Comments on: Upper Midwest Trip – Day 2 (Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN Metro)

By: Jesse Procknow

Jesse Procknow — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:11:28 +0000

Milwaukee does have freeway to freeway metered ramps. They are at the Stadium interchange coming from U.S. 41 and Miller Park Way to both directions of I-94.

By: Froggie

Froggie — Tue, 22 May 2007 03:20:14 +0000

Chris is correct. I-35W and I-94 do not share pavement…though they share a common right-of-way. And the ramp from NB 35W to EB 94 is indeed further up the freeway.

By: Patrick Lilja

Patrick Lilja — Mon, 21 May 2007 14:15:59 +0000

…well better late than never for the Commons. This was supposed to start a few years ago but this was put off when I-494 work in the southwest metro began. Then last year the state didn’t have the funds so they wanted the contractors to pay some of the initial costs until the state could get the money to pay them back, and no contractors bid on it because of that.

Basically, all the real bad interchanges are going off the board (except for the I-694/US 10/MN 51 mess in Arden Hills and the Spaghetti Junction downtown) since the I-35E/694 project is underway and should finish next year. In addition, studies are underway to modify some of the worst cloverleaf interchanges, but we’re still going to have enough to make people think we’re Ireland.

By: Chris Lokken

Chris Lokken — Tue, 01 May 2007 20:36:57 +0000

The Milwaukee Metro area is also home to metered ramps, however I have not seen them on freeway-to-freeway junctions. I’ll keep my eyes open for them.

Also, I definitely agree with your comment on the merging issues. There are also so many cloverleafs at busy interchanges which just make it that much worse in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

One last thing: Technically I-35W and I-94 do not merge. They remain on separate carriageways similar to the Mixmaster Interchange in downtown Dallas between I-35E and I-30. I believe that sign bridge has that sign there to show the connection to eastbound I-94 is further up than the one to westbound I-94 on I-35W north.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Tue, 01 May 2007 20:28:43 +0000

Phoenix is another city that has ramp metering. While it is not present in some areas, it is frequently used out there. I think they don’t really help traffic as a whole, but make it worse, especially on the streets getting on to the freeways. It just slows it down I think.

By: John Taber

John Taber — Tue, 01 May 2007 13:07:53 +0000

“One issue that I have with the Minneapolis area ramp meters is that they include freeway to freeway connections, such as the one pictured here along the ramp from Minnesota 100 south onto Interstate 494 west. So in a sense a high-speed connection becomes an off-ramp with a stoplight.”

One freeway-to-freeway ramp that could use a meter is the one that comes from both directions on DE 141, and goes to I-95 north (and eventually I-495 north.) Currently, traffic coming from DE 141 southbound has to yield to the traffic coming from DE 141 northbound (and carrying US 202 northbound). Most of the time it’s not that big a deal, but at rush hour that ramp’s traffic backs up onto the 141 mainline, choking off one of the two through lanes.