Clusterfucked interchanges

[jeffandnicole]

Well this right here was a great answer ladies & gents.

1: I asked about documents because Id like to see the graphics for how they will be redoing the area, its a very tight area & anyone who has drove it knows, barrier in the middle of I-95 which means no left shoulder only a right one. & yea if it isnt getting done this year it wont be anytime soon , sadly.

This interchange was looked at years ago (last decade).  Even though they apparently have decided on a revised interchange, current budgeting documents do not have any funding available for this project for the next 6 years.  The DVRPC did have a website for this project; it's since been closed.  I tried looking for documents recently on this project and didn't come across anything.

That said, not sure what you mean about a barrier in the middle of 95...are you talking about an everyday jersey barrier separating NB and SB traffic??  That has nothing to do with the lack of a shoulder.  The fact that they wedged in 95 in the first place is why (probably a major concession from knocking down too many homes in Chester when 95 was designed thru the area).  Also, there's no right shoulder either in much of the area, due to that wedgie.  They need to take out a row of homes along 95 in order to significantly widen this area.

3: Yes from the PA-DE line I-95 is 3 lanes all the way to Plymouth meeting, Even though its 2 lanes for the Philadelphia exit & I-476 its still a bad area because if the tight turns & lanes, now dont get me wrong its not bad, but if they want traffic jams to stop in that area they need to take action. Yes & notice how when I-95 is 4 lanes it moves smoothly, 3 lane highways are not possible unless you're in the rural, not a fuckin city.

You've been told already I-95 doesn't go to Plymouth Meeting.

Numerous examples can be cited of where 4 lanes in a city doesn't move well at all (just look at the area north of I-676).  There are numerous factors in how well a highway moves, which includes alternate routes, bypasses, interchanges, etc.  That 4 lane section Northbound tends to move well because of how 95 and 476 are squeezed prior to North of that point.  95 South near the airport can be a parking lot some days...even though it's 4 lanes wide...due to the downstream issues.[/quote]

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.6869259,-74.1638452,8579m/data=!3m1!1e3

The area around EWR Newark Airport, try getting to the hotels around the airport perimeter on I-78 or down by The Mills outlet mall. The interchanges make NO SENSE and are counter intuitive.

You cited an entire region, not an interchange.  Some of the interchanges are fine.  Others are a bear.  Many are too close together.  But the interchanges within the Turnpike really aren't that bad - they're just like every other turnpike interchange.

I-95 thru Chester, Pa no left shoulder, Pa's suicide ramps and a zipline barrier altogether makes traffic backup. Also noted that people dont move over to let merging traffic on the highway so they just slowdown and cause the backup for miles.

Clusterfucked freeway, not a clusterfucked interchange.

The interchange with the ramps is what causes the bad weaving....

Tonytone might be referring to exit 3 northbound where U.S. 322 eb merges on the left.  For the next mile 95 and 322 are multiplexed and I imagine much of the weaving is caused by drivers accessing the Barry Bridge or PA 291 near the river, especially when the Union has a game at Talen Energy.

Sadly, it's only a 1/2 mile area. It would preform much better if 322 traffic didn't have a 300 foot merge zone, after which traffic continuing on 322 needs to merge over 4 lanes in a very short span in usually very heavy traffic.

The Union is fairly new, and plays approximately 17 home games per year.  This interchange congests on a daily basis from rush hour traffic, and was a problem even in the 1980's and 1990's.  The stadium doesn't help matters, but it has very little effect on the well documented, multi-decade issue that exists here.

[PHLBOS]

J&N beat me to the punch answering Tonytone's questions/replies but I'll add where needed:

3: Yes from the PA-DE line I-95 is 3 lanes all the way to Plymouth meeting, Even though its 2 lanes for the Philadelphia exit & I-476 its still a bad area because if the tight turns & lanes, now dont get me wrong its not bad, but if they want traffic jams to stop in that area they need to take action. Yes & notice how when I-95 is 4 lanes it moves smoothly, 3 lane highways are not possible unless you're in the rural, not a fuckin city.

Tip: most people refer to I-95's Exit 7 as either the I-476 or Blue Route interchange; they do not refer to it as the Plymouth Meeting interchange.

4: The design, that sign has been the same blue & white since I was little & im 19 now. Lol

So, there's no rule I'm aware of that requires states to redesign their welcome signs every few years.  They only need to replacement if they're either damaged, vandalized and/or no longer readable (faded or loss of reflectivity).

5: This was a joke, I say that because of the state troopers that wait at the De-Pa line, I know the areas the police are in & the speeds that gets attention, Im a driver, I driver everyday all most all day, so I know what roads need fixing & what roads are the best.

Assuming that the listed age on your profile is true & current (plus you mentioned your age further up in your post); you need to keep in mind that there are not only others on this board that reside near/at your geographic region, many of them (myself included) have been around & have driven these roads longer years before you were even born.  As a matter of fact, this week marks my 27th anniversary of moving down to the Delaware Valley area from the Greater Boston area.

That said, many of the traffic issues you mention regarding I-95 in that area have been experienced by others on this board (myself) included as well and agree that it could've been designed better.  Both many of us here know that shoehorning the current alignment was enough of a challenge back then (1960s-1970s).

[northeast_roadgeek]

The interchange of the New York Thruway (87) with 90 north of Albany is a complete mess.
Dropped Pin
near I-90 & Adirondack Northway & New York State Reference Rte 910F, Albany, NY 12205
https://goo.gl/maps/N8Phbyc8Mt82

[silverback1065]

The interchange of the New York Thruway (87) with 90 north of Albany is a complete mess.
Dropped Pin
near I-90 & Adirondack Northway & New York State Reference Rte 910F, Albany, NY 12205
https://goo.gl/maps/N8Phbyc8Mt82

they need to fix these stupid toll road interchanges

[brycecordry]

The US 63/I-70 Interchange in Columbia MO.

It does not look bad, but due to the fact that all the services are also along this interchange, it is simply too much traffic there when also combined with all the through traffic.

I put my concept for improvements on Fictional, but I will also put it here. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1URDteA8SWyTzRFdUVXcC13cXM/view?usp=sharing

[mrsman]

You can't forget the perennially under powered 4-level interchange in Downtown LA.  It seems that at any time day or night there is a backup, especially heading to the Hollywood Fwy.  One lane from the Pasadena merges in to the two lane transition road from the Harbor and those two lanes merge into the three main-line US 101 lanes that emanate from the Santa Ana to form a 4 lane freeway with an inside lane merge.

[Flint1979]

The Mixing Bowl interchange in Southfield, Michigan just outside of Detroit has I-696 (Ruether Freeway), M-10 (Northwestern/Lodge Freeway), US-24 (Telegraph Rd), Franklin Rd. and Lahser Rd. all meeting at the same point.

[SidS1045]

Since it hasn't been mentioned yet, I'll add I-95 (MA 128) at I-93 in Woburn/Reading/Stoneham (MA).  Failing a complete rebuild, which was first proposed in the early 1990s but has been stalled by the NIMBYS on one side and the Woburn politicians on the other side ever since, there are actually two relatively simple things MassDOT could do to improve traffic flow through this area.

First would be to extend the fourth lane on southbound I-95 (128), which currently begins at the end of the ramp from I-93 southbound, to the on-ramp from Route 28 southbound.  By adding an additional lane through the interchange, this would reduce much of the current conflict between southbound through traffic and traffic weaving to/from I-93 north and south.

Second would be to extend the added lane on northbound I-95 (128) between the ramps from I-93 northbound and Route 28 southbound to north of both Route 28 ramps.  This would give the traffic coming from the right "exit only" lane (former shoulder) between Montvale Avenue and I-95 north additional area to merge with the mainline traffic.  Of course, I-95 (128) should really be widened to four lanes each way between Stoneham and Lynnfield anyway, but that's a different subject altogether (that's a different subject).

As I live about a mile from this clusterfuck (even in the 1960's, when I-93 was built, who's the brain surgeon who decided to intersect two major arterial highways with a cloverleaf???):

Both of your suggestions should have been no-brainers, in part because the last reconstruction of the 128 overpass over MA 28 in Reading (also a cloverleaf interchange) left plenty of room on both sides of 128 for an extra lane of traffic.  The same is true of the Hopkins Street overpass over 128, since it was built wide enough to accommodate the on- and off-ramps for 28 north.  The I-93 overpass over 128 is also extra wide to accommodate on- and off-ramps.  Maybe they were envisioning what you suggested way back when?