Unfinished roads Europe

[SteelCamel]

You're talking about the Gravina Island Bridges to Ketchikan. Palin supported it to get elected and then decided that the State wouldn't pay up the promised $185m the bridge needed.
But they still spent $25m of Federal money on the road to the bridge they wouldn't build.
https://www.google.com/maps/@55.3208003 ... !1e3?hl=en

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravina_Island_Bridge

Yes that's what I was thinking of.

I like the way they've put a turning head where the bridge is supposed to be .... makes you wonder what would be driving down a road to nowhere that's been built on a sparsely-populated island!

There seem to be a few tyre tracks, so someone must - the Google car for one, and probably tourists driving out for a look at it.

Was the road built to the standard originally planned? It looks rather poor for what was supposed to be the main access to the airport and new developments. I would have expected a tarmac road at least - and surely the 14ft high tunnel on the airport access is a bit restrictive?

[Big Nick]

Yes that's what I was thinking of.

I like the way they've put a turning head where the bridge is supposed to be .... makes you wonder what would be driving down a road to nowhere that's been built on a sparsely-populated island!

There seem to be a few tyre tracks, so someone must - the Google car for one, and probably tourists driving out for a look at it.

Was the road built to the standard originally planned? It looks rather poor for what was supposed to be the main access to the airport and new developments. I would have expected a tarmac road at least - and surely the 14ft high tunnel on the airport access is a bit restrictive?

This is Alaska we're talking about. The oil rich state that decided to wait 40 years to rebuild a bridge span that fell down in 1964, making do with a 'temporary' ramp instead.
https://vilda.alaska.edu/digital/collec ... /id/22532/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Glacier_Bridge

[SteelCamel]

This is Alaska we're talking about. The oil rich state that decided to wait 40 years to rebuild a bridge span that fell down in 1964, making do with a 'temporary' ramp instead.
https://vilda.alaska.edu/digital/collec ... /id/22532/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_Glacier_Bridge

And having rebuilt it, you can't get to it as the highway has been blocked for the last 10 years...

While we might complain about our roads, at least they're all surfaced (highways, anyway) and kept open. There are some roads that get regularly closed by landslides or erosion - the Rest and Be Thankful road, or the Stromeferry Bypass for example - but no-one thinks that just leaving them closed for 10 years or more is a reasonable solution.

[Big L]

... While we might complain about our roads, at least they're all surfaced (highways, anyway) and kept open. There are some roads that get regularly closed by landslides or erosion - the Rest and Be Thankful road, or the Stromeferry Bypass for example - but no-one thinks that just leaving them closed for 10 years or more is a reasonable solution.

Mam Tor says hello.

[SteelCamel]

... While we might complain about our roads, at least they're all surfaced (highways, anyway) and kept open. There are some roads that get regularly closed by landslides or erosion - the Rest and Be Thankful road, or the Stromeferry Bypass for example - but no-one thinks that just leaving them closed for 10 years or more is a reasonable solution.

Mam Tor says hello.

I thought about mentioning that one. And there's also a number of minor roads that have been abandoned. The difference is that Mam Tor has quite a number of alternative routes - light vehicles can take Winnats Pass or go via Edale and Mam Nick, and all vehicles can use the A623 and Snake Pass which run more or less parallel. Even if you need to get from Castleton to Chapel-en-le-Frith in a lorry, it only adds seven miles to go via Bradwell.

In the Alaskan example above, the road has been impassable due to erosion since 2011, and there is no alternative route - you'll need a boat rather than going by road.

There are places on the British mainland that you can't reach by road - but that's because a road has never been built there. I can't think of any cases where a road has been built and then abandoned (or "temporarily" closed for years) without an alternative being provided.

[jnty]

There are places on the British mainland that you can't reach by road - but that's because a road has never been built there. I can't think of any cases where a road has been built and then abandoned (or "temporarily" closed for years) without an alternative being provided.

You're entirely right, I think, though your post makes me wonder about whether/how a couple of routes were ever meaningfully 'abandoned' as public roads - the Corrieyairack Pass and the pass from Loch Lyon at Pubil over to Kenknock near Killin which I is labelled Learg nan Lunn on OS maps.

[Komi san]

In Zürich , I found this
https://maps.app.goo.gl/5mHZoTmDpH2LZSBE9

[Brenley Corner]

In Zürich , I found this
https://maps.app.goo.gl/5mHZoTmDpH2LZSBE9

That probably was intended as a link to the A1 (now A1H) heading west out of Zurich which also appears to have space at the point it terminates. For many years there were missing links between the A1 to the west, the A3 to the south, and the A1 to the North which caused all through Autobahn traffic to use city streets. However much more recently the A3 was diverted to a new alignment around the south west of the city to link with the A1 using lots of heavy engineering, but still probably less controversial and more versatile than a route through Zurich (which was likely to have been envisaged in the 60's/70's when the A1 & A3 were built into the Zurich suburbs . The new A3 route also links to the incomplete A4 to the SW, and with the A1 loop around the NE of Zurich forms part of an incomplete orbital loop. Zoomed out Zurich Google Map

[Owain]

In Zürich , I found this
https://maps.app.goo.gl/5mHZoTmDpH2LZSBE9

That probably was intended as a link to the A1 (now A1H) heading west out of Zurich which also appears to have space at the point it terminates. For many years there were missing links between the A1 to the west, the A3 to the south, and the A1 to the North which caused all through Autobahn traffic to use city streets. However much more recently the A3 was diverted to a new alignment around the south west of the city to link with the A1 using lots of heavy engineering, but still probably less controversial and more versatile than a route through Zurich (which was likely to have been envisaged in the 60's/70's when the A1 & A3 were built into the Zurich suburbs . The new A3 route also links to the incomplete A4 to the SW, and with the A1 loop around the NE of Zurich forms part of an incomplete orbital loop. Zoomed out Zurich Google Map

What on earth is this??!?

[Bryn666]

In Zürich , I found this
https://maps.app.goo.gl/5mHZoTmDpH2LZSBE9

That probably was intended as a link to the A1 (now A1H) heading west out of Zurich which also appears to have space at the point it terminates. For many years there were missing links between the A1 to the west, the A3 to the south, and the A1 to the North which caused all through Autobahn traffic to use city streets. However much more recently the A3 was diverted to a new alignment around the south west of the city to link with the A1 using lots of heavy engineering, but still probably less controversial and more versatile than a route through Zurich (which was likely to have been envisaged in the 60's/70's when the A1 & A3 were built into the Zurich suburbs . The new A3 route also links to the incomplete A4 to the SW, and with the A1 loop around the NE of Zurich forms part of an incomplete orbital loop. Zoomed out Zurich Google Map

What on earth is this??!?

Dem crazy highway engineers!

[KeithW]

What on earth is this??!?

It looks like a combination of a training area and a leisure complex which seems to include a drive in movie theatre

https://www.driveinmovies.ch/

[Bristol]

I don't know if it's still the same, but it used to be run by the TCS (Swiss version of RAC, almost) where you could do motorbike training and skid courses with cars on the track inside. I think you can also do some of the driving tests (lorry perhaps?) from there.
That roundabout was meant to be temporary until they finished the motorway connection, but temporary structures in Switzerland have a way of staying around forever. If you approach from the south, here's where the motorway was meant to eventually carry straight on: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@47.28418 ... ?entry=ttu

[Brenley Corner]

I don't know if it's still the same, but it used to be run by the TCS (Swiss version of RAC, almost) where you could do motorbike training and skid courses with cars on the track inside. I think you can also do some of the driving tests (lorry perhaps?) from there.
That roundabout was meant to be temporary until they finished the motorway connection, but temporary structures in Switzerland have a way of staying around forever. If you approach from the south, here's where the motorway was meant to eventually carry straight on: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@47.28418 ... ?entry=ttu

And having explored the roundabout I noticed the bridge to nowhere on the northern side of the roundabout for the continuation of the A15, and the aerial view.....

[graeme_t]

The A15 picks up here: https://goo.gl/maps/LcdZj2T5DFSxJoo78, just east of Uster before heading to the A1 near Zurich.

[MJG]

In Zürich , I found this
https://maps.app.goo.gl/5mHZoTmDpH2LZSBE9

That probably was intended as a link to the A1 (now A1H) heading west out of Zurich which also appears to have space at the point it terminates. For many years there were missing links between the A1 to the west, the A3 to the south, and the A1 to the North which caused all through Autobahn traffic to use city streets. However much more recently the A3 was diverted to a new alignment around the south west of the city to link with the A1 using lots of heavy engineering, but still probably less controversial and more versatile than a route through Zurich (which was likely to have been envisaged in the 60's/70's when the A1 & A3 were built into the Zurich suburbs . The new A3 route also links to the incomplete A4 to the SW, and with the A1 loop around the NE of Zurich forms part of an incomplete orbital loop. Zoomed out Zurich Google Map

What on earth is this??!?

It was to become a roundabout-style motorway junction. If you zoom you see a gap of about 10 kilometers at the NW sector. The motorway has not been given the building permission because it would cross a protected moor area.

[Komi san]

Eastern end of A348 in Netherlands looks like that.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Qcdub2LMks1zthdB8

[jon81]

Here are couple of unfinished roads in Portugal:
A32, south of Porto, including a very big bridge to nowhere over the N224, complete with road markings.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.8466392 ... ?entry=ttu

IC 6, north-east of Coimbra, another bridge to nowhere under the N337-4.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3318577 ... ?entry=ttu


A13, on the outskirts of Coimbra, looks like the tunnel hasn't been constructed yet.
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.1879561 ... ?entry=ttu

[roadtester]

One of the most obvious European gaps yet to be filled is the completion of the A99 autobahn ring around Munich.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bundesautobahn_99

At the moment, the southwestern quadrant still needs to be filled.

This is an unusual omission given how comprehensive the German network is.

In fact, until at least the 1970s, north/south motorway traffic still had to go through Munich (I think there is a non-autobahn inner ring) rather than being able to by-pass it.

[Owain]

Always fun to dig up old posts:

The best Italian example I can think of is the A12: the northern (Livorno-Genova) and southern (Roma-Civitavecchia) bits were completed in the '70s. The terminus of each of these sections suggests that they were always planned to be joined together, but I understand that there is still some debate about which route to build the remaining section (coastal, along the ss1 Via Aurelia, or inland).

Soon after I posted that in 2011, a few kilometres got added, extending the road from the (now) SS698 junction to the end of the Tarquinia bypass. It's still got a long way to go to get connected to the other half of the A12 at Livorno, though!

A check of the thread, and I've never mentioned the A31 or A33.

The A31 in Veneto is still incomplete at both ends, failing to connect to the A13 at the bottom (although I'm not entirely sure that it was ever intended to get that far), and ending in the middle of nowhere at the northern end, when I think it was intended to reach the A22 near Rovereto:

As for the A33, they were building it when I stayed in the area in 2011. I've even driven on some of it, but it still has sections missing in the middle:

NB - No, your eyes do not deceive you, that is actually the name of the town!

[IAN]

As for the A33, they were building it when I stayed in the area in 2011. I've even driven on some of it, but it still has sections missing in the middle:

A33.jpg

GSV from 2023 seems to show the missing link at an advanced stage of construction.
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.6876135 ... ?entry=ttu

On the other hand, the satellite view has it finishing in a field!