffic. It also is a mandatory route for hazmats because of the Wheeling Tunnel along I-70. I-70 also has a lower speed limit and is only one lane in each direction through the tunnel.

I have travelled this country from end to end. I think the Interstate is the 8th wonder of the world especially I-70 west of Denver.

as someone who has driven on I-579 in Pittsburgh, it is incredibly useful. It would be a mess to get across the city otherwise.

Never say never on finishing some of those stubs. US-31 in Michigan was finally completed last year after over 40 years of environmental issues and route changes. I-696 took 30 years to complete. These projects move at a glacial pace sometimes. I'm surprised you didn't mention I-180 in Illinois. It was built solely to serve an iron foundry that shut down about a year after the freeway opened. There were shady dealings involved and basically money was diverted from Tucson, AZ's freeway plan in order to build this freeway to the middle of nowhere.

Nice little video. Interstate oddities like this fascinate me. I-705 in Tacoma is just weird. My first drive through was enough to make me go WTF... A suggestion for a video. The I-5 section there with WA-16 and I-705 has been a multi decade project to make traffic better. I drive up from Portland it's always "What have they done this time?" Still not done either.

I-12 should be re-designated I-810 IMO since it connects to I-10 on both ends and basically is just an alternate route. (I chose 810 because other even first digits are taken in Louisiana though 410 was never really built.) Plus, I have a bit of a pet peeve about non-3DIs that are entirely within the same state. I think as much as possible any interstate entirely within one state should be a 3DI in order to free up single and double-digit numbers.

So apparently I-93 is in Connecticut now and serves a place called Concord, CN that doesn't exist.

5:11 you mean Concord, NH?

You might want to look into the James White Parkway, in Knoxville, Tennessee. Not sure why that route is so massive.

You could do a video on existing highways/interstates with planned expansions that never happened, like a couple in this video, plus interstates like I-710, which was planned to hit I-210 in Pasadena, but was halted due to resident opposition. You can see some clearing, but the highway just stops at Valley Blvd north of I-10.

Your voice has a touch of Randall from the "Clerks" series of movies.

I-10 goes down into New Orleans because it is a major city for the area. Mainline interstate highways were built to connect cities, with spur routes bypassing them - which is why I-12 and I-610 were built, to bypass the city of New Orleans, off the main interstate I-10.

As someone from Connecticut I use CT11 quite a bit it’s a short cut to get to Hartford. No matter what time of day you go there’s barely any traffic on it

Maybe also consider the PARALLEL interstates in Maryland and Pennsylvania? On the east side of Baltimore, there's I-895 and the newer I-95. In north-central PA, there's I-476 and I-81. Then there's the peculiar way all of the interstates in western PA run., with most of I-376 running awfully close to I-79. (I realize there are mountains and other geographic difficulties there.)

Tacoma resident here. I-705 does seem a bit unnecessary, but it acts more as a long on/off ramp from I-5 into downtown. If you ever get the chance to drive it you will find it has some strange land alignments that will either take you up to Schuster Parkway or dump you right into downtown.

I grew up near Tacoma, Washington and worked for WSDOT for 12 years. I completely agree with your comments about I-705. I never understood why it was built that way.

In a previous video, you mentioned discussing the unsigned Interstate 194 in Bismarck and Mandan, North Dakota, the state's only three digit interstate. It's actually a lot less dumb of a route than you hinted at, though being a full freeway is probably not justified. If you covered it, the six people in the state who know it's even an interstate and not just the western half of Bismarck Expressway would appreciate it! We are also proud of our extremely long Interstate 94 business loop and unsigned "Spur US 83" designation that serves the state capitol building. I would like some ridiculous banners bragging about them along their whole routes.

'Concord, Connecticut' BEAVER LOL!!!!!

I agree with you on the I-10/1-610, I grew up when I-610 was built in the 1970s. The DOT tore down an entire block of houses, the block immediately next to my block. It was great to be able to play on an Interstate being built.

You should do a video in Ga state hwy 400 that runs north out of Atlanta. It should be an interstate

Ever thought of doing a video on US highways, vs the Interstate system and the cool parts of the US high way such as 64 through the Smokey mountain parkway.

Showing CT some love … or hate reguardless love it AND roads I’ve driven on since I was 16

Speaking of a highway thats “got too much going on”. Check out the I-35W/I-820 interchange in Ft Worth Texas. I’ve never seen a stack that massive with almost every direction having a direct connector to the free and the express lanes

I-12 couldn’t exist south of I-10 because it wouldn’t line up with the numbering sequence. It could be an I-6 or a discontinuous part of I-8 potentially, but not I-12.

Lol I used to use CT-11 a bunch. My old army national guard unit was in new London, and I drove there from the northeast. My grandparents also have a camper at a campground not too far from where the highway ends! Also I used to drive 384 every day. I worked in New Britain, CT and I lived in Willimantic, CT. I used to think about how useless it was, and it's funny to see that someone agrees!

Don’t forget the 3 NC Vanity Interstates I-73,74 & 87

You forgot the I-990 in Amherst NY near Buffalo. That really wasn’t a needed highway in the first place since it never was built all the way to its original planned destination in Lockport. It now ends on NY Route 263 out in nowhere.

I live in Great Falls, I-315 does serve a purpose in connecting to one of the business districts, as well as being part of the designated and signed business loop that goes through downtown. Without the exits on 315, the only way to access the particular area would be through residential streets, which would be a huge traffic clog. Other than that, though, it's basically the most over-engineered on/off ramp in the country, and you can tell why MDOT never bothered signing it.

You should look at Interstate 115 in Butte, MT

Having grown up in Tacoma, I-705 is a much better option than the previous option to get to downtown. Prior to it being built, it took a round about way to get to downtown. The only reason it's an interstate is the city got federal funding to build it. It should have just been an extension of Washington 7, which goes from I-5 in Tacoma all the way the town of Morton and is a popular route to get to Mt. Rainier National Park.

579 is similar to 440 in Nashville. Very tucked in and a lot going on it took them years to widen it

Can you do a video on U.S. Highway 6 at some point?

I like how I-315 in Montana has an exit 0. That would be a good video, a tour of all the Exit 0's on the interstate system.

794 In milwaukee is a funky one, There's another freeway literally less than a mile west at most points and it barely runs anywhere

As much of a stretch as I 579 is, it actually serves a rather decent purpose. I personally think that it's a good way of connecting the Liberty bridge/tunnel to the Parkway North. But opinions are opinions.

thoughts on I-189 and VT-289 in the Burlington, VT area?

I've lived in Manchester, about a mile off 384, and now, later on in life, I live less than a mile from I 283 in Pennsylvania, which is another very short spur, but with an obvious purpose: to give residents off the east shore of the Susquehanna River easy access to not only the Turnpike, but also Harrisburg International Airport, as well as PA 283, which intersects with its interstate parent and provides freeway access to Lancaster and US 30 and US 222. For conveniences' sake, it would be cool to extend the interstate to PA 283's current eastbound terminus into 30.

What's with the way I-90, I-87, and the NY Thruway intersect in Albany? Now that they've removed the toll plaza, a much better interchange could be made.

384 in CT I'd a great route to take if you're going from the Hartford area to Storrs where Uconn is. It night look like a bunch of nothing but it does serve a good purpose. Especially because it goes to route 6 also and that takes you to Providence RI

Beaver do you think I-293 around Manchester Nh is a useful highway?

did I just get the highway of my state and town that i use daily, but still think is useless? HELL YEAH

I think up north between I-75 in Michigan and U.S. Hwy 53 in Wisconsin there should be an interstate to connect Wisconsin to michigain. I know they can go through Minasoda to get to Canada but imagine how much use another interstate would get in the upper Peninsula.

How about I-180 in Central Illinois. It's a spur to Hennepin. It connected to a steel company now closed.

I 393 was mostly intended not to serve downtown, but as a tourist bypass of the Concord Heights business and residential district for travellers heading to the seacoast. (Rte 101 to Hampton wouldn't be complete till years later)

There's similar highway oddities here in Switzerland. For example the A10 is a motorway that's just over a mile long and connects a town of a few-thousand people with the A6 near Bern. It's completely useless as a highway and could just as well be a normal national road.

Kinda disagree about 579, Pittsburgh has Mt Washington just across the river from downtown with only 2 tunnels for general traffic, so all traffic from the southern neighborhoods and suburbs to the central, northern and eastern sides of the metro area gets funneled onto either the 376/Ft.Pitt Tunnel/Ft.Pitt Bridge OR BYP19/Liberty Tunnel/Liberty Bridge/579. It exists as one of the only ways to easily travel from the south hills to the north hills as well as the entire east side of the city. I don't love the highway but a major route, even if not interstate designated, in that spot is a necessity. Otherwise, access between south and east is limited to a series of wonky, non-linear, traffic-clogged bridge crossings and connections between neighborhoods of different elevations since the road network around the old suburbs along the Monongahela River wasn't designed to facilitate the kind of commuting between the east and south sides of Pittsburgh that has emerged as white collar jobs have emerged in especially the eastern neighborhoods as well as the south and north suburbs. This is something that even the completion of the eastern part of the Mon-Fayette/Southern Beltway can't replace. The city has plans to build a larger cap over part of it, don't know how much has been built so far. While it did cut off downtown from the Hill District, the greater factor in the demise of the Hill District was the wholesale bulldozing of almost the entire Lower Hill District to make way for the (now demolished) Civic Arena. Pittsburgh may have too many interstates and highways, but in a way it needs them to handle the basic road connections between different 'chunks' of the city because it's built in such steep terrain the connections can't be handed totally by the surface road network. My biggest frustration is with how 279 rams straight through the northside at surface level, demolishing entire blocks, cutting it in half in a beautiful dense old part of the city center and causing the blocks around it to be noisy and polluted.

New Orleanian who totally agrees about I-10/610/12. The worst engineering is the merge at the Metairie merge of 10/610. The lane switching for through vs. local traffic is insane. BTW, St. Tammany Sheriffs love I-12 because of the number of drug runners they bust running through the parish going to/coming from the west coast or Mexico to Florida.

For interstates 10/610, a similar thing occurs in Kansas City, with I-70 taking the old route and I-670 Bypassing it, in that case it was because I-70 was built first

Please check out I283 in Harrisburg PA.

Just drove home on route 11 today and it’s only purpose is literally to be a long off ramp to route 2

I-393 also has a sidewalk and traffic light at its start in Concord.

Is your main channel Beaverman or Beaver geography?

at 5:12 is Concord New Hampshire, not Connecticut.

Able to make a video or include in a future video- Illinois Route 6? I believe it was supposed to go to Chicago but instead exists only in the Peoria area..

I-393 only serves to get to Concord’s retail location faster but is the faster way to get to route 106 which going north gets you to New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Should have out in 676 in Philly. Haven’t had to take it in a few years but every time I have, it’s been nothing but a congested mess that goes directly through Center City from 95 to 76. Definitely the worst stretch of highway/interstate I have ever been on. Even the traffic coming off of it backs things up for a while.

I-10 has that route because the major interstates (95, 5, 10, etc) always go through the city center when possible

Your so right I remember driving from Florida to California and my Ex and I thought we must have did something wrong. Because to leave i10 to comeback to i10 as a new traveler felt so wrong. It caused our first actual fight as I said follow the gps and she wanted to stay on i10. After we both agreed that a dumbass made the route. Honestly one of the last things we agreed on. Over the course of the trip it went from I love you to who are you real quick 😂

I live in Pittsburgh and beg to differ about I-579. If you couldn't do I-279->579->Blvd of the Allies->I-376, the only route from the North Hills to the Oakland area would be via the Ft. Duquesne Bridge, a routing which includes a ridiculously tight left-merge onto I-376 eastbound. Further, it would be near-impossible to access the Liberty Bridge, as there's no ramp direct from I-376 and no room for one; the Fort Pitt bridge and tunnel would end up jammed as a result, with the interchange between that and Route 51 (Saw Mill Blvd) completely and utterly gridlocked.

Any thoughts on highways or interstates that maybe could come to an end?

Interstate 87 would have to run from Raleigh to Plattsburgh via Norfolk and Dover for it to work properly.

As a Tacoma native, I agree with you on I-705.

I-393 in Concord NH exists primarily to serve as access to the NH state government offices...

Honestly 579 in Pittsburgh served a purposed as it connected 279 and 376 for decades until the connector ramps for 279s to 376 east were done in 2000. Now it does not make sense, but this was built decades ago

The I-84 from Hartford east to I-90 was originally I-86. when I-384 was I-84. Both were already built before protesting cancelled I-84 continuing to Providence, RI. A good video though.

I'll agree with you on the utility of I-393 running east off I-93, but the location is Concord NH, which is not in Connecticut, as the narration states

You think 579 is complicated? Imagine trying to funnel everyone crossing the city across the Ft. Duquesne bridge and the one lane leading to the Parkway East. Insanity.

id be interested to see a version of this video not counting 3-digit routes

What do you think of extending I77 south into Florida? I 95 is maxed out and I 75 bottles up in Atlanta. We need a new way north, especially during hurricane evacuation.

Some of these may look pointless, but like the one in Concord, probably smooths traffic flow going out that highway it ends onto, while preventing traffic from backing up onto the main interstate.

I'm slightly surprised I-990 outside Buffalo wasn't on this list. It's a spur about 6 miles long that connects I-290 to the university within the first mile and then just keeps going, cutting through suburban neighborhoods for five miles before just sort of abruptly ending in the middle of nowhere. Most useless freeway I've ever seen.

5:09 you were meant to say Concord, New Hampshire and not Connecticut. I hope you can reply to this and I really hate freeways in city proper areas.

I-74 from Indianapolis westward to Illinois has less traffic than a dirt road!

I hate how I noticed I-15 kinda goes out of its way to get to Great Falls from Helena, and ended up learning what a buffalo jump was