I have travelled through Texas, and noted the large used of frontage roads. I'm wondering what the intended purpose of them is, other than providing more through lanes of traffic. Is there a reason even older freeways were built with them? It seems that they're simply used as extra mainlanes, but maybe I'm wrong.
Frontage roads provide direct access to homes and businesses that freeways do not. In most cases, frontage roads are created when a mainline road is upgraded to limited-access status. A good example in the state of Florida is U.S. 19 in the Clearwater/Dundedin area. The mainline arterial is being upgraded to expressway status, complete with SPUI interchanges along secondary arterials. Since this area was already inundated with commercial businesses, building the expressway in the same location would instantly cut them off the mainline. Solution: build frontage roads on each side (in this case one-way frontage road pairs) to provide direct access to those businesses, and also providing access to the secondary arterials at the SPUI interchanges with slip ramps stratigically placed along the mainline of U.S. 19.
That is just one example of the usage of frontage roads. I'm sure more of you can elaborate on this subject.
Another example is I-90 in Central Washington. North and South Frontage Roads are their names
When I-595 was built in the late 1980's into the 1990's, it was built with frontage roads that provided the local access that the previous arterial, FL-84, originally provided. The frontage roads are still considered FL-84.
In some areas, frontage roads are used at specific interchanges to separate the weaving traffic movements from the through traffic at cloverleaf interchanges.
Detroit has these all over. Though they are called 'service drives'
I agree with the above comments, but I'll chime in. Examples of frontage roads systems that I've seen are on I-20/59 in Meridian, Mississippi and I-85 in DeKalb County, between SR 42 (North Druid Hills Road) and I-285 (Spaghetti Junction). A lot of businesses, homes, apartments, etc. are located on both sides of the freeway.
Be well,
Bryant
I always thought they were to maintain the grid.
Quote from: voyager on February 02, 2009, 03:09:42 AM
I always thought they were to maintain the grid.
I guess that depends on where.
I-94 and US 41 in southern Wisconsin have frontage roads running nearly all the length from the IL border to where I-94 and US 41 split south of Milwaukee. That territory is a mix of suburban and rural.
i believe in TX the origin of frontage roads owes to rural areas where in order to get cooperation for highway ROW, they built frontage roads so local farmers/ranchers would still have access to others in their immediate area and offset having their property divided by the highway
in TX most people refer to them as feeder roads, especially in the cities.
the effect in urban areas like Dallas and Houston has been to further concentrate office/retail buildings along the highway rather than cross-streets thus intensifying the traffic on the highway (but sparing the more residential areas away from the highways). an 8 or 10 lane freeway with 6 lanes of feeder roads and TX U-turns at intersections can move an lot of traffic.
I am definitely not a fan of frontage roads. They attract commercial businesses along side of the freeway, which not only clutters the right-of-way with ugly business signage and buildings, but it also worsens traffic congestion alongside the freeway. We had frontage roads on sections of I-55 in Jackson, Mississippi when I lived there. The sections that do not have frontage roads to this day look much nicer and cleaner than the sections with frontage roads. Just my take.
There are several freeways in Texas I can think of without frontage roads. None are in Houston. Parts of I-35E in Dallas and Loop 1 in Austin have no frontage.
Has Texas scrapped the use of frontage roads? All the photos I've seen of new Houston freeway construction looks as though they're no longer using them (Fort Bend Parkway is one that comes to mind). Also, I've never driven, but photos I've seen looks as though TX 288 doesn't have them either....
Quote from: DrZoidberg on February 06, 2009, 10:33:00 AM
Has Texas scrapped the use of frontage roads? All the photos I've seen of new Houston freeway construction looks as though they're no longer using them (Fort Bend Parkway is one that comes to mind). Also, I've never driven, but photos I've seen looks as though TX 288 doesn't have them either....
Doubful, Texas 121 Toll will be built within the median of the pre-built frontage roads when they finish it northeastward to U.S. 75. They are still building frontage roads for other future freeways and tollways, which is how they went about extending the Dallas North Tollway. Open the frontage roads first, add the freeways later.
With that stated, in Austin they are going to convert some of the existing arterials into llimited-access tollways with free at-grade frontage roads. Sal Costello, an opponent of the process of converting free roads into tolled highways has a blog (http://salcostello.blogspot.com/) where you can read more about what they are doing in the capital city.
Here's an example of a frontage road and Tx U-turns, from Atlanta, Georgia.
The frontage roads and the Texas U-turns are from 0:00 to 3:07 in the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr19NSV49lI (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr19NSV49lI)
Be well,
Bryant
Frontage roads (also used in some parts of Ontario) are for homes, businesses, industries and roads that are next to the Freeway. Homes can't connect to the Freeway and some roads are to small to be on the freeway, so the just build them.
Quote from: KatyFreeway on February 06, 2009, 01:38:49 AMThere are several freeways in Texas I can think of without frontage roads. None are in Houston. Parts of I-35E in Dallas and Loop 1 in Austin have no frontage.
Some parts of I-20 between Dallas and the Louisiana state line are also sans feeders.
The same goes for I-30 between Dallas and Texarkana. The longest stretch of I-30 without frontage roads is between Mt. Pleasant and New Boston.
Growing up, these were called "service roads". They're still called that in Ruston, even though they have recently installed larger signs that say "Frontage Road". And they just recently converted the service roads between exits 85 and 86 into one way roads.
I'm almost certain there's even a stretch of US 17 Business in Myrtle Beach that has frontage roads, which is very odd considering it's a 4-lane divided highway with scores of traffic lights.
QuoteI'm almost certain there's even a stretch of US 17 Business in Myrtle Beach that has frontage roads, which is very odd considering it's a 4-lane divided highway with scores of traffic lights.
I know that north of US 501 US 17 Business is mainly 7 lanes undivided; however, I'm not sure about south of US 501. US 58 in Virginia Beach on the Laskin Rd portion has frontage roads though.
QuoteQuoteI'm almost certain there's even a stretch of US 17 Business in Myrtle Beach that has frontage roads, which is very odd considering it's a 4-lane divided highway with scores of traffic lights.
I know that north of US 501 US 17 Business is mainly 7 lanes undivided; however, I'm not sure about south of US 501. US 58 in Virginia Beach on the Laskin Rd portion has frontage roads though.
My bad, that section of US 17 Business is actually in Surfside Beach
QuoteI am definitely not a fan of frontage roads. They attract commercial businesses along side of the freeway, which not only clutters the right-of-way with ugly business signage and buildings, but it also worsens traffic congestion alongside the freeway. We had frontage roads on sections of I-55 in Jackson, Mississippi when I lived there. The sections that do not have frontage roads to this day look much nicer and cleaner than the sections with frontage roads. Just my take.
It probably depends somewhat on the area and zoning, as there are some highways around St. Louis with outer roads that are still mostly residential. An example along US 40, but in a high-wealth area:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=38.637439,-90.464215&spn=0,359.978027&z=16&layer=c&cbll=38.638313,-90.466681&panoid=2ia9l92SykbfPThmPhW92A&cbp=12,107.40942749877289,,0,3.4179687500000004 (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=38.637439,-90.464215&spn=0,359.978027&z=16&layer=c&cbll=38.638313,-90.466681&panoid=2ia9l92SykbfPThmPhW92A&cbp=12,107.40942749877289,,0,3.4179687500000004)
Another residential area with outer roads, this one along I-270 but near the northern edge of the wealthy area:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=38.664067,-90.444818&spn=0,359.956055&z=15&layer=c&cbll=38.664432,-90.449331&panoid=mgS9SgJZJRYANtyi0XrJgw&cbp=12,178.34719727220192,,0,6.845703124999997 (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=38.664067,-90.444818&spn=0,359.956055&z=15&layer=c&cbll=38.664432,-90.449331&panoid=mgS9SgJZJRYANtyi0XrJgw&cbp=12,178.34719727220192,,0,6.845703124999997)
A middle wealth residential area along I-255 in Missouri. There are some businesses near the interchanges, but the middle section is still nice:
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=38.497433,-90.311694&spn=0,359.978027&z=16&layer=c&cbll=38.499172,-90.310537&panoid=r14aABSRR_r7vn18lh9QBQ&cbp=12,310.7721174721828,,0,1.9238281250000004 (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=38.497433,-90.311694&spn=0,359.978027&z=16&layer=c&cbll=38.499172,-90.310537&panoid=r14aABSRR_r7vn18lh9QBQ&cbp=12,310.7721174721828,,0,1.9238281250000004)
I generally prefer outer roads in urban areas since they provide an easy alternative in case the main lanes get knocked out of commission, but not in the rural areas, since along I-44 they make it seem like an extremely long urban area.
US 27 in Tallahassee utilizes frontage roads for about a mile or so (Franklin Blvd to Governor's Square Mall) to better facilitate traffic movement. Instead of having to back up traffic for turn offs into Ross, Best Buy, Chilis, etc. it's easier to have slip ramps.
Over here they're called LAR - local access road. They are only used when an existing road is upgraded to a freeway to provide access for phohibited traffic and to allow access to side roads, houses and businesses which aren't allowed direct access to the freeway.
The entire length of I-49/US 167 between Lafayette and Opelousas has continuous two-way frontage roads; they mostly serve to serve residents and businesses fronting the freeway.
Originally, US 167 was built to accommodate a future freeway upgrade by purchasing enough ROW for frontage roads and mainline roadways, as well as having wide medians at key intersections for future overpasses of crossroads. Direct connection of driveways to the mainline was accepted, but some frontage roads were built near the main intersections and in more developed areas to seperate local and through traffic. When US 167 was upgraded to I-49, they simply built the overpasses, built out the frontage roads to access the local driveways, and eliminated all the at-grade median crossings and intersections.
US 90 south of Lafayette to Morgan City was designed in the same way, and the same two-way frontage road concept is being implemented as part of the I-49 South upgrade. Within Lafayette Parish, however, more of a Texas-style one way "access road" approach is being proposed, with U-turns and the like. The exception will be in Lafayette proper, where the existing Evangeline Thruway, a six-lane arterial, will take over the access road service duties while I-49 is elevated above.
Anthony
Quote from: rawr apples on January 31, 2009, 12:57:29 PM
Detroit has these all over. Though they are called 'service drives'
Missouri calls them "Outer Roads"
I've never actually heard anyone call them feeder roads... a search of the Dallas Morning News archives reveals 8 hits for "feeder road" but 500+ for "service road" ... maybe its just a DFW nomenclature though. In the rural areas they are signed as Frontage Roads.
Jack Kultgen was head of TxDot during the early Interstate construction area and built Frontage Roads, as previously stated, to services large ranches and farms - but after 1968 they were built primarily at the behest of property developers like Rosewood or Wynne - at least in the DFW area. I dont know a ton about Houston.
TxDot stopped development and construction of Frontage Roads after 1991, unless plans were specifically in place and budgeted to build them in advance of a future freeway; or if an existing road was transformed into a freeway. For instance, SH 130, Loop 49, the Fort Bend Parkway, and other new limited-access roads generally don't have them. SH 121, 160, Marsha Sharp, etc, have them as they're upgrades of existing roads. SH 190 was built as frontage roads because TxDot was not allowed to build toll roads at the time, so the main lanes were to be managed by NTTA.
Other things TxDot decided in 1991: to change all ranch roads into farm roads, and to remove all cloverleafs in the state. Those two policies are still hit and miss.... (cloverleafs are rapidly dying here, though)
Again, my personal knowledge does not generally extend to Houston.... I need to spend a weekend there.
(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ffarm4.static.flickr.com%2F3372%2F3261119985_87897bc1f6.jpg%3Fv%3D0&hash=becee85d4f963c6ad73d35e453ac3952cb7b452d)
Original (http://www.flickr.com/photos/fatguyinalittlecoat/3261119985/sizes/o/)
Personally, I hate them. They direct so much commerce and traffic to the interstate that it clogs up with local traffic impeding through traffic.
From Waco to San Antonio on I-35 is just insane.
And you can't blame the businesses, who wouldn't want a store-front seen by that many motorists?
Sykotyk
I was surprised to hear that about Fort Bend parkway because I thought that I had read something about toll roads in Texas needing frontage roads for a free alternative. Or, maybe what I read was that if they were building toll lanes along a free route they had to keep the free lanes in some form?
I used to be a driver for Greyhound, based out of Dallas, and I can tell you from experience that the insanity along the I-35 corridor actually starts in Dallas. Service roads or not, it's still a madhouse.
When I was in Texas (north of Dallas) in 2002, I got caught in a traffic jam due to a crash and drivers were cutting over from the freeway to the frontage road to try to buy time :-o
Quote from: austrini on May 27, 2009, 07:20:57 PM
I've never actually heard anyone call them feeder roads... a search of the Dallas Morning News archives reveals 8 hits for "feeder road" but 500+ for "service road" ... maybe its just a DFW nomenclature though. In the rural areas they are signed as Frontage Roads.
They're referred to extensively in Houston as "feeder roads."
QuoteOther things TxDot decided in 1991: to change all ranch roads into farm roads, and to remove all cloverleafs in the state. Those two policies are still hit and miss.... (cloverleafs are rapidly dying here, though)
Right now, I know of two cloverleaf interchanges along I-30 that will be no more within the next two years:
Greenville - TX 34 (Exits 93A-B)
Texarkana - US 71/59 State Line Avenue (Exits 223A-B)
BTW, Austrini . . . I love that pic of Airport Freeway (TX 183) under construction.
Yeah, San Pedro at IH-410 in San Antonio, SH 6 at IH-35 in Waco, IH-27 at Loop 289 (South) are all munched or in the process of getting munched!
I have some photos of Farm Road signs with "FARM" pasted over the old Ranch. I think they sort of forgot about this directive though.
Quote from: austrini on May 27, 2009, 07:20:57 PM
Jack Kultgen was head of TxDot during the early Interstate construction area and built Frontage Roads, as previously stated, to services large ranches and farms - but after 1968 they were built primarily at the behest of property developers like Rosewood or Wynne - at least in the DFW area. I dont know a ton about Houston.
TxDot stopped development and construction of Frontage Roads after 1991, unless plans were specifically in place and budgeted to build them in advance of a future freeway; or if an existing road was transformed into a freeway. For instance, SH 130, Loop 49, the Fort Bend Parkway, and other new limited-access roads generally don't have them. SH 121, 160, Marsha Sharp, etc, have them as they're upgrades of existing roads. SH 190 was built as frontage roads because TxDot was not allowed to build toll roads at the time, so the main lanes were to be managed by NTTA.
Other things TxDot decided in 1991: to change all ranch roads into farm roads, and to remove all cloverleafs in the state. Those two policies are still hit and miss.... (cloverleafs are rapidly dying here, though)
Where are these directives re. no new frontage roads for new-location freeways, cloverleaf removal, and RM-to-FM conversion written down? What happened in 1991?
In 1991, the state department of highways was merged with the state motor vehicle commission to create TxDot.
I kind of doubt its written down anywhere. The cloverleaf thing would be something established by engineering approval. I just know this because I've worked with TxDot for years on tons of things and people have told me, repeatedly. As for the Ranch Roads, other than people telling me, I have a bunch of pictures of signs with "farm" glued on them over the "ranch".
I'll make a new post on cloverleafs since we're getting away from the topic of this thread.