Interstates that violate Interstate Highway Standards

[mgk920]

I-70 through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado required Congressional approval for design exceptions that made the road substandard.

Also, aren't there a couple of RIRO intersections on I-90 in the area just west of Gillette, WY?

Ditto one on WB I-80 in the Delaware Water Gap in New Jersey?


Mike

[US 89]

I feel like it would be worthwhile to have a list somewhere of exactly why various sections of interstates are substandard - whether it's traffic lights, two-lane sections, bridge widths, ramp lengths, or whatever else.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

I-70 through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado required Congressional approval for design exceptions that made the road substandard.

Also, aren't there a couple of RIRO intersections on I-90 in the area just west of Gillette, WY?

Ditto one on WB I-80 in the Delaware Water Gap in New Jersey?


Mike

And along I-80 in Wyoming
I-75 in Cincy has one

[catch22]

I-70 through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado required Congressional approval for design exceptions that made the road substandard.

Also, aren't there a couple of RIRO intersections on I-90 in the area just west of Gillette, WY?

Ditto one on WB I-80 in the Delaware Water Gap in New Jersey?


Mike

And along I-80 in Wyoming
I-75 in Cincy has one

There's also this pair on I-75 at the North Baltimore exit (168).

https://goo.gl/maps/6Z9UNKLjs17bFNQ6A

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I-75 also has one or two RIROs in Mackinaw City.

[JREwing78]

I-75 also has one or two RIROs in Mackinaw City.

The rest area entrance and exit ramps just north of the Mackinac Bridge toll booths are also RIRO.

Not to mention the Mackinac Bridge itself is far from Interstate highway standards. Granted, there's no need for it to be. However, had construction taken place 20 or 30 years later when it was clear it would be part of an Interstate, it would likely have had interstate-compatible shoulder width, higher guard rails, and possibly a higher speed limit.

The traffic volumes on the Mackinac Bridge, however, are pretty low by Interstate highway standards. If it wasn't for the 20 mph truck speed limits, it could have gotten away with 2 lanes most of the year. They're certainly not high enough that one would ever see a twinning.

[SkyPesos]

The ramp for I-70 EB exit 37A in MO sems even more substandard than a bunch of RIROs posted in this thread already.

[tolbs17]

I-74 from Union Cross to high Point. Seems like NCDOT rushed to sign I-74 on this and not upgrading it to Interstate standarsd.

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.0326689,-80.0764859,3a,75y,308.09h,86.26t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1syyLryNhrVOXETi0ZQv4LAA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DyyLryNhrVOXETi0ZQv4LAA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D38.06065%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

[MATraveler128]

I-74 from Union Cross to high Point. Seems like NCDOT rushed to sign I-74 on this and not upgrading it to Interstate standarsd.

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.0326689,-80.0764859,3a,75y,308.09h,86.26t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1syyLryNhrVOXETi0ZQv4LAA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DyyLryNhrVOXETi0ZQv4LAA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D38.06065%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

That looks like they pulled an I-26 in Asheville. Maybe it should’ve been future I-74. And I should also mention I-70 across parts of Missouri.

[tolbs17]

I-74 from Union Cross to high Point. Seems like NCDOT rushed to sign I-74 on this and not upgrading it to Interstate standarsd.

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.0326689,-80.0764859,3a,75y,308.09h,86.26t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1syyLryNhrVOXETi0ZQv4LAA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DyyLryNhrVOXETi0ZQv4LAA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D38.06065%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

That looks like they pulled an I-26 in Asheville. Maybe it should've been future I-74. And I should also mention I-70 across parts of Missouri.

It's currently signed as FUTURE I-26, until the connector gets built and I-26 will be operational once it's finished.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Does the I-90 Mass. Pike extension (Newton to Boston) count? Narrow lanes, substandard interchanges, no shoulder in parts.

[MATraveler128]

Does the I-90 Mass. Pike extension (Newton to Boston) count? Narrow lanes, substandard interchanges, no shoulder in parts.

I would say so. I had driven on it last Memorial Day, and was like "Wow, this road sucks!"  If you've ever tried to get on the Pike from the Pru, it's a blind entrance and I thought I was playing with my own life.

[Flint1979]

I-75 also has one or two RIROs in Mackinaw City.

The rest area entrance and exit ramps just north of the Mackinac Bridge toll booths are also RIRO.

Not to mention the Mackinac Bridge itself is far from Interstate highway standards. Granted, there's no need for it to be. However, had construction taken place 20 or 30 years later when it was clear it would be part of an Interstate, it would likely have had interstate-compatible shoulder width, higher guard rails, and possibly a higher speed limit.

The traffic volumes on the Mackinac Bridge, however, are pretty low by Interstate highway standards. If it wasn't for the 20 mph truck speed limits, it could have gotten away with 2 lanes most of the year. They're certainly not high enough that one would ever see a twinning.

I had mentioned the Mackinac Bridge awhile back in post #5. But you are right there really isn't any need for it to be up to Interstate standards and it only has a 45 mph speed limit. I think it could have been built differently and have higher speeds but I think it was built pretty good the way it is as it has to withstand the brutal Michigan winter's and cross a path 4 miles long. That is one thing I have never understood about the Mackinac Bridge, they have for years said it's 5 miles long but I have countless times measured it and it comes out to 4 miles long no matter the method I have tried.

[Strider]

I-74 from Union Cross to high Point. Seems like NCDOT rushed to sign I-74 on this and not upgrading it to Interstate standarsd.

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.0326689,-80.0764859,3a,75y,308.09h,86.26t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1syyLryNhrVOXETi0ZQv4LAA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DyyLryNhrVOXETi0ZQv4LAA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D38.06065%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

Because that section will get upgraded once Winston-Salem Northern Beltway section of I-74 is finished.

[GaryV]

That is one thing I have never understood about the Mackinac Bridge, they have for years said it's 5 miles long but I have countless times measured it and it comes out to 4 miles long no matter the method I have tried.

Exit 339 to exit 344 - boom, 5 miles.   

Seriously, I suspect they count anything that was built to accommodate access to the Bridge.  Wherever the roadway is no longer at the original land elevation, that's part of the Bridge.

[Flint1979]

That is one thing I have never understood about the Mackinac Bridge, they have for years said it's 5 miles long but I have countless times measured it and it comes out to 4 miles long no matter the method I have tried.

Exit 339 to exit 344 - boom, 5 miles.   

Seriously, I suspect they count anything that was built to accommodate access to the Bridge.  Wherever the roadway is no longer at the original land elevation, that's part of the Bridge.

Exit 339 is about 1,000 feet south of the bridge and exit 344 is about 3,000 feet north of the bridge. The bridge is considered from mile marker 339.252 to 343.349. There is also an exit 343 on the SB side just before you get to the toll booth. I'm pretty sure they count it from the toll booth to where it crosses Huron Avenue on the Mackinaw City side where it has about a 10 foot clearance over Huron Avenue.

[Flint1979]

This is where I consider the Mackinac Bridge starting on the Lower Peninsula side.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.7864015,-84.7323118,3a,86.9y,273.27h,87.85t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1stV26tFrispZb6yatfkJXQA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DtV26tFrispZb6yatfkJXQA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D288.76907%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

[GaryV]

That is one thing I have never understood about the Mackinac Bridge, they have for years said it's 5 miles long but I have countless times measured it and it comes out to 4 miles long no matter the method I have tried.

Exit 339 to exit 344 - boom, 5 miles.   

Seriously, I suspect they count anything that was built to accommodate access to the Bridge.  Wherever the roadway is no longer at the original land elevation, that's part of the Bridge.

Exit 339 is about 1,000 feet south of the bridge and exit 344 is about 3,000 feet north of the bridge. The bridge is considered from mile marker 339.252 to 343.349. There is also an exit 343 on the SB side just before you get to the toll booth. I'm pretty sure they count it from the toll booth to where it crosses Huron Avenue on the Mackinaw City side where it has about a 10 foot clearance over Huron Avenue.

My first post was in jest.

I can see arguments for your endpoints.  Another possibility would be for where there is no longer any median barrier.  That would be from a few yards north of the Jamet exit until a few yards north of the tollbooths.

[Daniel Fiddler]

For a long time, I-95 through Jacksonville, Florida (drawbridge) and I-59 through Laurel, Mississippi (sharp S-curve with 40 mph speed limit) were substandard, but they were fixed.

I would consider the I-55 / EH Crump Blvd / Riverside Dr interchange in Memphis, Tennessee to be substandard myself.  I-55 north has to slow down to approximately 25 mph and round a cloverleaf ramp.  Absolutely not an ideal situation.  Granted, I-55 is not as major a truck route as some routes, and there is an alternative to by-pass that (the Hernando Desoto Bridge. although it's had problems lately), but still.

Tennessee has several interchanges where they have used partial cloverleafs where they should have used stack interchanges.  I would have thought they would have used a stack interchange for I-24 and I-840 personally for example, a flyover would have been better than a cloverleaf for I-24 from Chattanooga to I-840 toward Franklin.

[lepidopteran]

The I-495 Capital Beltway, outer loop, between the US-50 and MD-450 interchanges.  The distance between the on-ramp of the former and the first off-ramp of the latter is really too short for the volume (and speed) of that roadway, resulting in an unsafe weave.  It doesn't help that the exit to 450 often backs up during rush hour.

I would say the same for the Beltway's interchange with the B/W Parkway, in both directions.  A tight cloverleaf with no C/D lanes.

[bob7374]

I-74 from Union Cross to high Point. Seems like NCDOT rushed to sign I-74 on this and not upgrading it to Interstate standards.

https://www.google.com/maps/@36.0326689,-80.0764859,3a,75y,308.09h,86.26t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1syyLryNhrVOXETi0ZQv4LAA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DyyLryNhrVOXETi0ZQv4LAA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D38.06065%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

The violation of standards is more FHWA's fault than a rush by NCDOT. The FHWA's regional office misinterpreted an April 2012 letter from NCDOT that referenced two different segments of I-74, the then recently completed East Belt project that NCDOT wanted signed as I-74 and the Forysth County US 311 freeway built in the 1970s, which NCDOT asked to be designated Future I-74. The letter stated that the 'requested sections of I-74 were built to Interstate Standards at the time of construction.' The FHWA office in Raleigh misinterpreted this as meaning both sections were up to current standards. When the mistake was realized later, the FHWA gave NCDOT permission to keep the signs up as long as the agency planned to upgrade the segment to interstate standards as part of a future rehabilitation project for the roadway. This is presumed to be part of the final I-74 Beltway contract.

[sprjus4]

The I-495 Capital Beltway, outer loop, between the US-50 and MD-450 interchanges.  The distance between the on-ramp of the former and the first off-ramp of the latter is really too short for the volume (and speed) of that roadway, resulting in an unsafe weave.  It doesn't help that the exit to 450 often backs up during rush hour.

That whole area between Exits 16 and 20 needs to be fixed, IMO.

There needs to be fully barrier separated local lanes (along with 4 through lanes) and much better signage.

[hbelkins]

May have missed some references to these, but how about I-70 through the tunnels in Wheeling, I-70 between Washington and New Stanton, and I-68 through downtown Cumberland? And the section of I-64 between Covington and Clifton Forge?

[sprjus4]

And the section of I-64 between Covington and Clifton Forge?

How does this section violate interstate standards?

[hbelkins]

And the section of I-64 between Covington and Clifton Forge?

How does this section violate interstate standards?

Median width. First few times I was on it, I was very shocked at how narrow the median was without any sort of divider. VDOT finally got around to installing a cable barrier several years ago.