Overpowered Interchanges

[hotdogPi]

Is Exit 45 on I-495 (MA) overpowered? Would a normal interchange work?

[Thing 342]

I-75/85 and GA-10/Freedom Parkway in downtown Atlanta. I believe this was  supposed to be for an unbuilt connector to the Stone Mountain Freeway.

[hbelkins]

The tri-level stack at US 23 and Hambley Boulevard in Pikeville, Ky.

[PHLBOS]

Is Exit 45 on I-495 (MA) overpowered? Would a normal interchange work?

Given the configuration of Marston St., Commonwealth Dr., the proximity to and the fact that the Merrimack River crossing is a double-decker structure, plus the nearby Merrimack St. interchange (Exit 44); I don't believe normal interchanges would work here.  Not to mention the traffic volume this area gets now.

[UptownRoadGeek]

I-10 at Elysian Fields Ave

[Mr. Matté]

A 3-Y interchange probably wasn't necessary here, but at least it's very beautiful.

[shadyjay]

Several in CT come to mind:

I-84 Exit 11 - was meant to be the northern end of the CT 25 expressway
I-84 Exit 39A - already mentioned - but overpowered mostly in the sense that its only 1/4 used.
I-91 Exit 6 - stub for the East Rock Expressway, which dead ends 1/4 mile from I-91, onto a local road.
I-91 Exit 13 - Warton Brook Connector....was planned to go further west, but dead ends at US 5. 

[xcellntbuy]

A 3-Y interchange probably wasn't necessary here, but at least it's very beautiful.

Aren't these the wooden flyovers in the area close to Mount Rushmore?

[roadman]

  That would be cool to have ghost ramps in a stack interchange.  Are there any like that? (new thread?)

I-84 at Route 9, west of Hartford. (part of a planned I-291 that was never completed in that area)

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Hartford&hl=en&ll=41.72527,-72.771549&spn=0.025592,0.038195&sll=37.269174,-119.306607&sspn=13.95558,19.555664&t=h&hnear=Hartford,+Connecticut&z=15

Some of my earliest memories of family roadtrips from Massachusetts to Annapolis (and later to Williamsburg) in the mid to late 1960s are of that interchange, as well as other un-opened ones along Interstate 84 west of Hartford.  I especially remember how, when first built, full overhead sign supports with blank green panels for the un-opened movements were installed at these locations.

[NE2]

A few free-flow interchanges that connect to city streets, and were probably never planned for more:
IL 251 and Whitman Street, Rockford
I-80 and Center Street, Joliet

A trumpet for a fucking high school, Tupelo

Actually you could argue that most interchanges on the Blue Ridge and Natchez Trace Parkways are overpowered, but the purpose is to separate the park from the other roads.

[roadman65]

I do not know if this was mentioned or not, but I-78 Exit 56 which is a 3 Y for Elizabeth Avenue in Newark, NJ would have been for the unbuilt NJ 75 if it had been built.https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Newark,+NJ&hl=en&ll=40.712394,-74.195566&spn=0.010572,0.017853&sll=40.809197,-74.101667&sspn=0.010557,0.017853&oq=newa&t=h&hnear=Newark,+Essex,+New+Jersey&z=15

Also the directional interchange on I-280 where 3 lanes exit and enter the median of I-280  (Exit 13) while the mainline narrows to 2 lanes would have also been for NJ 75 as well. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Newark,+NJ&hl=en&ll=40.751565,-74.189429&spn=0.005283,0.008926&sll=27.698638,-83.804601&sspn=6.319638,9.140625&oq=Newa&t=h&hnear=Newark,+Essex,+New+Jersey&z=16

In addition the NJ 3 & 17 interchange in Rutherford, NJ is too much for what it is.  NJ 17 makes a 180 degree turn on the south side of the interchange and then narrows to an arterial to zig zag its way back to NJ 3 to become its frontage road.  It was built in mind to have NJ 17 become a freeway south of there to connect with I-280 and the NJ Turnpike, but it never got off the ground.  In fact originally the interchange was much simpler as NJ 17 crossed NJ 3 at a 45 degree angle just east of Orient Way and then followed Meadow Road for a bit so through NJ 17 motorists did not have to go through the tangle it is now.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Rutherford,+NJ&hl=en&ll=40.809197,-74.101667&spn=0.010557,0.017853&sll=27.698638,-83.804601&sspn=6.319638,9.140625&oq=rutherf&t=h&hnear=Rutherford,+Bergen,+New+Jersey&z=15

[froggie]

Actually you could argue that most interchanges on the Blue Ridge and Natchez Trace Parkways are overpowered, but the purpose is to separate the park from the other roads.

That most of those "interchanges" involve at-grade intersections on the parkways themselves further dilutes the argument that they're "overpowered"...

[Occidental Tourist]

A 3-Y interchange probably wasn't necessary here, but at least it's very beautiful.

Aren't these the wooden flyovers in the area close to Mount Rushmore?

What are the load limits and maintenance requirements of wooden highway bridges in snow country?

[lordsutch]

A trumpet for a fucking high school, Tupelo

In fairness, it is a big high school, and given Cliff Gookin's purpose as the truck bypass for south/west Tupelo it sorta makes sense.

In the general area, both of US 78/I-22's interchanges with AL 118 are pretty overpowered for what they do today, although they made more sense as temporary termini.  The MS 25 interchange off US 45 east of Aberdeen is awfully elaborate for what it does today (although it might attract more traffic when MS 25 is four-laned to US 78).

[jeffandnicole]

I do not know if this was mentioned or not, but I-78 Exit 56 which is a 3 Y for Elizabeth Avenue in Newark, NJ would have been for the unbuilt NJ 75 if it had been built.https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Newark,+NJ&hl=en&ll=40.712394,-74.195566&spn=0.010572,0.017853&sll=40.809197,-74.101667&sspn=0.010557,0.017853&oq=newa&t=h&hnear=Newark,+Essex,+New+Jersey&z=15

What I hate about these type interchanges is that it's a major interchange, multiple lanes, and NJDOT only uses small green signs off to the shoulder, rather than BGS over the roadway.  This is especially true on the exit from 78 East.

[BrianP]

The tri-level stack at US 23 and Hambley Boulevard in Pikeville, Ky.

Hmm all of the ramps are single lane ramps.  And from that view it doesn't look like you could fit a trumpet.  What else would work here? 

[PHLBOS]

A trumpet for a f***ing high school, Tupelo

Similar was done for the new Atlantic City High School that opened about a decade ago.

http://goo.gl/maps/MwJTN

[Dr Frankenstein]

A trumpet for a f***ing high school, Tupelo

Similar was done for the new Altlantic City High School that opened about a decade ago.

http://goo.gl/maps/MwJTN

A trumpet with U-turn ramps for a high school??

[NE2]

A trumpet for a farting high school, Tupelo

Similar was done for the new Atlantic City High School that opened about a decade ago.

http://goo.gl/maps/MwJTN

I suppose you could argue that that was put in for the U-turns on a short stretch of "Jersey freeway", with the high school happening to be there. It definitely predates the high school, being used only for U-turns in 1970 with the right-turn ramps not yet open: http://www.historicaerials.com/aerials.php?scale=4&lat=39.367&lon=-74.473&year=1970

The I-75 frontage roads north of Cincinnati have similar U-turn ramps.

[hbelkins]

The tri-level stack at US 23 and Hambley Boulevard in Pikeville, Ky.

Hmm all of the ramps are single lane ramps.  And from that view it doesn't look like you could fit a trumpet.  What else would work here?

A signalized intersection. There's one just out of sight of the picture on the right.

[jp the roadgeek]

Several in CT come to mind:

I-84 Exit 11 - was meant to be the northern end of the CT 25 expressway
I-84 Exit 39A - already mentioned - but overpowered mostly in the sense that its only 1/4 used.
I-91 Exit 6 - stub for the East Rock Expressway, which dead ends 1/4 mile from I-91, onto a local road.
I-91 Exit 13 - Warton Brook Connector....was planned to go further west, but dead ends at US 5.

Many of the left exits in the Hartford area off of I-84:
Exit 39: Screams for an extension for a Farmington Center bypass
Exit 43: Was supposed to be a connector to Farmington Ave
Exit 45 + 46:  Old proposed CT 9/189 expressway.  45 would have connected to the Berlin Turnpike near the 5/15 splitoff.  46 was supposed to connect to the abandoned 187/189 middle of nowhere expressway.
Exit 56:  VERY complex in that it has a connector from CT 2 and ends at a traffic light in about 1000 ft.  The abandoned I-284.

[NE2]

The tri-level stack at US 23 and Hambley Boulevard in Pikeville, Ky.

Hmm all of the ramps are single lane ramps.  And from that view it doesn't look like you could fit a trumpet.  What else would work here?

A signalized intersection. There's one just out of sight of the picture on the right.

Or if you need an interchange, a diamond. With roundabouts, of course.

[lepidopteran]

One that used to be:  US-35 at Steve Whalen Blvd. in Dayton, OH.  Whalen Blvd. NB used to connect to US-35 WB (and vice-versa) with two HUGE flyover ramps that included at least one straddle bent each.  This was apparently built for the long-cancelled Southeast Expressway.  The exit was reduced, in the 2000s, to a simple modified diamond.  But note that Whalen Blvd. is still a narrow divided highway between its two T-intersection termini.

Steve Whalen was a well-liked police officer who was killed in the line of duty -- a rare event in these parts.  Not sure what the road was called before it was renamed in the early '90s, or if it was named at all.

A ghost ramp may be seen where Whalen overpasses Xenia Ave.
https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d9099!2d-84.1587309!3d39.7521922!2m1!1e3&fid=7

[lepidopteran]

Did anyone mention the pretzel-like, 3-tiered interchange in Baltimore, between I-83 and Druid Park Lake Dr. (and 28th and 29th Streets on the other side)?  I think a parclo would have been more efficient.

https://www.google.com/maps/preview#!data=!1m4!1m3!1d3444!2d-76.6290929!3d39.3174017!2m1!1e3&fid=7

[lepidopteran]

Is it just me, or did a lot of the 50's and 60's era turnpike/toll roads make a point of having double trumpets at the exits, even if the trumpet on the local road wasn't really needed?  It seems like a lot of these would have done just as well with a signalized intersection, and with lower maintenance and construction costs.  Trucks have to slow down for the often-tight curves anyway.  Note how, near South Bend, IN, when a railroad was abandoned under an exit ramp from the Toll Road, the ramp was eventually flattened to grade, with the trumpet interchange downgraded to a T-intersection.  (A new road appears to have been built in the fourth direction)

Other examples might include highways that use cloverleafs for most or all of their interchanges with non-divided arterial roads, though these arguably end up being underpowered, what with all the weaving they bring on.