List of Gaps in Interstate Highways - True Gaps

True Gaps

True gaps are where two sections of road are intended to be part of the same Interstate, but the two sections are not physically connected, are only connected by non-Interstates, or are connected but the connection is not signed as part of the highway.

• Interstate 69 has six sections: the original alignment runs from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Port Huron, Michigan. On October 2, 2006, a segment of I-69 opened in Tunica and DeSoto counties in Mississippi. Another section exists near Evansville, Indiana. This section, however, is expected to be connected to the original I-69 in Indianapolis in 2016. In December 2011, a section southwest of Corpus Christi, Texas opened as well. Also in late 2011, the section of the Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway between I-24 and Exit 38/ Pennyrile Parkway became signed as I-69. In 2012, a portion of US 59 between Houston and Cleveland, Texas became part of I-69.
• Interstate 73 has two sections: a section of the Greensboro Urban Loop in Greensboro, North Carolina, the only section of I-73 signed with normal Interstate shields, and one concurrent with the entire section of I-74 from Ulah to Ellerbe, North Carolina. Other sections up to freeway standards are signed with I-73 shields that have FUTURE instead of INTERSTATE.
• Interstate 74 currently has five sections, one heading west from Cincinnati, Ohio, to Davenport, Iowa; one from the Virginia/North Carolina line along Interstate 77 south/east to a point southeast of Mount Airy, North Carolina; one running concurrent with US 311 around High Point connecting with I-85; one concurrent with the entire section of I-73 from Ulah to Ellerbe, North Carolina; and from west of Laurinburg to south of Lumberton, North Carolina, at Interstate 95. Other sections up to freeway standards are signed with I-74 shields that have FUTURE instead of INTERSTATE. Future I-73 shields are also placed along some of these sections. North Carolina is currently working on connecting all its sections of I-74, though the gap to Cincinnati will remain for the foreseen future.
• The eastern Interstate 86 currently has two sections. One runs for 197 miles (317 km) from I-90 in North East, Pennsylvania, to exit 56 in Elmira, New York. The second section is a 9.9-mile (15.9 km) stretch outside of Binghamton running from I-81 in Kirkwood to exit 79 in Windsor. I-86 will eventually run from North East, Pennsylvania, to the New York State Thruway (I-87) near Harriman, New York. All the designated sections and gaps in New York are part of New York State Route 17.
• Interstate 95. Probably the best-known and most notoriously confusing of all the Interstate gaps, I-95 is discontinuous in Lawrence Township, New Jersey (near Trenton). Coming north from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I-95 loops around the north side of Trenton and ends at U.S. Route 1, where it becomes I-295, which heads back south, heading to southern New Jersey. The other section of I-95 begins on the Pennsylvania Turnpike at the Pennsylvania/New Jersey state line, heads east into New Jersey along a spur of the New Jersey Turnpike, then heads north along the New Jersey Turnpike mainline, though it is only signed as far down the NJ Turnpike as I-195. Originally I-95 was planned to have left the alignment north of Trenton and headed northeast to Interstate 287 and run east along I-287 to Exit 10 on the Turnpike, but the Somerset Freeway was never built. Extensions over the years have taken I-95 several miles further north to the US-1 interchange northeast of Trenton, and along the New Jersey Turnpike to the Pennsylvania state line. An interchange is under construction, connecting the southern alignment with the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and I-95 will be rerouted via it, with the part north of that interchange becoming an extension of I-195. (It was originally considered to be an extension of I-295.)