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Underused Interchanges

Started by theroadwayone, August 05, 2018, 11:19:03 PM

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theroadwayone

Because there were a great many roads that were never built for political or financial reasons, we have a lot of interchanges that serve a lot less traffic than they were designed for. What are some of your favorites?


ilpt4u

#1
The I-70 Park and Ride, of course...

And because of that, any to/from I-70 East movement in the Stack Interchange of I-70 and I-695

MCRoads

Do up mean the interchange leading up to the park and ride? If so, way to go for the low hanging fruit....
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Interstates traveled:
4/5/10*/11**/12**/15/25*/29*/35(E/W[TX])/40*/44**/49(LA**)/55*/64**/65/66*/70°/71*76(PA*,CO*)/78*°/80*/95°/99(PA**,NY**)

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° Indicates a gap (I.E Breezwood, PA.)

more room plz

ilpt4u

#3
Quote from: MCRoads on August 05, 2018, 11:57:31 PM
Do up mean the interchange leading up to the park and ride? If so, way to go for the low hanging fruit....
It was very low hanging fruit

But the Park and Ride is the East end of a Cloverleaf itself

bzakharin

I do not have personal knowledge of this, though I've used the interchange in question myself on occasion, but Exit 15X on the NJ Turnpike mainly serves the train station, which only has a tiny parking facility.

inkyatari

I'm never wrong, just wildly inaccurate.

vdeane

I-90 exit 5A in Albany, NY for Corporate Woods Boulevard.  It was built for I-687, which was cancelled, and now an office park connects to it.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position of NYSDOT or its affiliates.

TheHighwayMan3561

I-35W and Black Dog Road in Burnsville, MN. Connects to a power plant at a dead end on the east end and back-doors onto secluded streets on the west end. Little to no public use.
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freebrickproductions

Exit 65 on I-840 near Nashville, TN (the exit for TN 452) seems pretty underused, as it's a SPUI and has traffic lights at it, but the traffic signals are normally in flash mode from my observation. And while TN 452 is 6 lanes at the interchange, the state route ends there and the road to the west quickly drops down to two lanes and leads to just a few houses and a park.
Though it appears to have been done for the Nashville Super Speedway, which is located just east of I-840 on TN 452.
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Beltway

#9
It could be argued that this interchange is overdesigned.  Does it really need 2-lane Interstate-standard collector-distributor roadways 2 miles long on each Interstate?  The only high-volume leftward movement (SB I-295 to EB I-64) is now handled by a semi-directional ramp that was built over 20 years after the interchange opened.

I-64/I-295/US-60
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.5176085,-77.2744439,5776m/data=!3m1!1e3


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WillWeaverRVA

Quote from: Beltway on August 06, 2018, 02:06:38 PM
It could be argued that this interchange is overdesigned.  Does it really need 2-lane Interstate-standard collector-distributor roadways 2 miles long on each Interstate?  The only high-volume leftward movement (SB I-295 to EB I-64) is now handled by a semi-directional ramp that was built over 20 years after the interchange opened.

I-64/I-295/US-60
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.5176085,-77.2744439,5776m/data=!3m1!1e3




On that note, I-95/VA 150/VA 895 is quite insane - although the terrain sort of left little choice in how it'd be built, and most of the movement is handled by the parts of the interchange that existed before VA 895 came along (and honestly, are very substandard and need to be completely rebuilt).
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plain

Quote from: WillWeaverRVA on August 06, 2018, 03:58:33 PM
Quote from: Beltway on August 06, 2018, 02:06:38 PM
It could be argued that this interchange is overdesigned.  Does it really need 2-lane Interstate-standard collector-distributor roadways 2 miles long on each Interstate?  The only high-volume leftward movement (SB I-295 to EB I-64) is now handled by a semi-directional ramp that was built over 20 years after the interchange opened.

I-64/I-295/US-60
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.5176085,-77.2744439,5776m/data=!3m1!1e3




On that note, I-95/VA 150/VA 895 is quite insane - although the terrain sort of left little choice in how it'd be built, and most of the movement is handled by the parts of the interchange that existed before VA 895 came along (and honestly, are very substandard and need to be completely rebuilt).

I think both of these examples would be more utilized if growth in eastern Henrico County takes off (which STILL till this day has yet to happen  :crazy: ). What would also help in VA 895's case is them lowering the toll  :crazy:
Newark born, Richmond bred

TXtoNJ

SH 225 West at 610 is the most prominent one in Houston.

TheStranger

I haven't been on it myself, but the Y interchange that I-805 has with a parallel side street (43rd Street) in San Diego would probably count - it was built for a short freeway connector to I-5/Route 15 that was never constructed (Route 252) beyond this interchange.
Chris Sampang

Beltway

Quote from: WillWeaverRVA on August 06, 2018, 03:58:33 PM
On that note, I-95/VA 150/VA 895 is quite insane - although the terrain sort of left little choice in how it'd be built, and most of the movement is handled by the parts of the interchange that existed before VA 895 came along (and honestly, are very substandard and need to be completely rebuilt).

The ramps between VA-150 and I-95 were built in the 1977 widening project of the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike.  They are semi-directional ramps and I don't see much need to upgrade them.

The original VA-150 and I-95 interchange was a small trumpet interchange.
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theline

How about Ohio Turnpike Exit 52? All the times I've been through there, I've never seen more than a car or two using the exit, looking especially lonely on the dual-lane ramps. A glance over to OH-2 makes it look like most of the airport traffic is using that highway to reach Toledo.

DandyDan

There are 2 on the Iowa segment of I-680 I would add. The County Road exit between the Missouri River and I-29 and the Honey Creek exit on the I-29/I-680 overlap. The Honey Creek exit became even more underused after they demolished the old gas station that used to be at the exit.

One could reasonably add any number of county road exits in rural areas, but I don't think that's what the original poster is going for.
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ftballfan

US-23 exit 15 just south of Dundee, MI. That exit could be closed without much issue (it's a NB exit ramp onto Lloyd Rd and a SB entrance ramp from Dixon Rd; I've never seen anyone use it and there are full interchanges 1-2 miles on both sides of this)

webny99

How about this one? I don't know that my expectations are very high, but since it's essentially unused, I think it also qualifies as underused.

Roadrunner75

Quote from: bzakharin on August 06, 2018, 10:57:30 AM
I do not have personal knowledge of this, though I've used the interchange in question myself on occasion, but Exit 15X on the NJ Turnpike mainly serves the train station, which only has a tiny parking facility.
We can put this one also in the "Ridiculously Long Interchange Ramps" thread (if one exists) as well - All just to accommodate a toll booth that will probably be obsolete in a couple years.

I use this one occasionally - It provides a good shortcut to the Secaucus industrial area.

Henry

Quote from: ilpt4u on August 05, 2018, 11:54:01 PM
The I-70 Park and Ride, of course...

And because of that, any to/from I-70 East movement in the Stack Interchange of I-70 and I-695
The College Park Interchange is similar because I-95 was to cut straight through Washington until the portion north of downtown was cancelled. South of that interchange is a Park & Ride as well.
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inkyatari

Quote from: inkyatari on August 06, 2018, 11:47:13 AM
I-80 / I-180, Illinois.

Thinking about this one, does it count if the road it's connecting is way underused as well?
I'm never wrong, just wildly inaccurate.

roadman65

Exit 13 on I-280 in Newark, NJ.  It was intended to be for the never built NJ Route 75 freeway, so you have more lanes exit the freeway than stay straight through.  I doubt NJDOT will ever simplify it, but it definitely does not need 3 lanes and from the left.
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webny99

Quote from: inkyatari on August 09, 2018, 10:58:47 AM
Quote from: inkyatari on August 06, 2018, 11:47:13 AM
I-80 / I-180, Illinois.
Thinking about this one, does it count if the road it's connecting is way underused as well?

Well, if the interchange is underused, one road or the other kind of has to be underused as well, does it not?  :D

Joe The Dragon




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