The worst point of an Interstate highway along that highways entire stretch

Started by Flint1979, January 08, 2019, 05:15:19 AM

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Hot Rod Hootenanny

Quote from: cpzilliacus on February 22, 2019, 10:17:51 PM
Quote from: Aaron Camp on January 10, 2019, 10:45:41 AM
For Interstate 70, I'd argue that the exit to US-41/US-150 in Terre Haute, Indiana is more of a bad spot than Breezewood, Pennsylvania. That is a simple diamond interchange with traffic lights on US-41/US-150, with both I-70 and US-41/US-150 being very heavily traveled (I'm not sure about the AADTs for each exit ramp, however). A diverging diamond or partial cloverleaf interchange would make far more sense there.

Breezewood is awful but there are three other sections that are as bad or worse.

(1) I-70 between Breezewood and the Maryland border;

(2) I-70 between Washington, Pennsylvania and the  New Stanton  connection to the Turnpike; and

(3) I-70 across most of Missouri from MO-7 (Exit 20) at Blue Springs to I-64 (Exit 210) at Wentzville.

As far as I know, PennDOT is doing nothing between Breezewood and the Maryland line (the interchanges are terrible).  PennDOT is fixing up I-70 between Washington and New Stanton, but has a lot of work left to do. 

MoDOT has tried to raise the billions of dollars needs to reconstruct that substandard section, but efforts to raise motor fuel taxes or impose  tolls on I-70 have never gotten past the elected officials of the state, and the road is pretty obviously worn-out, and many of the  interchanges are badly substandard too.

You left out Wheeling, W.Va & Downtown C-bus (though I-70's issues in Columbus are temporary due to construction)
Please, don't sue Alex & Andy over what I wrote above


roadman65

I-4 is got to be  between US 27 and Disney World plus the area between SR 536 to SR 535 on the EB side due to the weaving from merging Epcot traffic and exiting Lake Buena Vista traffic.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

thspfc

I-39: Just before the I-90 split in Rockford
I-41: The whole thing
I-43: The lane drop in Glendale
I-70: Denver
I-80: Bay Bridge
I-90: Dan Ryan Expressway
I-94: Dan Ryan Expressway

ilpt4u

Quote from: thspfc on March 30, 2019, 04:34:04 PM
I-80: Bay Bridge
I-90: Dan Ryan Expressway
I-94: Dan Ryan Expressway
I-80: The goofy single lane ramp between the Indiana Toll Road and the Borman Expressway in NW Indiana that carries Mainline I-80. Close 2nd, the Tri-State to Morris, IL segment, including the horribly deficient bridges over the Des Plaines River in Joliet
I-90 and I-94 are both worse on the Kennedy Expressway vs the Dan Ryan, IMHO

thspfc

Quote from: ilpt4u on March 30, 2019, 04:41:49 PM
Quote from: thspfc on March 30, 2019, 04:34:04 PM
I-80: Bay Bridge
I-90: Dan Ryan Expressway
I-94: Dan Ryan Expressway
I-80: The goofy single lane ramp between the Indiana Toll Road and the Borman Expressway in NW Indiana that carries Mainline I-80. Close 2nd, the Tri-State to Morris, IL segment, including the horribly deficient bridges over the Des Plaines River in Joliet
I-90 and I-94 are both worse on the Kennedy Expressway vs the Dan Ryan, IMHO
I've never been on I-80 in IL but I've heard it's bad. 90 and 94 are bad everywhere in Chicago, I guess.

kphoger

Quote from: thspfc on March 30, 2019, 04:34:04 PM
I-70: Denver

Back when I-70 used the Poplar Street Bridge to cross the Mississippi, I would have said that bridge.

As for Colorado, I dislike the "road heave area" in the western part of the state.  When I last drove it, I had a seriously overloaded vehicle and it got old really fast to keep feeling the suspension bottom out every few seconds on an Interstate.  I couldn't remember while typing this exactly where the section of highway was, except that it was somewhere between Grand Junction and Glenwood Canyon, so I just plopped the pegman down ... somewhere ... in the 75 miles of I-70 between those two points–fully expecting there to be no point in doing so.  Against all odds, I managed to pick the exact spot where the warning sign is.  Literally, this GSV link is not even a single scroll up or down the highway from where it landed.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

kphoger

Quote from: thspfc on March 30, 2019, 05:48:22 PM
I've never been on I-80 in IL but I've heard it's bad.

The last time I drove I-80 in Illinois was back in 2009 or 2010.  My wife and I were not exactly looking forward to an 800-mile day of driving with a child still potty-training, so I was in a hurry.  It was a Sunday morning, and I think they only time the speedometer needle dropped below 75 mph–all the way from the Indiana state line to the Iowa state line–was for some heavy traffic near Morris.  Most of the time, I was cruising along at about 82 mph.  A few days earlier, however, on a Friday afternoon, going east into Indiana was BRUTAL.  When traffic finally cleared up after the I-65 interchange, it was like someone had pulled the rope on the chute at a rodeo.  There were about five of us drivers who did between 85 and 90 mph all the way into Michigan.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

ipeters61

Quote from: kphoger on March 30, 2019, 07:47:36 PM
As for Colorado, I dislike the "road heave area" in the western part of the state. 
Forgive my lack of knowledge but what exactly is a road heave?
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mgk920

Quote from: thspfc on March 30, 2019, 04:34:04 PM
I-39: Just before the I-90 split in Rockford
I-41: The whole thing
I-43: The lane drop in Glendale
I-70: Denver
I-80: Bay Bridge
I-90: Dan Ryan Expressway
I-94: Dan Ryan Expressway

What's wrong with I-41?  Outside of the woefully obsolete four lane part between WI 15 in Appleton and Scheuring Rd in De Pere, I consider it to be pretty good.

Mike

thspfc

Quote from: mgk920 on March 31, 2019, 11:56:16 AM
Quote from: thspfc on March 30, 2019, 04:34:04 PM
I-39: Just before the I-90 split in Rockford
I-41: The whole thing
I-43: The lane drop in Glendale
I-70: Denver
I-80: Bay Bridge
I-90: Dan Ryan Expressway
I-94: Dan Ryan Expressway

What's wrong with I-41?  Outside of the woefully obsolete four lane part between WI 15 in Appleton and Scheuring Rd in De Pere, I consider it to be pretty good.

Mike

I should have specified. None of I-41 is terrible since they've upgraded it (I've never encountered traffic on the stretch you mentioned). The highway is just meh. Traffic, but no city sights other than Lambeau Field. Countryside, but nothing you would consider scenic. I don't like it, but that's just my opinion of course.

renegade

Quote from: ipeters61 on March 30, 2019, 08:45:41 PM
Quote from: kphoger on March 30, 2019, 07:47:36 PM
As for Colorado, I dislike the "road heave area" in the western part of the state. 
Forgive my lack of knowledge but what exactly is a road heave?
Road heaves are bumps in the pavement caused by frost damage at the pavement joints.  They cause significant jolts at regular intervals.
Don’t ask me how I know.  Just understand that I do.

DJStephens

Quote from: stridentweasel on February 11, 2019, 12:22:36 AM
Quote from: mrsman on February 10, 2019, 10:22:36 AM
As far as the other big 2dis, here is where I think the worst stretches are:
Quote
10 (E LA between I-5 and 710)
If construction zones count, I nominate the one in El Paso.  The corners up against the barrier are horrifying.
Quote

What are the "corners" up against the barrier??  Although would agree that the "Move 10" is a big pile of dog stuff.   For being a near complete failure to address, and correct geometrical problems with 10. 

   The worst section of 10, may be sections west of Las Cruces (MP 132 to the AZ state line.  Original concrete pavement, some possibly late fifties, crumbling under the asphalt overlays.   Chuckholes visible, heavily beaten by heavy long distance freight.   Some asphalt overlays heavily weathering, with aggregate swept off driving lane into shoulder.  Raveling.  Loss of binder.   
   Most of corridor needs full depth reconstruction.   New interchanges, with two span overpasses with greater horizontal and vertical clearance replacing ancient four and five span overpasses.   Rebuild completely in several places - to provide full 88 foot rural median.  Exit 116 environ, and also between MP 26 and 55.  Alignment there has narrower median, open it up, by using available ROW to achieve the 88 foot separation.    MP 26 to 45 move EB lanes south.  MP 45 to 55, move WB lanes north, slightly towards Southern Pacific RR.  This section east of Lordsburg was present on 1960 state transportation map, so yes it is old.   
   Strongly advise cable barrier, for entire length, due to amount of long distance traffic and freight. 

Ned Weasel

Quote from: DJStephens on March 31, 2019, 02:56:25 PM
What are the "corners" up against the barrier??  Although would agree that the "Move 10" is a big pile of dog stuff.   For being a near complete failure to address, and correct geometrical problems with 10. 

I agree that "corners up against the barrier" was vague wording.  What I meant was, places where there is effectively no margin between the right-hand lane and the temporary barrier, and there is a right turn that takes the form of a single angle rather than a curve.  This is nerve-racking and potentially dangerous for tractor-trailers, because trailers always "off-track," meaning that when a tractor-trailer makes a turn, the path taken by the end of the trailer is always shorter than the path taken by the front of the truck, so the driver must plan to keep far enough away from the barrier before making the turn in order to avoid hitting the corner formed by the angled orientation of the barriers.  It's "Trucking 101," but drivers of cars and straight trucks don't have to worry about this.

Quote
   The worst section of 10, may be sections west of Las Cruces (MP 132 to the AZ state line.  Original concrete pavement, some possibly late fifties, crumbling under the asphalt overlays.   Chuckholes visible, heavily beaten by heavy long distance freight.   Some asphalt overlays heavily weathering, with aggregate swept off driving lane into shoulder.  Raveling.  Loss of binder.   
   Most of corridor needs full depth reconstruction.   New interchanges, with two span overpasses with greater horizontal and vertical clearance replacing ancient four and five span overpasses.   Rebuild completely in several places - to provide full 88 foot rural median.  Exit 116 environ, and also between MP 26 and 55.  Alignment there has narrower median, open it up, by using available ROW to achieve the 88 foot separation.    MP 26 to 45 move EB lanes south.  MP 45 to 55, move WB lanes north, slightly towards Southern Pacific RR.  This section east of Lordsburg was present on 1960 state transportation map, so yes it is old.   
   Strongly advise cable barrier, for entire length, due to amount of long distance traffic and freight. 

I agree that this is pretty bad.  When I drove that section of I-10 in the truck, I noticed that the pavement in the right-hand lane was so uneven that other truckers would just use the left lane by default if there was no faster-moving traffic close behind.
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Disclaimer: Views I express are my own and don't reflect any employer or associated entity.

mrose


I-25 is definitely Denver, and particularly bad in three spots.

1 - Southbound between 58th and Colfax
2 - Northbound between Santa Fe and Speer
3 - Northbound between US 36 and 120th Ave.

Elsewhere in CO - pretty much all of I-270.

I-76 is generally only an issue eastbound near the I-25 interchange; the ramp onto northbound 25 tends to back up all the way on to 76 sometimes.

I-70 is probably worse in the mountains than in Denver proper due to it really being the only way in and out of most of the resorts. On a Sunday afternoon and evening the backups rival downtown in rush hour, even to the point that they have put in toll lanes in some places.



roadman

Quote from: PHLBOS on January 09, 2019, 09:26:54 AM
Quote from: Ben114 on January 08, 2019, 07:57:19 PM
I-290 Auburn-Marlboro, MA:

... Exit 15 (Shrewsbury St) isn't even signed (with the exception of a small ground mounted sign at exit 14, about 1/4 mile away.
Such is definitely an oddity for sure.


Removal of the sign at the exit was a consequence of the bridge reconstruction project a few years back.  Plans are to put a replacement overhead sign (butterfly type support) at the gore of the off-ramp to Shrewsbury Street as part of the current I-290 Auburn to Shrewsbury sign replacement project.
"And ninety-five is the route you were on.  It was not the speed limit sign."  - Jim Croce (from Speedball Tucker)

"My life has been a tapestry
Of years of roads and highway signs" (with apologies to Carole King and Tom Rush)

thspfc

Quote from: mrose on April 01, 2019, 04:45:16 AM

I-25 is definitely Denver, and particularly bad in three spots.

1 - Southbound between 58th and Colfax
2 - Northbound between Santa Fe and Speer
3 - Northbound between US 36 and 120th Ave.

Elsewhere in CO - pretty much all of I-270.

I-76 is generally only an issue eastbound near the I-25 interchange; the ramp onto northbound 25 tends to back up all the way on to 76 sometimes.

I-70 is probably worse in the mountains than in Denver proper due to it really being the only way in and out of most of the resorts. On a Sunday afternoon and evening the backups rival downtown in rush hour, even to the point that they have put in toll lanes in some places.

I've driven 70 from the airport to Vail, and personally I prefer the mountain section because it is usually only backed up on weekends, while through the city it's backed up a lot - and without the perk of it being the most scenic stretch of interstate in the country  :nod:

DJStephens

Quote from: stridentweasel on April 01, 2019, 12:13:56 AM
Quote from: DJStephens on March 31, 2019, 02:56:25 PM
What are the "corners" up against the barrier??  Although would agree that the "Move 10" is a big pile of dog stuff.   For being a near complete failure to address, and correct geometrical problems with 10. 

I agree that "corners up against the barrier" was vague wording.  What I meant was, places where there is effectively no margin between the right-hand lane and the temporary barrier, and there is a right turn that takes the form of a single angle rather than a curve.  This is nerve-racking and potentially dangerous for tractor-trailers, because trailers always "off-track," meaning that when a tractor-trailer makes a turn, the path taken by the end of the trailer is always shorter than the path taken by the front of the truck, so the driver must plan to keep far enough away from the barrier before making the turn in order to avoid hitting the corner formed by the angled orientation of the barriers.  It's "Trucking 101," but drivers of cars and straight trucks don't have to worry about this.

Quote
   The worst section of 10, may be sections west of Las Cruces (MP 132 to the AZ state line.  Original concrete pavement, some possibly late fifties, crumbling under the asphalt overlays.   Chuckholes visible, heavily beaten by heavy long distance freight.   Some asphalt overlays heavily weathering, with aggregate swept off driving lane into shoulder.  Raveling.  Loss of binder.   
   Most of corridor needs full depth reconstruction.   New interchanges, with two span overpasses with greater horizontal and vertical clearance replacing ancient four and five span overpasses.   Rebuild completely in several places - to provide full 88 foot rural median.  Exit 116 environ, and also between MP 26 and 55.  Alignment there has narrower median, open it up, by using available ROW to achieve the 88 foot separation.    MP 26 to 45 move EB lanes south.  MP 45 to 55, move WB lanes north, slightly towards Southern Pacific RR.  This section east of Lordsburg was present on 1960 state transportation map, so yes it is old.   
   Strongly advise cable barrier, for entire length, due to amount of long distance traffic and freight. 

I agree that this is pretty bad.  When I drove that section of I-10 in the truck, I noticed that the pavement in the right-hand lane was so uneven that other truckers would just use the left lane by default if there was no faster-moving traffic close behind.

Thank you for the explanation.   Believe that a majority of these traffic control plans in construction zones are developed by cubicle dwellers who have never had to be out in the field.  The 10 situation in southwestern new Mexico is typical of the state.  Spend close to a Billion on a fantasy spaceport, a pet train and an Albuquerque based light rail.  Instead of investing in an aging corridor that is literally being pounded to pieces by ever increasing freight.



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