Metro Area Freeway Networks

[Alex]

Continuing the discussion from the Hampton Roads Third Crossing thread, which led to a comparison of cities with limited routes in and out of the city because of water, consider Tampa Bay, with just three bridges (Gandy, Howard Franklin, and Courtney Campbell) linking the almost 1-million populated Pinellas County with Tampa and Hillsborough County. Every afternoon and most mornings, the Howard Franklin (Interstate 275) is a stop and go fest with four northbound lanes bottlenecking to two. Throw in a problem on either one of the other spans, and you have virtual gridlock on the spans. This happened in 2006 when a barge slammed into some of the supports of the Gandy Bridge (U.S. 92), knocking out the eastbound span from service for almost a week.

[agentsteel53]

Juneau

[Chris]

Despite their image, the most undersized freeway networks are actually mostly in the west, like San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

http://www.publicpurpose.com/hwy-tti99ratio.htm <- list there (bit outdated though).

[Urban Prairie Schooner]

New Orleans, of course...and virtually all outlets include some overwater bridging for some length.

To wit: I-10 west/I-55 north (spillway and wetland viaduct), I-10 east (Twin spans), US 61 north (spillway crossing), the Causeway (over da lake), US 90 east (Rigolets and Chef Pass), US 90 west (Mississippi River, Bayou des Allemands), US 11 north (Lake Pontchartrain bridge)

One negative of bridge crossings is, of course, that they can be damaged and thus rendered incapacitated. Refer to the I-10 Twin Spans for a living example.

I would mention here how this presents a major challenge for hurricane evacuations, but I'm sure most everyone probably knows this all too well by now.

Secret all land routes include LA 18 and LA 3127 on the westbank and the unnumbered road that passes through the Bonnet Carre Spillway between Norco and Montz, connecting LA 48 and LA 628. Hardly the most direct routes, but they do present alternatives.

[Voyager]

San Francisco would definitely be the most undersized freeway system. Of course a ton of freeways were planned and some built partially, the city is just too far against it for them to have built the system they wanted to.

[agentsteel53]

even more undersized than Los Angeles?  that one had so many planned freeways that went nowhere too.

[Voyager]

Los Angeles still has at least 34 freeways though. San Francisco has 3.

[agentsteel53]

SF proper isn't all that large compared to LA proper.  San Jose is larger than San Francisco.  I think comparing the entire bay area to the entire LA area is more fair.

[Wikigav]

Sydney, Australia


Mountains and National park and protected areas to the west. Water and National Park to the North, water, national park and mountains to the south. The great big blue Pacific Ocean the whole east of the city. 3 roads out of the city, with a pop of 4.3 million with a big string of commuter cities. Any hotday and fires regulary close the highways and railroads. Its like punishment for living in paradise.

[Voyager]

True, but the city of Los Angeles still has over 10 total freeways, even though it's in a larger area than San Francisco, San Francisco has no freeways that connect the northern part of the city with the southern, at least LA has a network going for it.

[John]

San Francisco has no freeways at all in the western part of the city, aside from the stub of CA-1 freeway. 19th is always a mess during commute hours, and the Van Ness/Lombard/Richardson part of 101 is usually backed up. Thankfully, we have the grid system so there are many alternates. I understand why they don't want freeways all over the place, but the traffic is pretty bad.

[travelinmiles]

I think Philadelphia is fairly underbuilt, but the transit system is great.  I always wondered what would be the best thing to do about the traffic on 19th Street in SF. I guess the Great Highway is a bit of an alternative.

[Freewayjim]

IMO Boston and Washington DC are vastly under-built. Had they actually built everything that was planned, traffic would probably be alot smoother throughout those areas

[travelinmiles]

I feel some of the planned routes were fine, but some was overkill.  I just wish there wasn't as many ghost ramps part of the antiquated interchanges, Come on only 1 northbound ramp to I-95 north from 93.

[DAL764]

Hamburg, Germany. Yeah, I know I'm biased somewhat, but hear me out first. Our city is home to one of the world's largest ports, which not only means lots of truck traffic, but also a large river that has to be crossed. We have 4 crossing here, the old Elbtunnel (which costs €2 to cross and is only for cars, used mostly be employees of Blohm&Voss), the Elbbrücken (leading into the city, 4 lanes per direction), the A1 bridge (2 lanes through lanes plus 1 exit lane each way), and the A7 Elbtunnel (4 tubes, 2 lanes each). Sounds appropriate to handle demand, but that is only true when looking at local traffic. Including thru traffic, the traffic is collapsing more often than not. There are plans to build a new crossing of the Elbe to the west of Hamburg, that would greatly relieve the interstates within the city region and also provide Hamburg with a northern beltway, but at the speed things are moving here, that interstate won't be complete before 2020, if even then.
Then there's the so-called "Hafenquerspange", which in essence is an interstate that would connect the two major interstates in Hamburg (A1 and A7) and would significantly improve access to the port. Has been planned for at least 30 years, has been needed for 20, and has beendesperately needed for 10. But it's being delayed and delayed and delayed...
Next is the A26, which is finally being built to replace the B-73, a two-lane road that is infamous as one of the deadliest stretches of roadway in Germany, and that for decades, due to speeding, lots of trucks, and lots of people living close to it. And yet it will be at least 2018 before it is completed.
And not to forget the A25, which would have provided an alternative North-South axis through the city, significantly improved airport access, improved access to the business district "City Nord" which has always suffered from the lack of interstate access and is just a shell of itself, and not to mention, it would have taken a boatload of traffic of local streets, many of which these days are choking under the traffic load. But because interstate = noise, local opposition killed the project.

[Chris]

Yeah, I was driving to Denmark a year ago, and there was a 15 mile backup before the Elbtunnel. Luckily I was driving in the other direction 

[DAL764]

Yeah, I was driving to Denmark a year ago, and there was a 15 mile backup before the Elbtunnel. Luckily I was driving in the other direction 

Yup, that's pretty much a regular occurence. Okay, maybe not that long, but with 1 of the 4 tubes closed most of the time (in the past to rid the old tubes of asbestos, now to update the safety standards (instead of, you know, combining those two processes into one to reduce the time a tube would be closed)), and with  the tendency of people to panic in tunnels and/or tailgate like crazy, which all to often leads to crashes forcing the closure of another tube, the Elbtunnel is really one big PitA.

[mrpablue]

You can't drive through San Francisco, the densest major city in Western US, by freeway. That sucks.

[Brandon]

Holy fricking necro, Batman!

[mrpablue]

Holy fricking necro, Batman!

?

[jeffandnicole]

Holy fricking necro, Batman!

?

Batman was a popular TV show in the 1960's. 

[mrpablue]

Holy fricking necro, Batman!

?

Batman was a popular TV show in the 1960's.

Great. What does Brandon mean?

[Techknow]

You can't drive through San Francisco, the densest major city in Western US, by freeway. That sucks.

I think you're both right and wrong. I live near I-280 around the southern part of the city. If I want to go visit the North Bay aka Marin County, I would need 30 minutes in order to get to the Golden Gate Bridge, because there really is no freeway connection that connects CA-1 / US-101 and I-80, so I would have to take surface streets. But I get to the Bay Bridge in less than 20 minutes in good traffic, because I can get on I-280, merge onto US-101 and then get on I-80.

Anyway, SF has been well discussed as a city that hates freeways, could have looked here before bumping a 8 year old topic.

[hotdogPi]

Holy fricking necro, Batman!

?

Batman was a popular TV show in the 1960's.

Great. What does Brandon mean?

The first thread on this forum is from January 17, 2009. You revived a thread from January 21, 2009, making it one of the earliest threads on this forum. The last post was from more than 9 years ago.

[mrpablue]

Holy fricking necro, Batman!

?

Batman was a popular TV show in the 1960's.

Great. What does Brandon mean?

The first thread on this forum is from January 17, 2009. You revived a thread from January 21, 2009, making it one of the earliest threads on this forum. The last post was from more than 9 years ago.

Ok, cool. Thanks.