Longest construction zone?

[rmsandw]

SB I-55 near Mt. Olive, IL has a sign posted "Road Work next 53 miles"

[UCFKnights]

SB I-55 near Mt. Olive, IL has a sign posted "Road Work next 53 miles"

I had to bump this topic for the sign I saw today on i-75. I believe it said "road construction next 87 miles", starting in Marion County and all the way through Alachua County here in Florida. The other impressive part of this is on the portion I drove, it seemed like you could always see an "Uneven Pavement" at all times. I'm fairly confident they had a sign on both sides of the freeway, and both northbound and southbound at least every half mile if not more, so if it did infact keep up the pace throughout the work zone, they would have posted about 700 "Uneven Pavement" signs for this construction project. I kind of feel like on a project this long and simple (its just resurfacing, minus one interchange getting guardrail and really minor roadway modifications), they should have just divided into smaller sections, and maybe even just did one side of the road at a time. When I drove down it, they had one lane done the for at least 40 miles without work on the other 2 lanes starting (and they appear to have done this on each side of the road).

[mgk920]

What's the length of the current I-35 zone in central Texas?

Mike

[tckma]

What was the length of the extension of the car/truck lane split extension from exit 8A down to exit 6 on the NJ Turnpike?

Failing that, when I was in college I used to take I-80 to I-380 to I-81 to get between campus and my parents' house.  I remember I-380 in Pennsylvania being under construction and single-laned in each direction for its entire length for at least a full year and a half while it was COMPLETELY resurfaced, down to the dirt road bed.  This would have been in the late 1990s, back when PA still had sequential exit numbers.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I remember the first phase of the recent rebuild/widen of I-90 between Rockford and Elgin was something like 35 miles of work. And it was all 45 MPH speed limit. Ugh.

[Perfxion]

If time is a factor, longest construction zone is I-45 south of downtown. They been working on it for like 60 years. By the time they are almost "finished" widening the road, they are re-widening it because of new growth and expanion.

[leroys73]

For what felt like a thousand miles on I-65 in Kentucky there was a construction area for over a year with the speed limit 55 and absolutely no work of any kind could even be imagined in about 90% of it.  I figure stretches like this are just so fines can be doubled. 

On the subject of construction, so many times I see construction zone signs still up and barrels along the side of the road long after it is obvious the construction is finished.  There are even weeds and small trees growing near the signs and barrels.  It is no wonder some drivers don't slow down in these zones.  I think they just leave them there as a place to store them until the next project.

I do like the zones that state fines double when workers are present. 

[RobbieL2415]

NYSTA likes em long.  I got stuck in a ~7 or 8-mile one-lane squeezedown on I-90 west of Syracuse.  It was part of a full rehab of both carriageways.

[ET21]

Longest I've seen is about 24 miles, with I-90 in Illinois

[Jardine]

I-29 from Council Bluffs Iowa to Loveland Iowa was closed all summer in 2011.  First 100+ days was water over the road, and then (IIRC) another month of scrubbing the slime off the surface and fixing the shoulders.  15-20 miles m/l.

The substance deposited on the road surface was surprisingly resistant to scrubbing.  The contractor noted sweeping appeared to remove it, but if the pavement became wet, it was still dangerously slippery from the residue.  They had to hose it down and sweep it wet to get the stuff off.

All lanes both directions were closed.  Huge annoyance . . .

[bzakharin]

The longest I personally have driven through is probably the already mentioned NJ Turnpike widening project which, by the way, was 33 miles long.

[jeffandnicole]

The longest I personally have driven through is probably the already mentioned NJ Turnpike widening project which, by the way, was 33 miles long.

But it was 26 separate contracts, so they were just a bunch of 1 1/4 mile construction zones! 

The Turnpike Authority did an impressive job maintaining traffic thru that 33 miles without any fanfare whatsoever.  When one builds what is essentially a 2nd, 6 lane highway directly next to an existing 6 lane highway, while maintaining a 55 mph speed limit (actual speeds were much higher), it was basically done as if the public shouldn't have been inconvenienced at all.  When lanes had to be closed, they were generally closed for good reason.  I don't recall any all-night closures of the highway for overhead overpass or sign installations, unlike what other states put their drivers thru. 

The biggest issue was the lack of shoulders, so when someone had car trouble or an accident, it immediately reduced the lane availability.  But whenever possible, the cops would try to take up as little lane as possible, trying to at least keep the incident lane partially open.

[ILRoad55]

Definitely think the Northwest Tollway construction in Illinois has been the longest I've seen.

I remember when there was construction on that 80/94/294 stretch in Illinois and Indiana. That felt long and felt like years of work, and it was like one project after another

[ftballfan]

Been through some long projects, especially on I-75 in southern Georgia

[slorydn1]

Back in the mid 90's to early 2000's it seemed like I-95 in GA was under construction from Savannah all the way to the FL border.

[US 81]

What's the length of the current I-35 zone in central Texas?

Mike

I drove thru this week. IIRC, it ran from around Lacy Lakeview (north of Waco) to south of Salado (just south of Temple-Belton), roughly sixty (60) miles.

[If I had known there would be a quiz, I would have paid more attention to the endpoints]

[Tom958]

Back in the mid 90's to early 2000's it seemed like I-95 in GA was under construction from Savannah all the way to the FL border.

IIRC, I-75 from I-475 to I-675 (49 miles) and from US 411 to the Tennessee line (60 miles) were under construction at the same time, too. Not one big project, but adjacent projects with overlapping timeframes.

[djlynch]

What's the length of the current I-35 zone in central Texas?

Mike

At one point, it was 53 miles from the Williamson/Bell county line (MM 277) to SH6 on the south side of Waco (MM 330), plus another 20-odd miles between northern Waco and just south of Hillsboro, but the expansion between SH 6 and the Brazos River was done prior to the other work starting.

[dvferyance]

Back in the 90's there was a work zone on I-43 in Walworth County that I believe was 26 miles long.

[CNGL-Leudimin]

I don't think I've seen longer than 10 miles. That is the longest one I've driven, on Spanish N-232 Northwest of Zaragoza, as works have recently started to duplicate it into A-68.

Anyway, I believe the whole German autobahn network (8000 miles) is a construction zone now .

The person or business entity making this post (herein referred to as "I") is curious as to why the person or business entity making the post quoted herein (herein referred to as "You") has posted in a manner similar to that of a lawyer or other person who writes contracts, specifically writing the number in words, then following it with the number written in figures. This was done two (2) times.

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[codyg1985]

I-65 through central Kentucky is currently being widened under a few separate contracts between Exit 58  and Exit 91. I think work along I-35 in central Texas in 2013 was one of the longest construction zones I have seen.

[westerninterloper]

A sign on southbound US 23 leaving Michigan and entering Ohio at Toledo:

I-75 I-475 Construction: Next 50 miles

The construction is not continuous, but covers about 40 of those 50 miles on either route (downtown Toledo or through Maumee) down to Findlay, Ohio.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

[TEG24601]

Between 2000 and 2008, I remember 20-40 mile contraflows along I-90/80/94 while replacing the concrete roadways through Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Minnesota.

[coatimundi]

Not that long, but the entire 16-mile stretch of I-680 in Iowa - from I-80 to I-29 - is currently under construction. I guess it's not as impressive since I-680 continues just south of there, but it tried my patience.