 
Highway revolts have occurred in cities and regions across the United States. In many cities, there remain unused highways, abruptly terminating freeway alignments, and short stretches of freeway in the middle of nowhere, all of which are evidence of larger projects which were never completed. In some instances, freeway revolts have led to the eventual removal or relocation of freeways that had been built.
In the post-World War II economic expansion, there was a major drive to build a freeway network in the United States, including (but not limited to) the Interstate Highway System. Design and construction began in earnest in the 1950s, with many cities and rural areas participating. However, many of the proposed freeway routes were drawn up without considering local interests; in many cases, the construction of the freeway system was considered a regional (or national) issue that trumped local concerns.
Starting in 1956, in San Francisco, when many neighborhood activists became aware of the effect that freeway construction was having on local neighborhoods, effective city opposition to many freeway routes in many cities was raised; this led to the modification or cancellation of many proposed routes. The freeway revolts continued into the 1970s, further enhanced by concern over the energy crisis and rising fuel costs, as well as a growing environmentalist movement. Responding to massive anti-highway protests in Boston, in February 1970 Governor Francis W. Sargent of Massachusetts ordered a halt to planning and construction of all planned expressways inside the Route 128 loop highway, with the exception of the remaining segments of the Central Artery and the segment of Interstate 93 between East Somerville and the Charles River. However, some proposals for controlled-access freeways have been debated and finalized as a compromise to build them as at-grade expressways.
Arizona.
In Phoenix, Arizona, regional planners had long planned a general belt loop and several freeways crossing the Salt River Valley through much of Phoenix, with the key feature to include a central-city portion of Interstate 10, running just south of McDowell Road. I-10 had been built westbound to a point southwest of downtown, where it curved and merged into Interstate 17. The largest unconstructed section of I-10 in the country, beginning just east of the Arizona-California border, was still in its planning stage when a debate began for the Phoenix section. Designers had evolved the proposed Papago Freeway from a typical surface grade to a massive, elevated structure, rising 100 feet through the central city, with "helicoil" interchanges and a lengthy park under the structure. Led primarily by influential Arizona Republic publisher Eugene Pulliam (grandfather of future Vice President Dan Quayle), a massive public relations opposition battle began, citing the freeway sprawl of Los Angeles as a model Pulliam did not want Phoenix embracing. The rhetoric became so heated that in 1973 a non-binding public advisory election was held, resulting (largely due to Pulliam's regular editorial tirades) in an overwhelming "no" vote for the existing plan. The city and the Arizona State Highway Department (now Arizona Department of Transportation) scrapped the plans without further efforts for the central city segment. As the completed east-bound portion of I-10 advanced closer, transportation planners pushed for some resolution. By 1984 traffic gridlock had reached the point where planners devised a new plan, with I-10 still running although roughly the same alignment, but instead with the central city portion tunneled through downtown, with a large park on top. The revised I-10/Papago Freeway was opened in 1990.
In Tucson, Arizona, proposed Interstate 710 was to follow current Kino Parkway from I-10 to Broadway Boulevard, connecting I-10 to the University of Arizona and the downtown area. However, heavy opposition to the freeway caused for its cancellation in 1982, and the Tucson area has long been opposed to the rapid urban sprawl and freeways ever since.
California.
San Francisco.
In San Francisco, public opposition to freeways dates to 1955, when the "San Francisco Chronicle" published a map of proposed routes. Construction of the elevated Embarcadero Freeway along the downtown waterfront also helped to organize the opposition, articulated by architecture critic Allan Temko, who began writing for the "Chronicle" in 1961. The 1955 San Francisco Trafficways Plan included the following routes that were never completed:
The 1960 Trafficways Plan deleted several of these routes but added another:
In 1959, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to cancel seven of ten planned freeways, including an extension of the Central Freeway. In 1964, protests against a freeway through the Panhandle and Golden Gate Park led to its cancellation, and in 1966 the Board of Supervisors rejected an extension of the Embarcadero Freeway to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Opposition to the Embarcadero Freeway continued, and in 1985, the Board of Supervisors voted to demolish it. It was closed after sustaining heavy damage in 1989's Loma Prieta earthquake and torn down shortly thereafter. The entire portion of the Central Freeway north of Market Street was demolished over the next decade: the top deck in 1996, and the lower deck in 2003. Two other short freeway segments were demolished in the same time period: the Terminal Separator Structure near Rincon Hill and the Embarcadero Freeway, and the stub end of Interstate 280 near Mission Bay.
Oakland.
In Oakland, California, the Richmond Boulevard Freeway would have run along Valdez Street, Richmond Boulevard, Glen Echo Creek, and Moraga Avenue from 20th Street to SR 13. It was approved by Oakland voters in a 1945 bond issue, but was canceled August 16, 1956, when the city of Piedmont was unable to pay for its portion of the route. In 1949, the Richmond Boulevard Protective Association had protested the route and its planned destruction of their homes.
Berkeley.
In Berkeley, California, the Ashby Freeway would have run approximately along the line of Ashby Avenue from Interstate 80 to California State Route 24. The Berkeley Department of Public Works and Planning Commission proposed possible routings for it in 1952, and were met with 5,000 signatures on a petition in opposition. Nevertheless, the commission included the route in the 1955 Berkeley Master Plan. A 1957 public hearing drew 100 protesters. The 1959 Alameda County transportation plan attempted to relocate the proposed freeway to the Oakland–Berkeley border, but Oakland was no more receptive to the freeway, and the Berkeley City Council voted to stop planning it in 1961.
Bakersfield.
In Bakersfield, California, the SR 178 freeway terminates two miles east of the SR 99 freeway. The section through downtown Bakersfield and the Westchester residential district was never completed due to opposition from Westchester residents. The controversy continues to this day, as the Bakersfield City Council's plans to widen Highway 178 through the Westchester area are being strongly protested.
Orange County.
In Southern California, a number of environmental organizations including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation and others, along with the California State Parks Foundation, banded together to stop a planned extension to the SR 241 Foothill South Toll Road. The groups contend that the project threatens the fragile San Mateo Creek Watershed and would result in the loss of a significant portion of the popular San Onofre State Beach Park. In 2006, the coalition filed a lawsuit against the Transportation Corridor Agency – the agency responsible for the project – stating that deficiencies in the project's environmental impact report violated the California Environmental Quality Act. The groups were joined in the lawsuit by the California State Attorney General's Office.
San Diego.
State Route 252 was intended to connect Interstate 5 to Interstate 805. Ramps were constructed on I-805 at 43rd Street before the project was canceled in 1994 due to neighborhood opposition. The new freeway would have occupied a swath of land dividing Logan Heights. Much of the land intended for freeway construction is still unoccupied. The interchange ramps from I-805 now end in a strip mall.
Sacramento.
In December 1974, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors submitted a request to the state legislature to remove several planned freeways from active planning. Among these were a section of State Route 65, State Route 143, and State Route 244; Caltrans had already acquired rights of way for portions of the routes, which would cost $149 million to build (in 1973 dollars).
San Luis Obispo.
Cuesta Freeway was intended to connect US 101 in San Luis Obispo with an interchange at Marsh Street exit to Cuesta College. This proposed section was post to be the new route for SR 1. The new route was adopted in 1965 by Caltrans and would cost more than $2 million a mile for the 7.1 mile expansion. The plan for the new route was rejected by major opposition from the community at the October 11, 1971, San Luis Obispo city council meeting.
Willits.
Throughout the four-year duration of a $300M construction project to reroute U.S. Route 101 to the east side of Willits as a bypass, numerous environmental coalitions raised concerns about the impact of the bypass on the local wetlands and cultural sites. The Pomo Native American tribe joined in the protests.
In 2013, a federal judge rejected a lawsuit, which was attempting to halt the project, filed against Caltrans. The bypass was completed toward the end of 2016 and opened for traffic on November 3, 2016.
Colorado.
During the 1960s, there were a number of proposals for new expressways. These included the Skyline Freeway from Commerce City to Morrison, the Hampden Freeway through Englewood, the Columbine Freeway which would have gone up Santa Fe, Downing, and Park Avenue West before leaving Denver via North Pecos Street, the Mountain Freeway which would have replaced all of Alameda, and The Quebec Freeway from I-70 all the way to I-25.
A planned Interstate 470 beltway around Denver met opposition, including from Governor Richard Lamm, an environmentalist, who promised to "drive a silver spike" through the project. Eventually, a compromise was reached, and the beltway was built, using three different designations: State Highway 470, E-470 and the Northwest Parkway. Currently, a gap remains in the beltway, as it stops short of reaching the Denver suburbs of Broomfield and Golden, where fierce opposition to the road continues. Golden is opposed to completion of the beltway; Broomfield supports it, and has been exploring alternate routes.
Connecticut.
Hartford.
In 1973 environmentalists filed lawsuits that effectively killed construction of the planned Interstate 291 beltway west of Interstate 91, the proposed Interstate 484 expressway through the downtown, and the proposed Interstate 284 expressway between East Hartford and South Windsor, and Interstate 491 from Wethersfield to Manchester. After these freeways were cancelled, the State of Connecticut used the funds allocated for their construction to rebuild and expand existing freeways in the Greater Hartford area. In 1992 the Route 9 Expressway was extended north from I-91 in Cromwell to Interstate 84 in Farmington, completing what would have been the southwest quadrant of the I-291 beltway; the northwest quadrant of the canceled beltway is partially served by the 4-lane arterial Route 218 west of I-91 (Route 218 does not connect to I-84 or Route 9, leaving an approximately 7-mile gap in the northwest quadrant between I-84/Route 9 and Route 218). The Connecticut Department of Transportation eventually built its current headquarters on land originally acquired for I-291, where it was to intersect US-5 in Newington.
Eastern Connecticut.
Interstate 84 was originally planned to continue on an easterly course to Providence, Rhode Island, closely following US 6 through Tolland and Windham counties. Environmental concerns in Connecticut and Rhode Island led to the cancellation of this extension, and I-84 was shifted to the existing Wilbur Cross Highway (which had been designated I-86; this number has since reappeared on a partially completed expressway in northern Pennsylvania and Upstate New York) between Hartford and Sturbridge, Massachusetts in 1983. The already-completed portions of this extension was redesignated as Interstate 384 and US-6 Windham Bypass. CONNDOT and the FHWA intended to construct the US-6 Freeway through Andover, Bolton, and Coventry to link I-384 and the Windham Bypass. After 40 years since it was first planned, CONNDOT, the FHWA, and local officials remained deadlocked with the EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers over the routing of the US-6 Freeway. Since the agencies involved could not come to an agreement, CONNDOT abandoned plans the US-6 Freeway in 2005. The department instead rebuilt the section of US-6 the freeway was intended to bypass in 2000. The section of US-6 between I-384 and Willimantic remains a two-lane road, but rebuilding that segment straightened curves, added shoulders and turning pockets, and