Unnatural lane endings

[vdeane]

NY 104 in Webster also has one.  Eastbound past Bay Rd, the left lane goes on, and on (and on), ending about halfway to the next exit.

[thenetwork]

I-70 in Licking County is three lanes in each direction and shrinks back to two lanes between Buckeye Lake and Reynoldsburg. (That section I-70 in Licking Co. was one of the first sections built in Ohio)
I-71 is the opposite, it shrinks to two lanes from three lanes in northern Delaware Co and all of Morrow Co.

To I-71's defense, there was originally a plan in the late 90s/early 00s to make I-71 a 6-laner from Cleveland to Columbus and the widening was done in piecemeal.  The missing 4-lane section of I-71 thru Morrow County was a single-project section that fell through due to a combination of lack of funds and a "low" traffic count that did not necessarily warrant an extra lane at the time.

Obviously, the traffic counts never took into account the Friday Evening/Sunday Afternoon traffic that makes that stretch a consistent "Do 75-80 in the left lane or be stuck doing 50-55 in the right" debacle.

It always struck me as odd that in the I-71 Cleveland-to-Columbus widening project, nearly all sections started or ended at odd spots -- not necessarily at exits or county lines.

[mightyace]

Obviously, the traffic counts never took into account the Friday Evening/Sunday Afternoon traffic that makes that stretch a consistent "Do 75-80 in the left lane or be stuck doing 50-55 in the right" debacle.

As one who has traveled this stretch a couple of time a year at all hours of the day and night, I can say in my own experience that seems to be true whenever the traffic is more than just a trickle.

It always struck me as odd that in the I-71 Cleveland-to-Columbus widening project, nearly all sections started or ended at odd spots -- not necessarily at exits or county lines.

No argument there.  Obviously, the contract said to end it there, but I've never seen a pattern to it either.

IMHO I'd rather see 25 miles of six lane and 25 miles of 4 lane than the alternating 5 miles 6 lane/5 miles 4 lane it seems to be today.

[Alps]

One I have every morning:  Two lanes come from I-287 NB onto I-80 EB, forming a local roadway.  A lane comes in from the left from I-80 EB, whose only purpose is to take traffic to Exit 45 (minor).  Amazingly, the RIGHT lane ends on the 287 roadway instead of the LEFT lane.  Everyone weaves across everyone else at this point, and traffic is a nightmare as a result.

Unnatural lane beginning:  NJ 495 is three lanes westbound past JFK Blvd.  That entrance adds a fourth lane, which continues past US 1/9.  The road then splits - three lanes straight, two lanes right.  Except RIGHT THERE there's miraculously a third lane created out of the gore.  Same thing on NJ 3 eastbound at the NJ 21 SB exit - no one ever realizes the second lane opens up right at the gore.

Related unnatural lane ending - The second lane that began so abruptly on the NJ 21 SB ramp ends just as abruptly at a sharp curve for 21.  The whole ramp is a long straightaway, and there's no speed warning for the 20 MPH curve at the end.  The whole ramp has two lanes, and the curve has one.  There's just no good way to drive that road.

[Scott5114]

Take a look at what the right lane does here.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=oklahoma+city&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=46.092115,93.076172&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Oklahoma+City,+Oklahoma&ll=35.386632,-97.494564&spn=0.001456,0.00284&t=k&z=19

[yakra]

http://maps.google.com/?t=k&ll=43.672683,-70.257745&z=19

There's currently some mad construction going on on I-295 right now, including improvements/widening at exit 7. I forget the details, and have been avoiding the interstate since the construction equipment hit, but it may well involve adding an auxiliary lane here by the time it's all finished; that has been discussed. We'll see. But it'll be a bit of a feat, with so little room available between the shoulder and Back Cove & its eponymous trail...

[Bickendan]

I-5, Eastbank Freeway. That is all.

[jdb1234]

When I-65 was widened North of Downtown Birmingham to 8 lanes, the right lane northbound ends on the bridge over Daniel Payne Drive.  Southbound adds two lanes on the bridge.  This is because the interchange with I-22 is going to be just north of the Daniel Payne Drive interchange.

[elsmere241]

When Delaware added the fifth lane on I-95 between DE 1/7 and DE 141, it gave an extra lane to northbound I-95 all the way through the 141/295/495 interchange.  That lane abruptly ends after I-495 splits off.

[architect77]

Raleigh's I-440 Beltline has "auxillary" lanes between interchanges which is basically a continuous on-ramp/off-ramp. There are always 4-lanes on each side except directly under the interchanges which I've never seen anywhere else. Every exit requires "exit only" yellow signage.

While I understand their rationale of accomodating upcoming-exit queues of traffic as well as leisurely on-ramp merges, I'm not sure if I like it.

[Ian]

I-95 in Philadelphia has an "unnatural" lane ending after exit 20 going northbound.

[akotchi]

The right lane on I-287 SB leaving Morristown, NJ ends just south of the NJ 124 interchange.

U.S. 1 SB through Trenton, NJ, drops the left lane prior to the left entrance from Bus U.S. 1, but this is a safety feature, I am sure . . .