Roads that cross themselves

[chesapeake256]

I suppose I'll give it a try. The road technically doesn't cross itself per se, but it loops back and ends at itself. I'm also going by continuous stretch of roadway, not necessarily by designation.

Start on VA-1104 Valley Ridge Road, at its eastern endpoint near Low Moor, VA, going westbound.

After 3.6 miles, continue straight onto U.S. Route 220; continue on U.S. Route 220 northwards for 108 miles to Petersburg, WV.

At Petersburg, WV, proceed straight onto WV-22, and continue for 33 miles to Seneca Rocks, WV.

At Seneca Rocks, continue straight onto U.S. Route 33 for 13 miles. You will arrive back at U.S. 220 in Franklin, WV, where the roadway finally ends.

Loop length: 74 miles.

Total roadway length: 157 miles.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/37.7829577,-79.9081357/38.6553032,-79.3325167/@38.6493669,-79.3766881,11.08z/am=t/data=!4m14!4m13!1m10!3m4!1m2!1d-79.3395835!2d38.6309486!3s0x89b4cd017d76df17:0xc1538ed99af54e4c!3m4!1m2!1d-79.2249888!2d38.9875153!3s0x89b5302022c15649:0x96e257b36e3c68c8!1m0!3e0

[TheGrassGuy]

Here's a long and convoluted one near where I live.

Begin in Roseland at the intersection between Eagle Rock Ave (Essex CR 611) and Livingston Ave (CR 527), just north of Livingston and I-280. From there, head south on Livingston Ave (CR 527), through the I-280 interchange. As Livingston Ave enters the namesake township, it gains the N prefix, and then the S prefix as it crosses Mt. Pleasant Ave (NJ 10), which gains the prefix W or E itself depending on which side of N or S Livingston Ave it is on. At E Cedar St, CR 527 will depart from S Livingston Ave at a left turn, but keep following S Livingston Ave, which is now Essex CR 649. After W or E Hobart Gap Rd (Essex CR 608), Essex CR 649 gets a cool Jersey barrier and becomes John F. Kennedy Pkwy. It even gets a diamond interchange with Parsonage Hill Rd (Essex CR 606); pretty cool, huh?

At NJ 24, which also happens to be the Union-Essex county border, John F. Kennedy Pkwy changes its name to River Rd, but the number still stays across the county line as Union CR 649. Union CR 649 branches off to the left as Passaic Ave (this is where our journey will end, eventually), but River Rd continues straight across the Passaic River, and then the Morris-Union county border, without a number.

Keep going straight until the traffic light at Watchung Ave, where we unfortunately run into a small problem. Watchung Ave, continued by its successor Shunpike Rd, ends at Loantaka Way (Morris CR 636) near Madison. Here, we have to bend the rules a little, and our journey would have come to an end here, if it weren't for the fact that the road on the left is River Rd. After gaining the Morris CR 647 designation from Southern Blvd, River Rd continues until we arrive at the same situation at Passaic St, on which Morris CR 647 continues south. Thankfully, the River Rd name saves the day again, and thus we can continue. At the Long Hill-Chatham township line, River Rd becomes Long Hill Rd, and later gains the Morris CR 657 designation. Everything is fine until we reach a five-way intersection at Millington, where Long Hill Rd makes a turn to the southwest, continuing as a suburban road and then terminating prematurely. However, it is the county route number this time that lets us continue. Morris CR 657 leaves Long Hill Rd and continues northwest as Basking Ridge Rd, all the way to the Somerset-Morris county line.

Once in Somerset County, the road is named S Maple Ave and retains its previous number as Somerset CR 657. Passing through downtown Basking Ridge, it loses its county route status, and its prefix changes to N. After passing across I-287 at an interchange and reaching US 202, it changes its name to Childs Rd and gains the Somerset CR 613 designation. Before long, however, the road loops back down south to US 202 and under I-287 again, becoming N Finley Ave and then S Finley Ave once passing through downtown Basking Ridge once more. From there, the road becomes Lyons Rd and Somerset CR 640. At Liberty Corner, the westernmost point of our journey, Somerset CR 640 ends, we "merge" onto CR 512, and the road name changes to Valley Rd.

Valley Rd runs well past the Somerset-Morris county line (though not without having to make two bends in the rules), and then all the way up to the Morris-Union county line, Springfield Ave succeeding it. Everything works fine until east of New Providence, near the railroad overpass. Instead of remaining on CR 512 and Springfield Ave, which both end in eastern Summit, here we have to make one last bend in the rules. This time, it is the general shape of the road that dictates how we proceed rather than the name or the number. In order to complete our giant loop, we now have to keep left on Constantine Pl (Union CR 649; sounds familiar?). Constantine Pl T-intersects with Passaic Ave, which is thankfully also Union CR 649. Finally, Passaic Ave T-intersects with River Rd.

41.4 miles. 1 hour and 24 minutes. Epzik8's loop is only 31.0 miles and takes 1 hour. Can anyone beat this using only local and county roads?

Google Maps directions of the route described: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/40.8209004,-74.2965635/40.7288084,-74.3787357/@40.7286305,-74.3807678,17z/data=!4m34!4m33!1m30!3m4!1m2!1d-74.4873548!2d40.6814918!3s0x89c3bb6468860cb1:0x8c4b43836b452eb9!3m4!1m2!1d-74.5530269!2d40.7278578!3s0x89c3a2d8d5dfd601:0x54f5d864108db4f4!3m4!1m2!1d-74.5547574!2d40.6805003!3s0x89c3bd069ed9aaf1:0xef458e8b0f34c721!3m4!1m2!1d-74.5784006!2d40.6659665!3s0x89c3bd90518cc943:0x5816c74561759656!3m4!1m2!1d-74.4277779!2d40.6927188!3s0x89c3bab623329401:0xe464f3653520f2fd!3m4!1m2!1d-74.3861792!2d40.7137614!3s0x89c3af94e45b571d:0xf9bacadff103c5eb!1m0!3e0

I found another really long continuous route without turns, but it sadly doesn't cross itself. https://www.google.com/maps/dir/40.1585118,-74.6436303/40.5361108,-74.5075127/@40.4026485,-74.8143518,11.31z/data=!4m24!4m23!1m20!3m4!1m2!1d-74.7396249!2d40.2026517!3s0x89c1599f361eb925:0x760ceb310e99a34d!3m4!1m2!1d-74.7643119!2d40.2218018!3s0x89c159cebd225045:0xdbc2f544c1dd4498!3m4!1m2!1d-74.8666399!2d40.4315725!3s0x89c3fa04c8216961:0xab331d6778586864!3m4!1m2!1d-74.8297912!2d40.4609456!3s0x89c3f0f66168473f:0x248ff568387c7b45!1m0!3e0!5m1!1e1

[SkyPesos]

Frontage lanes of the freeway at Tokyo's Rainbow Bridge
Similar spiral ramp as above at Shanghai's Nanpu Bridge
Couple of turnpike double trumpet examples:
- I-70 at New Stanton
- I-76 at I-80. I-80 takes the direct ramp off, so it doesn't cross itself.

[Bruce]

Two examples from WA:

SR 100 loops around and terminates at itself, about one block from its actual terminus with US 101 in Ilwaco.

SR 504 has this interchange with itself at the Mt. St. Helens Science and Learning Center, which requires westbound traffic to cross over itself.

[Dirt Roads]

Can't believe this one hasn't been mentioned:  the Raleigh Beltline. 

[Roadgeekteen]

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.6665437,-114.310141,16z

I-8 in Arizona

[SkyPesos]

https://www.google.com/maps/@32.6665437,-114.310141,16z

I-8 in Arizona

If we're doing one direction crossing the other now as well, here's US 131 in Grand Rapids

[CNGL-Leudimin]

- I-76 at I-80. I-80 takes the direct ramp off, so it doesn't cross itself.

Sorry to say, but I already mentioned that over a year ago.

Physically, I-76 where it bumps with I-80 in Ohio.

Also, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Breezewood yet

[jeffandnicole]

- I-76 at I-80. I-80 takes the direct ramp off, so it doesn't cross itself.

Sorry to say, but I already mentioned that over a year ago.

Physically, I-76 where it bumps with I-80 in Ohio.

Also, I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Breezewood yet

Sorry to say,, but it was already mentioned over a year ago.

https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=26187.msg2467640#msg2467640

[MikieTimT]

I-55 Northbound into Arkansas, AKA Crump Interchange.

[KCRoadFan]

An example from the St. Louis area.

I-255 heads south from its interchange with I-270 near Wood River, IL. It goes south through Metro East before crossing into Missouri - and shortly thereafter, it becomes I-270 at I-55.

I-270 goes north along the Missouri side and turns east in Hazelwood, eventually crossing the river back into Illinois - where it soon encounters the I-255 interchange again, after a 70-mile loop. I-270, of course, continues east and becomes I-70 once it reaches I-55 near Troy. And as for I-255, northbound it becomes IL 255 and eventually US 67, which continues north as a four-lane as far north as Jacksonville.

So, in other words, if you wanted to make a huge loop through the St. Louis metro, you could technically get onto US 67 southbound from I-72 and get to the interchange where I-70 meets I-57 just south of Effingham - all while remaining on the same roadway.

[roadman65]

US 1 in Boston does it since the Big Dig ended.  It loops around and then does a counterclockwise loop to pass under  itself on I-93.  Going SB it does a typical clockwise loop, which is mostly common at some interchanges already.

[ethanhopkin14]

Usually when I see this done, the road changes names to keep an intersection of the same road from happening, but here is an example of the road not changing names when it loops back around. 

[webny99]

If grade-separated examples count, US 63 crosses itself in Red Wing, MN. 

[skluth]

Palm Canyon Drive in Palm Springs has an interesting alignment. It technically intersects itself but doesn't cross. South Palm Canyon continues along a curve and becomes East Palm Canyon while South Palm Canyon itself continues south to Indian Canyon. There is also a tiny street called West Palm Canyon just south of the South Palm Canyon/East Palm Canyon intersection which continues west from the beginning of the East Palm Canyon curve along with a North Palm Canyon on the north side of Palm Springs to complete the cardinal directions.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

If grade-separated examples count, US 63 crosses itself in Red Wing, MN. 

Am I missing something? I don't think that's the case anymore with the realigned bridge flipping the curve to intersect US 61 on the northeast edge of downtown rather than connecting to 61 via MN 58 like it did with the old bridge.

[webny99]

If grade-separated examples count, US 63 crosses itself in Red Wing, MN. 

Am I missing something? I don't think that's the case anymore with the realigned bridge flipping the curve to intersect US 61 on the northeast edge of downtown rather than connecting to 61 via MN 58 like it did with the old bridge.

Sorry, my bad. I forgot that the overlap with US 61 goes south, not back under the bridge.

[Amaury]

SR 504 has this interchange with itself at the Mt. St. Helens Science and Learning Center, which requires westbound traffic to cross over itself.

Having been to Johnston Ridge Observatory twice, I've noticed that one as well. I don't know why they designed that part so strange, as there are two ways to "enter" and "exit" eastbound and westbound there. Almost seems like one of the ways both ways would be a spur, similar to the existing spur of US Route 97, better known as the Orondo Spur. However, a spur route for that highway already exists farther west from there.

[roadman65]

US 278 does in Atlanta. Where it changes alignment from College Avenue to East Lake Drive it crosses itself due to a rail line paralleling College Ave.

[Quillz]

Very small example: CA-1 when transitioning from Sepulveda Boulevard to Lincoln Boulevard. The northbound lanes cross the southbound lanes, due to the way the intersection is designed. If the signal is red, you are stopped at the opposing lanes of the same street.

[Big John]

Very small example: CA-1 when transitioning from Sepulveda Boulevard to Lincoln Boulevard. The northbound lanes cross the southbound lanes, due to the way the intersection is designed. If the signal is red, you are stopped at the opposing lanes of the same street.

Isn't that the case at every DDI?

[roadman65]

Very small example: CA-1 when transitioning from Sepulveda Boulevard to Lincoln Boulevard. The northbound lanes cross the southbound lanes, due to the way the intersection is designed. If the signal is red, you are stopped at the opposing lanes of the same street.

How?
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.9515805,-118.3964724,18.83z

[Bickendan]

If grade-separated examples count, US 63 crosses itself in Red Wing, MN. 

Am I missing something? I don't think that's the case anymore with the realigned bridge flipping the curve to intersect US 61 on the northeast edge of downtown rather than connecting to 61 via MN 58 like it did with the old bridge.

Sorry, my bad. I forgot that the overlap with US 61 goes south, not back under the bridge.

Better example would be US 101 at US 30 in Astoria.
Bonus points for not only crossing over itself, 101 then also crosses over 30 east of the intersection with 30, a double crossing of Marine Dr.

[roadman65]

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51342650429_0ae1f04a8b_k.jpg

Here is the place your talking about.

US 101 is above and below the crossing here.

In the distance is 101 over US 30 too.

[ethanhopkin14]

If grade-separated examples count, US 63 crosses itself in Red Wing, MN. 

Can't the same be said about any highway that transitions freeways through a cloverleaf?  See I-55 in Menphis.