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.

[webny99]

It occurred to me that with I-64 slated to be fully widened to 6 lanes between Williamsburg and Richmond, and the Rappahannock bride project on I-95 nearly complete, the bottlenecks on either side of the Richmond to Fredericksburg segment of I-95 will soon be removed. With that in mind, widening the Richmond-Fredericksburg section to 8 lanes should be a top priority.

That and the Mass Pike from Sturbridge to I-495 are the rural freeways that most urgently need more than 6 lanes IMO.

[sprjus4]

It occurred to me that with I-64 slated to be fully widened to 6 lanes between Williamsburg and Richmond, and the Rappahannock bride project on I-95 nearly complete, the bottlenecks on either side of the Richmond to Fredericksburg segment of I-95 will soon be removed. With that in mind, widening the Richmond-Fredericksburg section to 8 lanes should be a top priority.

That and the Mass Pike from Sturbridge to I-495 are the rural freeways that most urgently need more than 6 lanes IMO.

The Rappahannock River projects addressed the problems there... but it doesn't fully mitigate the problems north of Fredericksburg, although the HO/T extension has helped slightly.

The 8 lane project for I-95 needs to extend between north of I-295 (Exit 89) Richmond and the Occoquan River (Exit 160).

Realistically, it's not all going to happen at once. It should be phased, starting with widening I-95 from VA-123 to Prince William Pkwy, where the recent auxiliary lane was built. Next, go south to VA-234.

From the Richmond side, start with going 8 lanes to Ashland, then next project to King's Dominion.

The highest priority IMO should be Occoquan River to Fredericksburg... south of there eventually but it's handling okay north of King's Dominion.

Virginia is finally getting aggressive with getting I-64 done... within the next year all 29 miles between Richmond and Williamsburg will be under construction. There will be a minimum of 6 lanes between I-295 and I-664 by 2028, and a widened HRBT to Norfolk (HO/T lanes).

I-64 through Newport News will actually be reduced to 6 general purpose lanes (because of HOV lanes that are only restricted 4 hours a day & unlimited ingress / egress points, being barrier separated and 24/7 HO/T restricted) so that'll be interesting to see how traffic is impacted - it has worsened conditions on I-64 in Chesapeake & Virginia Beach and added two bottleneck areas (that did not exist previously) where a similar 8 lane section was reduced to 6 lanes for ghost-town, barrier separated 24/7 HO/T lanes.

The first 10 miles east of Exit 205 along I-64 are already well underway, lanes shifted and trees being taken down in the median. (Side note: Not all the trees will be removed by the way... the project plans show retaining a good amount of them since the median is very wide.)

They need to get underway with smaller scale projects like Ashland to King's Dominion, and 8 lanes between VA-234 or at least PWC Pkwy to Occoquan River. It's interesting that VDOT doesn't even have any long range plans to address either of these areas despite being such a pressing need.

Oh yeah, and bi-directional HO/T lanes south of the Capital Beltway to Fredericksburg... but good luck with that needed improvement as well.

[WestDakota]

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.

This a really late response, but the only time I've thought 6 lanes on I-94 in rural North Dakota was valid was during the height of the oil boom.  In 2012, we left Dickinson in the morning driving west, and between Dickinson and Belfield both lanes were full of traffic.  It felt like another lane would have been very helpful.  But I'm guessing that same condition isn't present right now.

[webny99]

After a fairly thorough analysis of traffic conditions throughout this past Thanksgiving weekend, there are a number of standout candidates for widening to 8 lanes, many of which have previously been identified in this thread:

• I-90 in MA: Exit 78 (I-84) to Exit 90 (I-290/I-395)
• I-95 in VA: Exit 84 (I-295) to Exit 170 (I-495)
• I-40/I-75 in TN: Exit 368 (I-75 SB) to Exit 373 (Campbell Station)
• I-75 in GA: Exit 177 (I-475 SB) to Exit 224 (Hudson Bridge)
• I-75 in FL: Exit 328 (Fla Tpke SB) to Exit 358 (FL 326)

Oh yeah, and bi-directional HO/T lanes south of the Capital Beltway to Fredericksburg... but good luck with that needed improvement as well.

I-95 south of DC and I-75 south of Atlanta face a very similar issue in this regard: The one-way HO/T lanes are pretty much impossible to effectively manage on weekends (especially during peak travel and holiday weekends) when you have heavy long-distance traffic coming in both directions at once. And it's not like rush hour where it's obvious which direction the HO/T lanes should be flowing.. generally outbound needs the extra capacity earlier in the day and inbound later in the day (opposite to typical rush hours), but from roughly 10AM to 4PM, both directions badly need the extra capacity so whichever direction doesn't have it is bound to suffer from major capacity constraints. And at that point, the only real solution aside from doubling the HO/T lanes is a mainline widening to eight lanes (which IMO is absolutely warranted in both cases).

[webny99]

After a fairly thorough analysis of traffic conditions throughout this past Thanksgiving weekend, there are a number of standout candidates for widening to 8 lanes, many of which have previously been identified in this thread:

• I-90 in MA: Exit 78 (I-84) to Exit 90 (I-290/I-395)
• I-95 in VA: Exit 84 (I-295) to Exit 170 (I-495)
• I-40/I-75 in TN: Exit 368 (I-75 SB) to Exit 373 (Campbell Station)
• I-75 in GA: Exit 177 (I-475 SB) to Exit 224 (Hudson Bridge)
• I-75 in FL: Exit 328 (Fla Tpke SB) to Exit 358 (FL 326)

[/list]

Texas also has some candidates, most notably I-35 between Waco and the I-35E/35W split now that the six-laning of I-35E is complete, and south of Austin from TX 45 down to at least San Marcos (though honestly any lane drop on that stretch is going to cause issues, so probably all the way to Selma, especially considering the NEX project which will add significant capacity between there and San Antonio).

[kernals12]

I-5 between Santa Clarita and Wheeler Ridge, widened to 8 lanes back in the 60s, requiring the NB carriageway north of Castaic to be put on the left side of the SB.

[jgb191]

I'll agree with anyone who says I-35 between San Antonio and Austin.  I'll also agree with the future I-37/I-69E multiplex (three miles stretch) in the Calallen area.

[democraticnole]

Surprised no one has mentioned I-4 yet. I-4 between I-75 in Tampa and SR 429 in Orlando should be 10 lanes with high speed rail in the median. Unfortunately, very rare we can get expanded freeways in Florida without the sorry tolled express lanes.

Also I-75 from FL Turnpike to Gainesville should be 8-10 lanes.