Map of six-laned interstates in the US?

[zzcarp]

I'll at least get us rolling. I haven't been down there in a second, but I'm pretty sure the 6-laning just south of the Springs is complete.

CO I-25 128 243
CO I-70 232 243
CO I-70 247 286
CO I-76 1A 6
CO I-225 1 12

There's also a stretch from the Silverthorne/CO9 North exit to the tunnels, but that doesn't follow my rule about needing to go to two exits.

I just drove through the Springs Monday. I-25 doesn't become 3 lanes until Exit 138-Lake Avenue. It is still 4 lanes south of there though still under construction. Maybe at the end of the year they'll have it widened, but based on the concrete pavement width versus the asphalt paving, it may remain at 4 lanes.

I-70 becomes 3 lanes eastbound just prior to exit 244 EB (WB is 3 lanes at 247), and it basically continues through Denver exit 286 like you said. However, right at I-25/exit 274, there's only 2 through lanes on the mainline with a third unsigned lane that you can only find if you take the I-25 exit. I don't know if that changes your calculations at all.

I don't think we should count the so-called shoulder lanes on I-70 between 232 and 243. They are almost never opened (CDOT is limited to a certain number of days when they can hypothetically use them), and even to call them lanes stretches the definition of the term.

I-76 is not 6 lanes between exit 1A and 6. It is only 6 lanes between US 6-85/Vasquez [Exit 9] and the US 85 split to Greeley [Exit 12].

[JayhawkCO]

I'll at least get us rolling. I haven't been down there in a second, but I'm pretty sure the 6-laning just south of the Springs is complete.

CO I-25 128 243
CO I-70 232 243
CO I-70 247 286
CO I-76 1A 6
CO I-225 1 12

There's also a stretch from the Silverthorne/CO9 North exit to the tunnels, but that doesn't follow my rule about needing to go to two exits.

I just drove through the Springs Monday. I-25 doesn't become 3 lanes until Exit 138-Lake Avenue. It is still 4 lanes south of there though still under construction. Maybe at the end of the year they'll have it widened, but based on the concrete pavement width versus the asphalt paving, it may remain at 4 lanes.

I-70 becomes 3 lanes eastbound just prior to exit 244 EB (WB is 3 lanes at 247), and it basically continues through Denver exit 286 like you said. However, right at I-25/exit 274, there's only 2 through lanes on the mainline with a third unsigned lane that you can only find if you take the I-25 exit. I don't know if that changes your calculations at all.

I don't think we should count the so-called shoulder lanes on I-70 between 232 and 243. They are almost never opened (CDOT is limited to a certain number of days when they can hypothetically use them), and even to call them lanes stretches the definition of the term.

I-76 is not 6 lanes between exit 1A and 6. It is only 6 lanes between US 6-85/Vasquez [Exit 9] and the US 85 split to Greeley [Exit 12].

I'll trim down the I-25 numbers then. I was through back in February, but obviously misremembered.

Re: the express lanes, I still think they should be counted, but I'll rely on others input.

Re: I-76. For some reason I had it in my head that it was 6 all the way to I-70, so I was trying to find the end point. I spot glanced at spots between Pecos and I-270 and saw 3 lanes in each direction, but it looks like they're just exit lanes for I-25. I'll update as well.

For Froggie: I don't see 6lanes on Github. Am I just missing it? Or do you just have it locally?

[wriddle082]

I still disagree with counting express lanes if counting them makes the total number of lanes six.  I feel like traffic should be able to freely change lanes between all three lanes in a given direction along the entire length, as opposed to only being able to (legally) enter or exit the far left lane at designated points for toll collection purposes.  Therefore I feel that CO's express lanes along I-25 b/w Colorado Springs and (I think) Castle Rock, and I-70's part time express lanes west of Idaho Springs, not be counted.  And if non-interstates are included, then also don't count US 36 going towards Boulder.

It's not just CO doing this.  NC has I-77 from North Charlotte north to Mooresville that has a varying number of express lanes but only two non-auxiliary free through lanes in each direction.  Part of the I-485 widening from Ballentine to Matthews will also only have two non-auxiliary free through lanes in each direction (between NC 16 and US 74) so this shouldn't be counted either.

IMO, if you can't easily change from the left to the middle lanes to get around LLB's with a sense of entitlement, then the roadway is not really functioning like a traditional six lane freeway.

[Great Lakes Roads]

Illinois:

IL I-55 0 3
IL I-55 3 11
IL I-55 82 92
IL I-55 105 127
IL I-55 157 167
IL I-55 250 293
IL I-57 53 65
IL I-57 92 96
IL I-57 157 163
IL I-57 345 358
IL I-64 3 16
IL I-74 0 3
IL I-74 89 93
IL I-74 99 102
IL I-80 137 155
IL I-80 161 163
IL I-88 113 139
IL I-90 0 17
IL I-90 17 84
IL I-90 100 107
IL I-94 0 25
IL I-94 29 63
IL I-94 65 74
IL I-255 0 30
IL I-290 0 7
IL I-290 7 15
IL I-290 15 29
IL I-294 0 53
IL I-355 0 32

Michigan:

MI I-69 133 143
MI I-75 0 51
MI I-75 51 111
MI I-75 115 164
MI I-94 0 34
MI I-94 74 80
MI I-94 138 142
MI I-94 167 171
MI I-94 180 243
MI I-96 91 97
MI I-96 133 148
MI I-96 148 163
MI I-96 165 171
MI I-96 171 191
MI I-196 77 80
MI I-275 2 29
MI I-475 4 7
MI I-696 0 28

[ran4sh]

I still disagree with counting express lanes if counting them makes the total number of lanes six.  I feel like traffic should be able to freely change lanes between all three lanes in a given direction along the entire length, as opposed to only being able to (legally) enter or exit the far left lane at designated points for toll collection purposes.  Therefore I feel that CO's express lanes along I-25 b/w Colorado Springs and (I think) Castle Rock, and I-70's part time express lanes west of Idaho Springs, not be counted.  And if non-interstates are included, then also don't count US 36 going towards Boulder.

It's not just CO doing this.  NC has I-77 from North Charlotte north to Mooresville that has a varying number of express lanes but only two non-auxiliary free through lanes in each direction.  Part of the I-485 widening from Ballentine to Matthews will also only have two non-auxiliary free through lanes in each direction (between NC 16 and US 74) so this shouldn't be counted either.

IMO, if you can't easily change from the left to the middle lanes to get around LLB's with a sense of entitlement, then the roadway is not really functioning like a traditional six lane freeway.

I agree that express lanes should not count, in some or most states they are technically separate roadways with their own lane count. Six lane implies that there are six or more general lanes. Some express lane routes are four or more lanes on their own as well

[froggie]

For Froggie: I don't see 6lanes on Github. Am I just missing it? Or do you just have it locally?

I submitted the pull request before leaving for work this morning.  It'll go live once Jim does the next site update...he usually does them nightly.

I still disagree with counting express lanes if counting them makes the total number of lanes six.

FHWA and several state DOTs would disagree with you on that.

Can't hop back and forth between the car lanes and the truck lanes on the NJ Turnpike, but they're all still through lanes.  Same principle here.  We're going to count them.

[vdeane]

I believe I got NY mostly right.  There are a few judgment calls with respect to lane drops within interchanges and whether things count as aux lanes in spirit (think like where the Thruway drops a lane EB for a tenth of a mile at exit 25, except in NYC, where the distances don't render the situation moot).  Also lots of situations where there aren't continuous lanes in reality but there are in TM because of 1PPI.  If I was too generous and/or too strict somewhere, feel free to adjust.  I also assumed that the part where I-684 dips into CT was covered by that state, so it's not included here.

NY I-90 55A(NYST) 50(NYST)
NY I-90 45(NYST) 44(NYST)
NY I-90 25A(NYST) 24(NYST)
NY I-90 1 11
NY I-190 I-90 9
NY I-290 I-190 I-90
NY I-990 I-290 3
NY I-490 8 15
NY I-490 16 25
NY I-490 27 29
NY I-590 I-390 5
NY I-390 12A 20
NY I-81 2 5A
NY I-81 16A 18
NY I-81 19 32
NY I-690 4 11
NY I-690 13 16
NY I-890 4C 7
NY I-87 I-278 16(NYST)
NY I-87 23(NYST) 24(NYST)
NY I-87 1 22
NY I-787 1 9
NY I-287 15(87) 11
NY I-95 NJ/NY 6A
NY I-95 6B NY/CT
NY I-684Pur 1 NY/CT
NY I-684 CT/NY 9
NY I-278 NJ/NY 20
NY I-278 22 26
NY I-278 29B 42
NY I-278 44 46
NY I-278 51 54
NY I-678 PerRd 19
NY I-295 1 12
NY I-495 14 72

[froggie]

I believe I got NY mostly right.  There are a few judgment calls with respect to lane drops within interchanges and whether things count as aux lanes in spirit (think like where the Thruway drops a lane EB for a tenth of a mile at exit 25, except in NYC, where the distances don't render the situation moot).  Also lots of situations where there aren't continuous lanes in reality but there are in TM because of 1PPI.

Anthony (Duke87) touched on this in the TM forum.  I was already thinking about it this morning...my own conclusion is that, where the route list strictly went with 1PPI (one point per interchange, for those of you not on TM), we'll just have to live with it.

[sprjus4]

It's not just CO doing this.  NC has I-77 from North Charlotte north to Mooresville that has a varying number of express lanes but only two non-auxiliary free through lanes in each direction.  Part of the I-485 widening from Ballentine to Matthews will also only have two non-auxiliary free through lanes in each direction (between NC 16 and US 74) so this shouldn't be counted either.

The same thing is happening here in Hampton Roads... I-64 is being widened in several areas (MM 299 to MM 291, MM 276 to MM 265) by adding express lanes, while the general purpose lanes will remain at 4.

The map can show however it wants, everyone is free to their opinion, but those aren't true six lane segments.

I don't buy the New Jersey Turnpike argument... those lanes are divided but aren't managed in a way such as HOV or differently tolled. They all have full access to all interchanges. Those are all general purpose lanes. You can argue trucks being prohibited is a restriction, but that's not any different than trucks being banned from the left lane on six or greater lane segments of single roadway.

Again, not arguing for changing the map, but it's not accurate in that regard, in my opinion.

[dantheman]

Somebody double-check me on Massachusetts:
MA I-84 CT/MA I-90
MA I-90 78 134
MA I-91 CT/MA 1
MA I-91 3 14
MA I-93 1 19
MA I-93 20 MA/NH
MA I-95 RI/MA MA/NH
MA I-190 I-290 4
MA I-195 RI/MA 24
MA I-290 12 32
MA I-391 1 6
MA I-495 19 119

vdeane brings up an interesting point above... there are places where 6 lanes are not continuous through an interchange, but it's impossible to show this on travelmapping. Both I-787 and I-90 do this at their junction in Albany. I think that will have to be a "close enough" caveat on this map. MA I-95 does this at both ends of its overlap with 128 too. MA I-91 and MA I-93 (only two lanes SB between exits 20 and 19) almost fall into this, but there are enough exits jammed into their short four-lane stretches that it's actually possible to separate them out.

[wriddle082]

It's not just CO doing this.  NC has I-77 from North Charlotte north to Mooresville that has a varying number of express lanes but only two non-auxiliary free through lanes in each direction.  Part of the I-485 widening from Ballentine to Matthews will also only have two non-auxiliary free through lanes in each direction (between NC 16 and US 74) so this shouldn't be counted either.

The same thing is happening here in Hampton Roads... I-64 is being widened in several areas (MM 299 to MM 291, MM 276 to MM 265) by adding express lanes, while the general purpose lanes will remain at 4.

The map can show however it wants, everyone is free to their opinion, but those aren't true six lane segments.

I don't buy the New Jersey Turnpike argument... those lanes are divided but aren't managed in a way such as HOV or differently tolled. They all have full access to all interchanges. Those are all general purpose lanes. You can argue trucks being prohibited is a restriction, but that's not any different than trucks being banned from the left lane on six or greater lane segments of single roadway.

Again, not arguing for changing the map, but it's not accurate in that regard, in my opinion.

Thank you for bringing up Hampton Roads' seemingly endless I-64 construction!

Perhaps the segments where express lanes make the total number of lanes 6 or greater need to be a different color on the map?  That would make the map slightly less misleading.

[Jim]

For those not as familiar with navigating around TM, you can see the stats on the first few 6-lane segments that were added at

https://travelmapping.net/user/?units=miles&u=6lane

From there, you might find it fun to click on the "Map" links on the region and system tables to see the 6-lane segments highlighted in TM's Mapview, and you can pan and zoom around to see details.

I also think the "Top Stats" link from the page above will be fun to look at once more of these segments are plotted.

I plan to run an extra TM site update this morning with some additions that came in overnight.

[74/171FAN]

So I-476 in PA is in an interesting spot.  It is planned to be fully widened to PA 663, but currently it does not make it there.

I mean we could do "PA I-476 9 44" in advance, but otherwise I would need a shaping point to make this accurate.

[vdeane]

For NY, it looks like I didn't realize that the 55 point isn't at Ridge Road and accidentally included the piece inside the interchange, where US 219 runs alongside.  Should be NY I-90 55(NYST) 50(NYST) for that line.  For Maine, should we add ME I-295 7 8A since the two exits 8 are basically separate interchanges?

vdeane brings up an interesting point above... there are places where 6 lanes are not continuous through an interchange, but it's impossible to show this on travelmapping. Both I-787 and I-90 do this at their junction in Albany. I think that will have to be a "close enough" caveat on this map. MA I-95 does this at both ends of its overlap with 128 too. MA I-91 and MA I-93 (only two lanes SB between exits 20 and 19) almost fall into this, but there are enough exits jammed into their short four-lane stretches that it's actually possible to separate them out.

The one that gave me more heartburn was stuff like this (or the reverse here - and elsewhere on I-490, there's the question of whether the third lane EB between NY 204 and NY 531 counts as having an intermediate interchange or not, since 7B and 8 are merged in that direction) where a lane goes past the end of a ramp, ends right before another ramp merges in, and then the road is six lanes again a tenth of a mile later.  Happens a lot in NY, especially in NYC.  Sometimes there's enough distance or interchanges to render it moot.  Sometimes there isn't.  And then there's this spot. 

[Ted$8roadFan]

Great map. Would like to see a lot more red.

[TheStranger]

Has anyone done a CA-specific six lane freeway map yet?  Since California has a lot of very significant non-Interstate freeways (namely 101 and 99 but also local urban/suburban routes like 24, 55, 57, 170 as well as former US routes 60 and 91 and future interstates 210/905/15), I feel this would capture this sort of mileage more accurately for my home state than something Interstate-specific.

[jeffandnicole]

It's not just CO doing this.  NC has I-77 from North Charlotte north to Mooresville that has a varying number of express lanes but only two non-auxiliary free through lanes in each direction.  Part of the I-485 widening from Ballentine to Matthews will also only have two non-auxiliary free through lanes in each direction (between NC 16 and US 74) so this shouldn't be counted either.

The same thing is happening here in Hampton Roads... I-64 is being widened in several areas (MM 299 to MM 291, MM 276 to MM 265) by adding express lanes, while the general purpose lanes will remain at 4.

The map can show however it wants, everyone is free to their opinion, but those aren't true six lane segments.

I don't buy the New Jersey Turnpike argument... those lanes are divided but aren't managed in a way such as HOV or differently tolled. They all have full access to all interchanges. Those are all general purpose lanes. You can argue trucks being prohibited is a restriction, but that's not any different than trucks being banned from the left lane on six or greater lane segments of single roadway.

Again, not arguing for changing the map, but it's not accurate in that regard, in my opinion.

And to further the NJ Turnpike distinction, while most of the world knows the lanes as the car lanes and the truck lanes, the Turnpike technically classifies them as the inner and outer roadways because cars can still use the "truck lanes", and at any time, either roadway can be closed and all classes of vehicles can use the other roadway without restriction.  And if each direction had a roadway closed, it would still classify the Turnpike from Interchanges 6 - 14 as a 6 lane highway since each roadway has a minimum of 3 lanes in each direction.

[skluth]

^ Side question, what's up with the random four lane "gaps"  on I-15 between Baker and the California / Nevada line, or to phrase that question differently: what's up with the long 6 lane sections?

Why do those few long sections exist, but then there's still 4 lane gaps in between? Shouldn't the entire segment between Baker and Nevada be at 6 lanes fully throughout? It could reasonably be done with a few smaller projects widening 10-15 miles at a time. The peak traffic volumes along I-15 north of CA-58 / I-40 certainly justify 6 lanes going all the way to Las Vegas.

The six lane sections of I-15 in the Mojave Desert are mostly 4 'real' lanes with a climbing/descending lane in each direction on heavy grades for larger vehicles (like big-rig trucks).  The famous 'Avoid overheating, turn off air conditioner' signs are on these sections.  During certain times of the year, a breakdown in this area can be a real life-threatening emergency due to the weather.

Mike

It's hard to tell from the map's scale, but I-15 is otherwise only six or more lanes south of Barstow. It's only four lanes from Barstow to Baker though the median is really wide north of Yermo (which is where the Brightline trains will run).

[mgk920]

^ Side question, what’s up with the random four lane “gaps” on I-15 between Baker and the California / Nevada line, or to phrase that question differently: what’s up with the long 6 lane sections?

Why do those few long sections exist, but then there’s still 4 lane gaps in between? Shouldn’t the entire segment between Baker and Nevada be at 6 lanes fully throughout? It could reasonably be done with a few smaller projects widening 10-15 miles at a time. The peak traffic volumes along I-15 north of CA-58 / I-40 certainly justify 6 lanes going all the way to Las Vegas.

The six lane sections of I-15 in the Mojave Desert are mostly 4 'real' lanes with a climbing/descending lane in each direction on heavy grades for larger vehicles (like big-rig trucks).  The famous 'Avoid overheating, turn off air conditioner' signs are on these sections.  During certain times of the year, a breakdown in this area can be a real life-threatening emergency due to the weather.

Mike

It's hard to tell from the map's scale, but I-15 is otherwise only six or more lanes south of Barstow. It's only four lanes from Barstow to Baker though the median is really wide north of Yermo (which is where the Brightline trains will run).

I am expecting Brightline to use very little of the actual I-15 ROW for their route due to the engineering needs of a new railroad with an expected high track speed.  There is also very little else in the way in the general I-15 corridor northeast of Barstow,CA.


Mike

[74/171FAN]

I attempted DE and PA (https://github.com/TravelMapping/UserData/pull/8857) as I woke up in the middle of the night again.

As annoying as I expected I-76 to be due to the PTC slowly widening it to 6 lanes, I-376 was much worse as it does not seem to be truly six lanes anywhere in Pittsburgh west of PA 130.

Added more along US 1 and PA 63 after Jim pulled in 8857 (https://github.com/TravelMapping/UserData/pull/8858).

[US 89]

Utah:

UT I-15 5 6 (counting C/D roads as lanes)
UT I-15 8 10
UT I-15 13 16
UT I-15 248 362
UT I-80 113 120
UT I-80 123 128
UT I-80 130 146
UT I-215 1 26

This is going to be interpreted as continuous I-80 six-lane from 113 to 128, but that's not true - it narrows to two lanes through the downtown interchange with I-15. Also, multiple widening projects are either in progress or planned in St George and so the length of those six-lane segments is likely to change soon.

[74/171FAN]

^We are.  We already have European sections of freeway in there as well.

[US 89]

Well, if we're adding more 6-lane freeways...

UT US89 I-15(324) 397  - this one is about to get a whole lot longer once the construction project wraps up
UT UT154 1 3
UT UT154 7 9
UT UT154 11 16
UT UT201 10 I-15

[vdeane]

^We are.  We already have European sections of freeway in there as well.

I would not interpret the inclusion of Tier 1 interstate-equivalent systems as being evidence for including non-interstates in the US, since that's basically comparing apples and oranges.  Did we even have a discussion on the matter, or did some people just decide to expand the scope?  Not necessarily opposed, but it does raise some interesting questions as we'll need to figure out how to define "freeway" for things like Jersey Freeways or short sections of otherwise non-freeway with interchanges.  I was debating whether to get ambitions and attempt NJ, but I'm not touching that state with a 10 foot pole if we're going non-interstates (or equivalent).  On the other hand, some Canadian provinces would have had issues with inclusion if we limited to interstates and their equivalents, since many don't have separate systems for their freeways (and then there's Argentina in devel, which does have a theoretical TM-mappable Tier 1 system, but which the maintainer refuses to draft since it's fully concurrent with their Tier 4 system).

In any case, an attempt at drafting the non-interstates in NY led to a few questions.  Namely, how do things like the split on the Cross County Parkway count (see also similar splits for the GCP and Southern State Parkway).  Is that a long c/d road or an express/local system?  And what happens if a four-lane freeway picks up some lanes from an ending six-lane freeway and keeps them until the next exit?  Are those aux lanes or not? (see the Hutchinson River Parkway north of the Cross County Parkway).  Not a NY issue, but how do we count non-freeway interstates (in other words, I-78 in Jersey City).

Dropping a NY non-interstate freeway draft here since I had nothing better to do with my morning, which might need a couple modifications pending answers to my questions.

NY NY17Bin 69 72
NY NY17Bin 122A 124
NY NY33 GooSt I-90
NY NY198 ParAve NY33
NY NY390 21 24
NY NY590 5 10
NY NY104 LakeAve BayRd
NY NY5 NewRd NY695
NY NY695 NY5 I-690
NY TacStaPkwy 2 20
NY SprBroPkwy BroRivPkwy TacStaPkwy
NY BroRivPkwy 5(S) SprBroPkwy
NY CroCouPkwy 6 HutRivPkwy
NY HutRivPkwy 1A 4A
NY SawMillPkwy Bro/Wes 4
NY HenHudPkwy 8 14
NY HenHudPkwy 15 18
NY HenHudPkwy 24 Bro/Wes
NY FDRooDr 2 17
NY HarRivDr 20A 24
NY BeltPkwy 3 23
NY BeltPkwy 24A 25
NY CroIslPkwy 25A 36
NY GraCenPkwy 4 9E
NY GraCenPkwy 9P 13
NY GraCenPkwy 14 Que/Nas
NY NorStaPkwy Que/Nas 33
NY NY27 1 5
NY NY27 37 46B
NY NY27 46C 53
NY SouStaPkwy CroIslPkwy 40
NY SouStaPkwy 41A 44
NY HecPkwy 44 45
NY MeaStaPkwy BayPkwy NorStaPkwy
NY WanStaPkwy W6 W4
NY NY135 1 13

[74/171FAN]

Froggie included MN routes (such as MN 610) from the get go so I thought it was obvious we were including freeways beyond interstates.

(And, no, I did not include I-70 through Breezewood as a boulevard so I would not count I-78 in Jersey City.)