Interstate 83 - Future

Future

As Congress worked toward reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Act, the Greater Lynchburg Chamber of Commerce and other groups in Virginia wanted Interstate 83 extended southward to provide bypasses for Charlottesville, Lynchburg, and Danville, and to link those cities to Greensboro, North Carolina. By June 1991, Robert LaLone, director of programs for the Lynchburg Chamber, admitted that an interstate was unlikely, but upgrading of U.S. Highway 29, with bypasses included, is more likely.

The possibility of extending I-83 (rather than I-99) north to Rochester, New York was discussed at the October 2002 I-99 Task Force meeting. However, part of the proposed route on US 11/US 15 has since been rebuilt as a four-lane surface road that does not meet Interstate standards. Expensive additional reconstruction, including new interchanges, service roads and realignments, would be necessary. The farthest north that I-83 could be extended currently would be Benvenue, Pennsylvania on a bridge over the Susquehanna River, where a recently built freeway section of US 22/US 322 (the Dauphin Bypass) downgrades to an undivided four-lane road.

In 2005, Walter Sondheim, a prominent Baltimore city planner unveiled a proposal to tear down the elevated portion of the JFX that leads into downtown. In the JFX's place, President Street would be extended north to Eager Street, where the elevated section ends. City officials have since offered tentative support for the idea, though it is unlikely that any action will be taken until about 2020, when the current elevated structure will need an overhaul if it is to remain in use. If the downtown JFX were demolished, Baltimore would join San Francisco, Boston and Milwaukee to become among the large American cities that have removed some of their downtown elevated freeways. On May 17, 2009, the Baltimore Sun revealed a plan by Rummel, Klepper & Kahl LLP, to tear down a mile of the Jones Falls Expressway to create an urban boulevard that would help connect downtown to the east side of the city, and Johns Hopkins.