Rural freeways that need more than six lanes

[FrCorySticha]

I-94 from Billings to Fargo

This is a definite no. As much as my roadgeek side would like to see it, there really aren't any Interstates in Montana or North Dakota that need 6 lanes outside of cities, with the possible exceptions of some mountainous terrain in MT due to slow trucks. Even some of the city segments of I-90 and I-94 in MT and ND are just fine with remaining 4 lanes.

[Roadgeekteen]

I-94 from Billings to Fargo

This is a definite no. As much as my roadgeek side would like to see it, there really aren't any Interstates in Montana or North Dakota that need 6 lanes outside of cities, with the possible exceptions of some mountainous terrain in MT due to slow trucks. Even some of the city segments of I-90 and I-94 in MT and ND are just fine with remaining 4 lanes.

He was joking. Look at his other examples.

[FrCorySticha]

I-94 from Billings to Fargo

This is a definite no. As much as my roadgeek side would like to see it, there really aren't any Interstates in Montana or North Dakota that need 6 lanes outside of cities, with the possible exceptions of some mountainous terrain in MT due to slow trucks. Even some of the city segments of I-90 and I-94 in MT and ND are just fine with remaining 4 lanes.

He was joking. Look at his other examples.

Glad to hear it, and I definitely missed the joke. With some of the other commenters making recommendations like this out of complete seriousness, I thought this was more of the same.

[JREwing78]

Could someone review the traffic volumes usually needed to justify moving from 4 lanes to 6 lanes, from 6 lanes to 8 lanes, etc for rural freeways?

An AADT (annual average daily trips) of 50,000 vehicles per day is WisDOT's general threshold to 6-lane a freeway, and 90,000 vpd for an 8-lane freeway. Janesville got an 8-lane section of I-39/90 based on projected traffic exceeding 90,000 vpd 20 years into the future.

Some conditions can justify 6-laning with less traffic. The US-10/127 concurrency around Clare, MI is 6-laned despite only having an AADT of 22,000 vpd because of weekend traffic levels, the short distance of the concurrency, and the Michigan Welcome Center in the median causing lots of weaving traffic. Hwy 29 / US-51 in Wausau is 6-laned for similar reasons.

Some areas, for budgetary or political reasons, delay widening long past the point traffic demands justify widening. Examples are US-23 around Ann Arbor and I-496/US-127 through Lansing, which clock in at 70,000 to 80,000 vpd.



SM-G991U

[Tom958]

i-95 from Richmond to DC, or at least to the south end of the HOT lanes. I-64 from Richmond to Newport News, too.

[CtrlAltDel]

An AADT (annual average daily trips) of 50,000 vehicles per day is WisDOT's general threshold to 6-lane a freeway, and 90,000 vpd for an 8-lane freeway.

By this criterion, I-26 in Tennessee between I-81 (exit 8) and US-321 (exit 24) could use six lanes, and perhaps a bit north to Kingsport as well.

[Tom958]

I-75 from Atlanta (to be defined) to the TN line. Also, I-75 from I-475 to Atlanta, which won't happen because of the ridiculous Commercial Vehicle Lanes project.

[sprjus4]

i-95 from Richmond to DC, or at least to the south end of the HOT lanes. I-64 from Richmond to Newport News, too.

Debatable if the segment west of Williamsburg needs 8 lanes, though it would be nice. 6 lanes should sufficiently eliminate the troubles that happen now, particularly during peak weekends. This segment carries around 60,000 AADT.

Williamsburg to Newport News is another story, and 8 lanes will eventually need to happen there. Over 90,000 AADT IIRC. Likely in the form of a HO/T lane given the area's current trend.

[webny99]

I can think of several examples, but some of them are more suburban than rural:
-I-75/I-40 multiplex in Knoxville from I-140 west to the end of the multiplex
-I-87/I-287 in Rockland County, NY, from the current lane drop at Exit 11 to at least the Garden State Connector; preferably west to the end of the multiplex
-I-90 (Mass Pike) between I-84 and I-295
-I-95 between I-695 (north of Baltimore) and the Delaware line

And in Canada:
-QEW from the Red Hill Valley Pkwy to ON 406
-ON 400 north of Toronto at least to Kettleby if not Barrie (I believe at least some of this stretch is being widened currently)
-ON 401 west of ON 407 at least to Milton if not Kitchener (I believe at least some of this stretch is being widened currently)

[Rothman]

A decent number of those are not rural.

[sprjus4]

I can think of several examples, but some of them are more suburban than rural:
-I-75/I-40 multiplex in Knoxville from I-140 west to the end of the multiplex
-I-87/I-287 in Rockland County, NY, from the current lane drop at Exit 11 to at least the Garden State Connector; preferably west to the end of the multiplex
-I-90 (Mass Pike) between I-84 and I-295
-I-95 between I-695 (north of Baltimore) and the Delaware line

And in Canada:
-QEW from the Red Hill Valley Pkwy to ON 406
-ON 400 north of Toronto at least to Kettleby if not Barrie (I believe at least some of this stretch is being widened currently)
-ON 401 west of ON 407 at least to Milton if not Kitchener (I believe at least some of this stretch is being widened currently)

[Roadgeekteen]

A decent number of those are not rural.

Which ones?

[webny99]

I can think of several examples, but some of them are more suburban than rural:

A decent number of those are not rural.

Which ones?

The bolded ones, although the last two are debatable. Milton is suburban, for example, but the area in between is basically rural.

-I-75/I-40 multiplex in Knoxville from I-140 west to the end of the multiplex
-I-87/I-287 in Rockland County, NY, from the current lane drop at Exit 11 to at least the Garden State Connector; preferably west to the end of the multiplex
-I-90 (Mass Pike) between I-84 and I-295
-I-95 between I-695 (north of Baltimore) and the Delaware line
-QEW from the Red Hill Valley Pkwy to ON 406
-ON 400 north of Toronto at least to Kettleby if not Barrie (I believe at least some of this stretch is being widened currently)
-ON 401 west of ON 407 at least to Milton if not Kitchener (I believe at least some of this stretch is being widened currently)

[cpzilliacus]

-I-95 between I-695 (north of Baltimore) and the Delaware line

It already is eight "free" lanes from I-695 (Exit 64) to MD-24 (Exit 77).

[tolbs17]

Skip to page 58 and you can see they plan to widen I-40 to an elevated six/eight lane freeway.

https://www.ncdot.gov/initiatives-policies/Transportation/transportation-resilience/Documents/ncdot-flood-resilience-study.pdf

[andrepoiy]

And in Canada:
-QEW from the Red Hill Valley Pkwy to ON 406
-ON 400 north of Toronto at least to Kettleby if not Barrie (I believe at least some of this stretch is being widened currently)
-ON 401 west of ON 407 at least to Milton if not Kitchener (I believe at least some of this stretch is being widened currently)

The 400 has been widened from Teston to King Road but they only added an HOV lane. I would consider it half-rural since the immediate surrounding landuse is farmland (as well as going west), but to the east, it is within 6 km drive from suburban land uses.

The 401 west from Mississauga Road to Milton is being widened from 6 lanes into a 12-lane collector-express system (with a 10-lane non-express-collector at the 407 interchange itself and within Milton). Again, the immediate surrounding landuse from 407 to Milton would be rural but that's only because there is a Greenbelt. That little section of rural area is within 6-8 km of suburbia on both sides.

[Ryctor2018]

Several sections of I-35: The first between Austin & Temple

This section: https://www.google.com/maps/@30.8480523,-97.5932623,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sDYKUhfpaU18C4ePp0kKbVQ!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DDYKUhfpaU18C4ePp0kKbVQ%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D96.034874%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

Maybe this section, between Temple and Waco: https://www.google.com/maps/@31.2799762,-97.2596249,3a,75y,180h,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sswY4E9-zX5y0cOF1zN1ORg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DswY4E9-zX5y0cOF1zN1ORg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D104.20484%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

A section between Waco & the I-35E/35W split: https://www.google.com/maps/@31.8679569,-97.0824299,3a,75y,90t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1syVhjqIWablUKhiExTknT1A!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DyVhjqIWablUKhiExTknT1A%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D76.991875%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192

Most of I-35 from the Metroplex down thru Waco, Temple, Austin, San Marcos & San Antonio is six lanes at least. But, it's still not enough, which is why TX-130 was built. Heck, Temple, Waco and Hillsdale should be bypassed too.