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Author Topic: VA: Twinning Highways But Not Rebuilding Original Alignment  (Read 30310 times)

sprjus4

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Re: VA: Twinning Highways But Not Rebuilding Original Alignment
« Reply #50 on: September 10, 2019, 05:43:48 PM »

I found myself thinking about this thread today because we drove up US-29 from Greensboro to the US-15 turnoff to Haymarket (the latter endpoint due to traffic). One way to determine which carriageway is older in many cases in Virginia, though it's certainly not a perfect method, is to look at the bridges over any waterways. It's usually pretty easy to tell which style is older.

VDOT recently reopened US 29's northbound lanes approaching Vint Hill Rd. SW of Gainesville, after a month-long closure to level out that roller-coastery NB segment. Problem was northbound US 29 traffic coming over a hill was slamming into traffic stopped at the Vint Hill traffic light.

While what they did was a huge improvement, I wish they had gone a little further, as the hills just before and after the section that was re-graded are not exactly great. Still, I'm sure this will greatly reduce the accident rate.

I'm surprised, and somewhat disappointed, that they didn't upgrade/widen the right shoulder.
You'd think that'd be a basic design feature - especially if they're trying to bring it up to "current design standards".

Then again, if you look at states like North Carolina, a standard design for a four-lane divided highway is 12 foot travel lanes and 4 foot paved shoulders, not 10 foot. Still though, there's also clearsides and a graded ~12 foot shoulder strong enough to stop on if needed.
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roadman65

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Re: VA: Twinning Highways But Not Rebuilding Original Alignment
« Reply #51 on: September 10, 2019, 10:22:57 PM »

When Virginia twinned a bunch of their highways in the 1960s-70s they did not rebuild the original alignment.  Many alignments in the 1920s-30s followed the terrain pretty closely so the roads were often straight but wavy with limited efforts to make grades gradual like is done with a new road today.

Today they do rebuild the original carriageway if they twin a highway.
Alabama too, as US 278 east of Cullman is that way.   

 Also US 22 in Readington Township, NJ has a small part where one side of US 22 follows the topography of the land while the other is made more level.   Oh yes NJ 23 is that way in West Milford as well, but with winding curves on the NB side while its counterpart in the next municipality (as the Kinnelon- West Milford Border runs the middle of the wide median of the highway) is more straight aligned.
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Sheryl Crowe

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Re: VA: Twinning Highways But Not Rebuilding Original Alignment
« Reply #52 on: November 13, 2019, 09:36:02 PM »

In Michigan, M-121 (Chicago Dr) was twinned in a similar fashion, with the WB lanes generally following the original alignment (and bouncing up and down heightwise) while the EB lanes are higher up and more level.
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Gnutella

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Re: VA: Twinning Highways But Not Rebuilding Original Alignment
« Reply #53 on: February 10, 2020, 06:04:58 AM »

Quite a few of these in Missouri. US 63 north of Columbia is the example that comes to mind - one carriageway will be perfectly flat and straight, while the other one looks like a rollercoaster. US 60 between Springfield and Cabool has several spots like this also.

U.S. 36 east of Marceline is one of the most flagrant offenders in Missouri, from my experience. The eastbound lanes are like a damn roller coaster. Not only that, but the alignment shifts abruptly too. The westbound lanes east of the Marceline interchange are perfectly straight with the eastbound lanes through the interchange.
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wriddle082

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Re: VA: Twinning Highways But Not Rebuilding Original Alignment
« Reply #54 on: February 12, 2020, 01:43:07 PM »

In Tennessee, US 64/74 from east of Cleveland to US 441 was originally built like this, with the westbound carriageway being original and the eastbound being new (I think), but they recently fixed this and rebuilt/leveled out the original carriageway.  I think US 11E b/w I-81 and Greeneville is the only remaining roadway in TN that was built “VA style” , with the southbound side, I believe, being the original carriageway and northbound being newer.
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rte66man

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Re: VA: Twinning Highways But Not Rebuilding Original Alignment
« Reply #55 on: March 25, 2020, 05:30:44 PM »

Oklahoma has quite a few of those. OK51 east from I-35 to Stillwater, OK33 between Cushing and Drumright, OK7 from East Lawton to Pumpkin Center, and US81 from Okarche to Kingfisher are the ones that come immediately to mind.
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sprjus4

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Re: VA: Twinning Highways But Not Rebuilding Original Alignment
« Reply #56 on: March 25, 2020, 05:52:13 PM »

I found myself thinking about this thread today because we drove up US-29 from Greensboro to the US-15 turnoff to Haymarket (the latter endpoint due to traffic). One way to determine which carriageway is older in many cases in Virginia, though it's certainly not a perfect method, is to look at the bridges over any waterways. It's usually pretty easy to tell which style is older.

VDOT recently reopened US 29's northbound lanes approaching Vint Hill Rd. SW of Gainesville, after a month-long closure to level out that roller-coastery NB segment. Problem was northbound US 29 traffic coming over a hill was slamming into traffic stopped at the Vint Hill traffic light.
Street view has been updated through this area from September 2019, showing the improvements. Additionally, all of the previous warning signage has been removed as the signal is now visible from afar.

Before - https://www.google.com/maps/@38.7771953,-77.6834582,3a,49y,234.07h,84.5t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sIbCjqwqWLefvJlycBAJ0Lg!2e0!5s20170901T000000!7i13312!8i6656
After - https://www.google.com/maps/@38.7771928,-77.6834866,3a,48.4y,236.81h,84.06t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1snqFbeEn6FsBS2q5WICloEQ!2e0!5s20180501T000000!7i16384!8i8192
« Last Edit: March 25, 2020, 05:54:17 PM by sprjus4 »
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