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Author Topic: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway  (Read 7687 times)

Max Rockatansky

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #25 on: February 10, 2022, 04:45:14 PM »

I forget exactly where off the top my head but there is one off of I-75 near Sarasota that requires leaving the Interstate to access

....

You're not perchance thinking of the abandoned (or perhaps never finished, I don't know) one next to the Myakka River near Venice, are you?

It definitely was active, I thought that I had a photo of it but I don’t.  It was along the west side of I-75 on what I believe was a 7X State Road.
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HighwayStar

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #26 on: February 10, 2022, 04:48:06 PM »

Why build two sets of ramps and amenities when it's not even a high use location?

Because that is the best experience for motorists.
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jeffandnicole

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #27 on: February 10, 2022, 04:56:08 PM »

Why build two sets of ramps and amenities when it's not even a high use location?

Because that is the best experience for motorists.

That's not a criteria. Otherwise all ramps would be high speed ramps, all intersections would be interchanges, etc.
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TheHighwayMan394

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #28 on: February 10, 2022, 05:00:29 PM »

I believe the I-94 welcome center entering Wisconsin from Minnesota was off the Carmichael Road exit in Hudson, but it was moved 40 miles east to an on-freeway location near Menomonie around 2005.
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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #29 on: February 10, 2022, 05:09:05 PM »

It's more economical to have one rest area serve both directions especially when you'd already have an interchange there anyway. Why build two sets of ramps and amenities when it's not even a high use location?

My current theory is that exit ramp termini have caused HighwayStar a great deal of trauma at some point.
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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #30 on: February 10, 2022, 08:57:37 PM »

The Pennsylvania welcome center off I-84 requires getting off at Exit 53 and following US 209 briefly to access it.
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Joe The Dragon

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #31 on: February 10, 2022, 09:12:10 PM »

I believe the I-94 welcome center entering Wisconsin from Minnesota was off the Carmichael Road exit in Hudson, but it was moved 40 miles east to an on-freeway location near Menomonie around 2005.
the other I-94 near IL has the both ramps and local road access
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HighwayStar

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #32 on: February 10, 2022, 09:24:09 PM »

Why build two sets of ramps and amenities when it's not even a high use location?

Because that is the best experience for motorists.

That's not a criteria. Otherwise all ramps would be high speed ramps, all intersections would be interchanges, etc.

Of course it is a criteria. The definition of criteria is as follows
a principle or standard by which something may be judged or decided.

Motorist convenience is certainly a valid criteria, the fact that there are others does nothing to diminish that fact.

The question was why would you? and that, like it or not, convenience is the reason you would. Obviously there is a cost tradeoff in doing so (though given that each facility needs only 1/2 the capacity I rather doubt the cost is as high as claimed, at least for a basic rest area).
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HighwayStar

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #33 on: February 10, 2022, 09:27:38 PM »

It's more economical to have one rest area serve both directions especially when you'd already have an interchange there anyway. Why build two sets of ramps and amenities when it's not even a high use location?

My current theory is that exit ramp termini have caused HighwayStar a great deal of trauma at some point.

No, my answer to that is above, and the reason is inconvenience to travelers.

As to your theory, its not any trauma from exit ramp termini, and that is really not even sensible in the context of a rest area, regardless of where you put it, the exit ramp has to "terminate" at something right?
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TheHighwayMan394

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #34 on: February 10, 2022, 09:42:49 PM »

I believe the I-94 welcome center entering Wisconsin from Minnesota was off the Carmichael Road exit in Hudson, but it was moved 40 miles east to an on-freeway location near Menomonie around 2005.
the other I-94 near IL has the both ramps and local road access

This got me thinking of another subset of this topic: rest areas that serve multiple independent routes

-the I-35 Thompson Hill welcome center that froggie posted serves US 2 as well
-the welcome center in La Crescent, MN is accessible to and from I-90 and US 14/61
« Last Edit: February 11, 2022, 02:26:44 PM by TheHighwayMan394 »
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plain

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #35 on: February 10, 2022, 09:48:47 PM »

Another one near CO, I-25 Exit 4 in Wyoming.



I think Info Center/Rest Area would be better if it was white on blue instead of just white on green.
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HighwayStar

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #36 on: February 10, 2022, 09:48:57 PM »

I believe the I-94 welcome center entering Wisconsin from Minnesota was off the Carmichael Road exit in Hudson, but it was moved 40 miles east to an on-freeway location near Menomonie around 2005.
the other I-94 near IL has the both ramps and local road access

This got me thinking of another subset of this topic: rest areas that serve multiple independent routes

-the I-35 Thompson Hill welcome center that froggie posted serves US 2 as well
-the welcome center in La Crosse, MN is accessible to and from I-90 and US 14/61

The Anaconda MT example serves both I-90 and MT 1.
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HighwayStar

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #37 on: February 10, 2022, 09:49:40 PM »

Another one near CO, I-25 Exit 4 in Wyoming.



I think Info Center/Rest Area would be better if it was white on blue instead of just white on green.

It would be better if it was on the actual highway and you did not have to go through 2 roundabouts to get to it.
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cwf1701

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #38 on: February 10, 2022, 09:51:08 PM »

How about the one in Michigan on I-75 at exit 47C? To get to the welcome center one exit at Exit 47C, turn on Vernor Road, then turn on 21st street in Detroit. This does have a direct access from the Ambassador Bridge however.
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jeffandnicole

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #39 on: February 10, 2022, 10:04:36 PM »

Why build two sets of ramps and amenities when it's not even a high use location?

Because that is the best experience for motorists.

That's not a criteria. Otherwise all ramps would be high speed ramps, all intersections would be interchanges, etc.

Of course it is a criteria. The definition of criteria is as follows
a principle or standard by which something may be judged or decided.

Motorist convenience is certainly a valid criteria, the fact that there are others does nothing to diminish that fact.

The question was why would you? and that, like it or not, convenience is the reason you would. Obviously there is a cost tradeoff in doing so (though given that each facility needs only 1/2 the capacity I rather doubt the cost is as high as claimed, at least for a basic rest area).

Of course, they could have built nothing and not even provide the rest area.
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US 89

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #40 on: February 11, 2022, 12:33:25 AM »

Nevada has a few rest areas where the access is off-freeway.
  • I-80 @ Trinity - This one is at the US 95 interchange (exit 83), and is located on US 95 immediately adjacent to the I-80 interchange.
I used this when I drove 80 across Nevada several years back. Never again. No way that place had been cleaned in months, with shit and flies everywhere. Worse than most outhouses I've used in national forest or state park type places.

DandyDan

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #41 on: February 11, 2022, 05:56:15 AM »

Two in South Dakota I am aware of:
1. I-29 at SD 50 (Exit 26), the Vermillion exit
2. The Ward Rest Area at exit 121 of I-29.
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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #42 on: February 11, 2022, 10:46:56 AM »

Another one near CO, I-25 Exit 4 in Wyoming.



exit 268 in fort collins. there used to be a rest area here, but now you go west a tad on prospect to get to it.
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froggie

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #43 on: February 11, 2022, 10:48:08 AM »

This got me thinking of another subset of this topic: rest areas that serve multiple independent routes

-the I-35 Thompson Hill welcome center that froggie posted serves US 2 as well
-the welcome center in La Crosse, MN is accessible to and from I-90 and US 14/61

Totally forgot the La Crosse example.

But on your tangent, and since I don't think it's been mentioned yet, the West Gardiner Service Plaza on the Maine Turnpike (I-95) requires exiting the turnpike and going through a roundabout at ME 9/126.  So it also serves ME 9 and ME 126 as well as I-295 which has a diamond interchange with 9/126 immediately to the east.
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hbelkins

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #44 on: February 11, 2022, 10:49:20 AM »

There's one on I-40 in North Carolina between Wilmington and the Raleigh area. It's located in the median at an exit. I've stopped there before.
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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #45 on: February 11, 2022, 11:18:51 AM »

There's one on I-40 in North Carolina between Wilmington and the Raleigh area. It's located in the median at an exit. I've stopped there before.

Duplin County. Third time someone has mentioned it in the thread. I guess that underscores tolbs17's opinion that it's "unique" if that many of us have taken notice of it!
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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #46 on: February 11, 2022, 02:06:45 PM »

I think a cousin of this would be rest areas or service plazas designed to serve both directions of the route, but with direct ramps. The new I-26 welcome center near Kingsport qualifies, as do an I-40 rest area in Tennessee between Lebanon and Cookeville, the Tamarack service plaza on the West Virginia Turnpike (which can also be accessed by local roads off of WV 3), and the Sideling Hill service plaza on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

I'm a bit surprised there aren't more of these, but I guess it's cheaper to build two buildings than a bridge to make one facility accessible to both lanes.
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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #47 on: February 11, 2022, 02:24:52 PM »

If you have a wide enough median, you don't even need bridges. See this one on I-385 near Laurens, SC.

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #48 on: February 11, 2022, 02:29:46 PM »

If you have a wide enough median, you don't even need bridges. See this one on I-385 near Laurens, SC.
This looks somewhat like what some turnpike agencies do for service plazas.

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Re: Rest areas/welcome centers without direct ramps on/off freeway
« Reply #49 on: February 11, 2022, 02:33:26 PM »

I note Florida's Turnpike puts the service areas in the median; they also don't set them up to prevent someone from making a U-turn.

Other service plazas I can think of off the top of my heard that allow access from both directions (though with barriers set up to prevent U-turns) are New Baltimore on the Thruway and Hickory Run and Allentown on the Northeast Extension in Pennsylvania. West Gardiner in Maine doesn't really count because it's on a local road and you exit the highway to reach it.
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