Wow, they fit an interchange there?

[OCGuy81]

What are some interchanges that probably took a lot of effort/engineering to build? It can be short off and on ramps, limited ROW, terrain challenges, etc.

I'd say the mountainous areas of northern California along I-5 and parts of I-80 approaching the Nevada border certainly qualify. Short on and off ramps, some ramps close to steep edges, it must've been a feat to connect these mountain roads to the interstate system.

[Rothman]

I-95/I-87.

[Ned Weasel]

Exit 14.  Nuff said.

[TheStranger]

The Quezon Avenue interchange complex on the Metro Manila Skyway essentially involves trying to get ramps from a ROW-constrained highway onto an existing street below (Araneta Avenue) with existing buildings surrounding both.  The end result has led to some congestion on the northbound offramp (which had to be placed between existing utility poles and street level)...

https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/106569#map=17/14.62967/121.01541

Southbound, the offramp exits awkwardly from the left to get down to southbound Araneta Avenue as soon as possible.


Further north, right where the Skyway has its current terminus at NLEX, the Libis Baesa exit somehow manages to exist barely before the southbound ramp to Skyway starts:
https://www.openstreetmap.org/search?query=Libis%20Baesa#map=19/14.67330/121.00064

---

In California, my first thought for "small ramps" is the Arroyo Seco Parkway/Route 110 (historic US 66) towards Pasadena, specifically the exit northbound for Avenue 60:
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1073859,-118.1866043,3a,75y,242.86h,87.31t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sD0KIlCwpLGzd_VStOKGQug!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
Even the sign for the interchange is extremely small too!
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.1080724,-118.1858557,3a,45.3y,235.45h,95.54t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sfQ5pFi_LHyIVo3RShroCVQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192


From NorCal, I'm reminded of some of the offramps and onramps from Business 80/unsigned Route 51, originally built as US 40/99E in the late 1940s and later I-80 from the 1960s to 1982.
Here's the eastbound Howe Avenue exit.  (Lots of empty land - maybe from an abandoned past motel - that could completely be used to safely reconfigure this!)
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.624478,-121.415889,3a,39.4y,67.44h,87.21t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1srA6EP8f7IUi4xUvR7gU_2g!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo0.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DrA6EP8f7IUi4xUvR7gU_2g%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D7.7221756%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656

10 MPH offramp for the next exit, Bell Street.
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.6261967,-121.4116093,3a,75y,92.67h,86.38t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sPzg9MkZtBALHixKj9WBb4Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

[Ben114]

I-90 / I-93 after the Big Dig in the early 2000s.

[SkyPesos]

This stretch of I-71 in Downtown Cincinnati. There's hills and on both sides of the freeway, and 2 US routes.

[Bruce]

I-5 / SR 520 in Seattle is pretty compact for a fully-directional freeway-to-freeway interchange. Basically fits in the confines of 3 city blocks.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

MN 101/141st Ave in Rogers, MN. DDI, but there was already plenty of development encroaching on the intersection before they upgraded it.

[Rothman]

The bowtie of US 9 at US 44 / NY 55, Poughkeepsie.  Unfortunately too small for the traffic now, but I think it was a neat innovative solution to fit it in there.

[OCGuy81]

In Honolulu, on Alexander St (just north of Waikiki) there's a very short ramp onto the H1 westbound. You cut through a heavily residential area to find an incredibly short on-ramp.

[wanderer2575]

I-196 and US-131 in downtown Grand Rapids, right next to the Grand River.  That's a pretty tight layout.

https://goo.gl/maps/qdfH6VCiYCq17Wr66

[SkyPesos]

I-196 and US-131 in downtown Grand Rapids, right next to the Grand River.  That's a pretty tight layout.

https://goo.gl/maps/qdfH6VCiYCq17Wr66

Interesting seeing US 131 switch sides in the interchange. Any other interchanges that does that?

[Terry Shea]

I-196 and US-131 in downtown Grand Rapids, right next to the Grand River.  That's a pretty tight layout.

https://goo.gl/maps/qdfH6VCiYCq17Wr66

Well in a way you are correct, and in a way it's a fairly large median on US-131.  I'm not sure the crossing over of the N and S bound lanes was necessary, along with all the left hand exits and entrances.  And the area is more built up along the freeways then it was when it was first built.  Fixing it now would be an overly expensive nightmare, but the whole conglomeration seems like it should have been avoidable.

[CoreySamson]

The interchange between the Hardy Toll Road and Beltway 8 in Houston is stuck right next to a railroad track. I'd say it's pretty compact for an intersection of its kind.
https://www.google.com/maps/@29.9389048,-95.3811831,632m/data=!3m1!1e3

[GaryV]

...
And the area is more built up along the freeways then it was when it was first built.

There may be new and repurposed buildings in the area, but they simply replaced what was already there.  I'm just young enough(*) to not recall what was on the land before 131 was built.  But I'd wager that it was pretty much more of the same that surrounded the area.  The sides of the river were built up many decades before the freeways came.

I'm guessing the cross-over design was an innovative idea for fitting the intersection in without a cloverleaf.  Back in the early 1960's they didn't pay as much attention to the hazards of left exits and entrances.  When I-196 was opened, I can recall my dad recoiling at the combined accel/decel lanes for the previously existing Pearl St ramps.

(*) I can recall when we had to take my dad to work if my mom needed our only car during the day before 131 was complete.  We'd cross the river on Ann St, take Turner Ave south, enter the completed portion of the freeway at Pearl St, and then exit immediately at Market St after crossing the river.

[sprjus4]

I-464 / I-264 / Downtown Norfolk interchange complex with the Downtown Tunnel and Berkley Bridge.

I-95 / I-495 / I-395 Springfield Interchange

[dkblake]

Nearly every exit on the Northern Parkway in Nassau County.

[jmacswimmer]

I-76/I-676 in Philly, squeezed in between railroad tracks and the Schuylkill River.

Interesting seeing US 131 switch sides in the interchange. Any other interchanges that does that?

-I-77 at the interchange with I-85 in Charlotte.
-I-95 & I-695 used to both do it at their interchange northeast of Baltimore, prior to reconstruction.

[kphoger]

Exit 14.  Nuff said.

Am I the only one for whom that was not enough said?

[Ned Weasel]

Exit 14.  Nuff said.

Am I the only one for whom that was not enough said?

https://goo.gl/maps/3sm3QTW6v9ktsEyF8

[webny99]

Exit 14.  Nuff said.

Am I the only one for whom that was not enough said?

LOL. That's just what I was thinking, considering the variety of Exit 14's that exist.
Based on the link, I would argue that it's not "wow, they fit an interchange there". It's more like "wow, they fit that interchange there".

[Ned Weasel]

It's more like "wow, they fit that interchange there".

Admittedly true.

[X99]

All the ones I could find in western SD. Might not be as good as some of the entries here, but they still count.

I-90 and Haines Avenue in Rapid City. Enough ROW for a tight urban diamond, yet it's a full SPUI.

Also, the I-190/North Street interchange before it was rebuilt in 2011. NB entrance and SB exit went directly into neighborhoods, the NB entrance ramp was nowhere near the rest of the interchange, and the SB entrance and NB exit ramps connect to the mainline about 1000 feet before the interstate itself ends at SD 44.

I-90 and Elk Creek Road near Piedmont actually doesn't fit in its location, at least not up to standards. The overpass bridge is arched to get enough clearance for the freeway below, to the point where you can't see oncoming traffic until you're on top of the arch. That interchange was supposed to be rebuilt to get rid of the issue, but the IMJR is at least 10 years old and nothing has happened there.

Honorable mention nearby: I-90 exit 178 in Wyoming. This one seems to be more of a land ownership issue, but it's still a substandard RIRO on a 75 mph highway.

[thspfc]

The US-6 Clear Creek interchange (Exit 244) off I-70 in CO. The design makes zero sense the first time you drive past it.

[Tom958]

The Schuykill Expressway-S. 26th Street- W Oregob Avenue-Passyunk Avenue interchange in Philly.