Stacks - Biggest and/or most interesting

[Gridlock]

Any nominations or pictures of biggest or most interesting stack interchanges?

Obviously LA has too many to count, but Dallas and Houston stacks are prolific and very large / tall, especially since they often accomdate the pass thru of feeder roads and occasionally HOV ramps.

Are they less utilized outside of US?

[Chris]

On the skyscrapercity Highways & Autobahns forums, we tried to make a list of European stacks. There were only a few on the entire continent. Maybe that's also because we don't have a real grid pattern on our freeways, they're mostly radial from capitals and a few other cities, Paris, Madrid and Budapest being good examples.

Los Angeles doesn't have a lot of "true" stacks, they're usually modified/hybrid ones. By far most stacks can be found in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, I think Texas has even more stacks than the rest of the U.S. combined.

[OracleUsr]

Can't talk about massive stack interchanges without mentioning Spaghetti Junction in the greater Atlanta Metro Area (I think it's technically Doraville, GA, in DeKalb County) where I-85, US 23 and I-285 meet.

[Revive 755]

I specifically nominate the Dallas High Five for most interesting:
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=32.92423~-96.761506&style=a&lvl=16&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=19537093&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

Just need someone to build a "super 6" somewhere.

For interesting but not a true stack, I nominate the I-80/I-480/US 75 interchange in Omaha:
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&FORM=LMLTCP&cp=41.227055~-95.951071&style=a&lvl=16&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=13576057&phx=0&phy=0&phscl=1&encType=1

[Bryant5493]

Can't talk about massive stack interchanges without mentioning Spaghetti Junction in the greater Atlanta Metro Area (I think it's technically Doraville, GA, in DeKalb County) where I-85, US 23 and I-285 meet.

You're correct, Spaghetti Junction is technically in Doraville, just north of Downtown Atlanta.


Here's some leftover footage that I had from driving the other day.

Spaghetti Junction (a.k.a. Tom Moreland Interchange):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PckvluLDQg


Be well,

Bryant

[Voyager]

The 105-110 interchange is the tallest interchange.

[Voyager]

No it's true, the height is something like 120 feet at the highest ramp.

[jgb191]

The High Five stack in Richardson, TX is the tallest I've seen in person with the highest ramps nearly twelve stories tall.

Two stacks (with three more on the way) are nearing completion in San Antonio -- one of them (I-10/410) took eight years to build??!!!

Laredo will eventually going to have a five-level.  Corpus Christi now has one, El Paso has one, Austin has a full and several partials.  The Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth metros combine for more than half of all number of stacks in Texas.

[mightyace]

In Nashville, TN the junction of I-65 and I-440 is a four level stack.  What makes interesting is that US-31 a.k.a. Franklin Road, a surface arterial runs parallel to I-65 at the bottom level of the stack.  Plus, there is an exit between Franklin Road and Woodmont Blvd./Thompson Lane in the southwest quadrant and Thompson Lane goes over I-65 and some of the entrance exit ramps.

[Alex]

Already mentioned by voyager, but the I-105/110 is my all-time favorite and one of the largest I've ever driven through. The perspective from the HOV ramps is wild.

One of the photos on the home page is from the 110 northbound, for those unfamiliar of it.

Although not one of the larger ones, another personal favorite is the under-utilized symmetrical stack between Interstate 70/695 in west Baltimore. It will be dwarfed in comparison by the I-95/695 junction on the east side of town upon completion of the I-95 Express Toll lanes.

One easy to ignore is the symmetrical stack between Interstate 84 and planned Interstate 291 (Connecticut 9) west of Hartford. Half of this junction was never opened.

[TheStranger]

The original stack interchange, the Four-Level in downtown LA, has to be interesting on a purely historical level (especially when considering that US 66 used to use the interchange to transition from the Hollywood Freeway to the Pasadena).

Northern California seems to only have two true stack interchanges - I-580 in Oakland at Route 24/I-980, and Route 4 with I-5 in Stockton.  I-280/I-680 with US 101 in San Jose is close, but has one loop ramp (southbound 280 to northbound 101); the I-280/Route 87 junction has enough ramps to be a stack but they are more individual flyovers rather than organized symmetrically.

[PAHighways]

The best we do in Pennsylvania is three levels:

I-76/I-476
I-79/I-279/US 22-US 30
I-81/US 22-US 322
I-81/PA 581
I-81/I-84-I-380/US 6
I-83/I-283/US 322
I-95/I-476
I-276/I-476 (first one on the Turnpike System)
I-279/I-579/PA 28 (only one involving HOV lanes)
I-476/US 1
US 22/PA Turnpike 576

[akotchi]

How many levels is the new Springfield Interchange in northern Virginia (I-95/I-395/I-495)?

[Hellfighter]

I-96 and M-39 on the West Side

[njroadhorse]

NJ 440 at the GSP

[Anthony_JK]

The four level I-110/Airline Highway stack in Baton Rouge is pretty impressive...the I-310/US 61 "four level" just west of Metarie/Kenner isn't too bad, either.

Houston, though, have the best stack interchanges I've personally seen....and I'd kill to get near the new Sam Houston Tollway/Beltway 8/I-10 Katy Freeway five level stack they just rebuilt to accomodate the Katy Freeway widening/Katy Tollway.


Anthony

[Truvelo]

Can't talk about massive stack interchanges without mentioning Spaghetti Junction in the greater Atlanta Metro Area (I think it's technically Doraville, GA, in DeKalb County) where I-85, US 23 and I-285 meet.

How many interchanges are there that are called Spaghetti Junction? The one in the UK at the junction of the M6 and A38(M) is the official spaghetti junction round these parts. According to Wikipedia this is also the first interchange to be called spaghetti junction.

As far as impressive stacks go none of the ones in this country are very good.

I saw some nice ones in Phoenix last week including this one @ I-17/Loop 101. I haven't been to Texas yet but I'd like to see some of their stacks one day.


Wow that is a huge image...  The forum has a limit you know... -DTP

[Chris]

Not all interchanges mentioned here are actually stacks.

This is a real stack:

[Alex]

I refuse to call stacks "Spaghetti Junction", "Mixing Bowls", or "Malfunciont Junctions". Pretty much any interchange name come up with by traffic reports or the media are lame to me. However "Can of Worms" is a personal exception to this rule, as that name for I-490/590/NY 590 is one I do use.

My rule on stacks is as long as two bridges are stacked, it counts. When you grew up in the northeast, you have to base it on this, because there are so few stacks in that part of the country. I don't count a stack if the one ramp is elevated on earth. So the new Interstate 10/110 interchange in Pensacola is not really a stack, because they built up the earth enough to prevent an actual stack from occurring. But the interchange along I-64/95 near downtown Richmond where the flyover travels over the local street overpass over the freeway mainline does count IMO.

[travelinmiles]

The original stack interchange, the Four-Level in downtown LA, has to be interesting on a purely historical level (especially when considering that US 66 used to use the interchange to transition from the Hollywood Freeway to the Pasadena).

Northern California seems to only have two true stack interchanges - I-580 in Oakland at Route 24/I-980, and Route 4 with I-5 in Stockton.  I-280/I-680 with US 101 in San Jose is close, but has one loop ramp (southbound 280 to northbound 101); the I-280/Route 87 junction has enough ramps to be a stack but they are more individual flyovers rather than organized symmetrically.

There are a few more, I think 280 at 880/17 counts as would 280 at 101 in SF, 237 at 880 in Milpitas.

[Duke87]

There is one true stack in NYC - I-295 (Clearview Expressway) at the Grand Central Parkway.

In general, most highway to highway interchanges in the city (and in New Jersey...) are of a non-standard configuration, sometimes due to space constraints, sometimes due to complexity - such as with the so called "Bruckner Interchange", which is probably the largest interchange on the east coast. At least among cases where you can definitively say that it's in fact all one interchange and not multiple interchanges sort of fused together, anyway.

[jgb191]

Here are a couple of photos of the Houston area stacks....

This is a shot of the five-level interchange at the US 290 and Beltway 8 built over twenty years ago.



This is the a shot of the five-level interchange at I-45 and Beltway 8 built in 2001.

[mapman]

There are a few more, I think 280 at 880/17 counts as would 280 at 101 in SF, 237 at 880 in Milpitas.

No, neither is a "true" stack.  I-280/I-880/CA 17 has two loop ramps, and I-880/CA 237 only has flyover ramps between eastbound CA 237 and northbound I-880 (and the reverse) -- northbound I-880 traffic must traverse a partial cloverleaf interchange to access westbound CA 237.

[Alps]

I'm surprised no one's mentioned the Ghost Stack of CT 9/I-84 (would have been I-291).  See http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/ct/stack/.  Full four-level stack, one level and two halves in operation and the rest permanently closed.
NJ has three 3-level interchanges that I know of.  NJ 17 at NJ 4 is the second-newest one and is now a hybrid stack/clover.  US 46/NJ 4/I-95 is the oldest one, and really isn't a stack.  US 130/NJ 171 at US 1 is the newest one, and it's a modified diamond.

[TheStranger]

The original stack interchange, the Four-Level in downtown LA, has to be interesting on a purely historical level (especially when considering that US 66 used to use the interchange to transition from the Hollywood Freeway to the Pasadena).

Northern California seems to only have two true stack interchanges - I-580 in Oakland at Route 24/I-980, and Route 4 with I-5 in Stockton.  I-280/I-680 with US 101 in San Jose is close, but has one loop ramp (southbound 280 to northbound 101); the I-280/Route 87 junction has enough ramps to be a stack but they are more individual flyovers rather than organized symmetrically.

There are a few more, I think 280 at 880/17 counts as would 280 at 101 in SF, 237 at 880 in Milpitas.

280/880/17 has a cloverleaf so it's not a full true stack; 237/880 has a partial cloverleaf on the east side of the interchange; and the southbound 280-northbond 101/southbound 101-northbound 280 ramps don't exist at all for that San Francisco junction.