Non-Continuous Road Networks?

Factual Questions
1

The genesis of this was the question about driving to Alaska combined with a few other comments over the years.

Nearly every point in North America that has roads is accessible by road from nearly everywhere else, though having a large SUV, off-road vehicle, etc., may be appropriate for some of them. Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska, and the Yukon are connected to the main Canadian road network, which links all eight “mainland” provinces and PEI, and is tied into the network connecting almost everywhere in the 48 contiguous states of the U.S. And this in turn connects with Mexico and that in turn with the Central American nations. (Border crossing problems are not an issue here; we’re talking merely physically drivable connections.)

I noted in that Alaska thread that there was a small road network around Nome, Alaska, connectiong a few outlying settlemetns with Nome, that did not itself connect to any other roads. I indicated I believed there were other examples, and someone noted that only two of the Southeast towns were linked to the Canadian road network, the others having streets in town and perhaps to small outlying areas but without connections to the rest of the North American road network. There were a few other examples from around Alaska as well.

There is a hamlet named Stillwater (one of three of that name) in Herkimer County, New York, which has a small road network to neighboring camps, but the only access to those roads is by boat across the reservoir on which it lies; none of them tie to any other roads.

At one time the roads of Labrador were not connected by land to anywhere else, accessing them from elsewhere being by ferry. I gather, however, that there is now a connection through Gagnon, QC, and Labrador City.

Obviously there will be places like Marthas Vineyard, Catalina Island, and so on, that are only accessible by ferry because of lying on an island.

But I am wondering what other examples there are, if any, of segments of road that are not connected to the main highway grid in North America. I have a hunch the answers may be very interesting from a cultural standpoint.

2

A British example, perhaps the only one not on an island, is [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corrour_railway_station]Corrour, where the remote railway station is linked to a hotel and youth hostel only by private tracks.

3

If you mean places where you have to take a ferry to access, there are various islands.

For instance, Shelter Island, NY, and Fishers Island, NY, cannot be accessed by road, and Fishers Island cannot be accessed from New York State at all unless you fly (the ferry comes from Connecticut).

There’s also Block Island, RI, and Nantucket, MA.

4

Juneau, AK and “suburbs”

5

In some strip mining areas of Kentucky (other states, too, I guess) the mine sites are connected by private roads. In fact, there’s plenty of motorized equipment (trucks, bulldozers, etc.) that isn’t even licensed, because they never operate on public roads.

Since you can’t get to that private road network, I guess it counts as “not connected to the highway grid.”

6

You still can’t really drive to Labrador; the Trans-Labrador Highway is barely passable in the winter, and is basically a gravel road over some sections.

7

Ditto for Ketchikan. Also along the Pacific coast are two sections of coastal highway in BC just above Vancouver which you have to take ferries to get to. These ferry rides aren’t very long, mind you; just a few miles across some inlets.

The OP explicitly excluded islands.

8

There are a couple small towns on Lake Chelan in central Washington State that are only accessible by ferry.

9

Another Scottish example is Inverie, in Knoydart (map here.) Although it is on the mainland, it can only be reached by ferry across Loch Nevis.

There is a road linking Inverie with the neighbouring villages of Sandaig and Airor, but it is not linked to the rest of the UK road network.

Larger scale map giving an overview of the area.

The Old Forge pub in Inverie claims to be “Mainland Britain’s Remotest Pub”.

10

I used to write software to navigate road networks. When a group of roads is not connected to the ‘main road network,’ it’s called an island, whether or not it’s geographically an island.

Teleatlas’ US network has in the low thousands of these islands (Alaska alone has over 400). This is not counting ferry access - to us, a ferry was as good as a road.

11

There are oodles and oodles of small towns in Canada’s Arctic that aren’t connected to anything else – Iqaluit, Churchill, Moosonee, etc. In fact, I think that you can only drive to Hudson Bay at one point: Chisasibi, Quebec.

12

The Darién Gap is the 100-mile section of Panamian jungle where there are no roads between North and South America.

Most places in the Canadian Arctic have already been mentioned: Churchill is connected only by a railroad track, and further north small planes are the only way to get in or out.

Not exactly what the poster was asking about (since there are acceptable routes through the United States to bypass this) but the only road connecting eastern Canada to Western Canada (through Nipigon, Ontario) crosses a bridge over the Nipigon River, which is currently undergoing construction and has been reduced to one lane. Cite

13

Oof. Link: Darién Gap

14

Oof. I’m an idiot. Cite for road construction.

15

There are a few places within Darién, however, that have roads that are not connected to anywhere else, including La Palma, the provincial capital, and El Real. There are a few vehicles in La Palma; the last time I was in El Real, there was only one working car for the approximately 15 km of road. There are a number of other towns reachable only by river or sea, and which have streets which could potentially be driveable, but I am not aware of any vehicles there (Sambú, Jaqué, maybe Pinas Bay or Garachiné).

16

There are no roads out of Nunavut (asphalt or gravel) - unless you could ice roads. Roads in Nunavut:

Another Wikipedia article, Highways in Nunavut states:

17

Just for kicks, I told Mapquest to plot a route between my home (in Michigan) and Hilo, Hawaii. Mapquest responded with: “We are having trouble finding a route for your locations. Please try modifying the information you entered.” It then asked me to change either the starting or ending point.

I was kinda disappointed. I figured they’d try to send you to the closest accessable point or something.

FTR, it apparently is possible to travel from Detroit to Juneau, Alaska by car. It’s a bit of a hike, however.

18

I like how you have to “turn left” from one ferry onto the next.

19

It’s only about 60 miles between a linked road (The Klondike Highway in Skagway) and the south side of Berner’s Bay (from which a road, Glacier Hwy, links to Juneau). This makes me wonder if anybody’s ever attempted a overland motor vehicle trip.

20

The OP said that of course there are islands - but is there any harm in at least briefly mentioning them? I only ask because I think the San Juan islands in Washington State are pretty cool.