Worst freeway design

[silverback1065]

ya i dont see how 278 was allowed on that route

[shadyjay]

Proposed interchange for I-95, CT 9, and freeway to Long Island, in 1965. If that's to scale, it would have carved up a huge amount of land for an ugly, confusing, low-capacity mess.

Good god, now that's an abomination! 

As cool as a LI Sound crossing would be there (which I tossed around that idea some 20 years ago, as I-96 IIRC), that's a huge inefficient interchange.  My "plan" simply extended CT 9 south of where it meets I-95, sharing some of the same ramps as it does today, continuing south to Saybrook Point... and beyond.  To the north, I-96 would have taken over the CT 9 corridor and worked its way over to the CT 8 non-freeway corridor in northern CT, heading right up through Mass to VT.  Of course this was long ago, before I knew that I-96 would be totally out of grid and be the wrong number for a N/S highway. 

[jwolfer]

Ill be in Chicago for my cousins wedding next monrh.. My hotel is on the route od the hypotenuse... I will have to search out the constuction:)

LGMS428

[sparker]

Actually, that's not a hypotenuse; a hypotenuse should be a straight line.  What it looks like, if read from left to right, is a diminishing and intermittent sine wave.  Speaking of waves, wave it goodbye!

[intelati49]

I would love to knock heads with the 50/60s road designers? The Kansas City Freeway plan is super interesting in a "Why did they think this was a good idea" kind of way.

*Insert Pictures here* [I wish I could have a copy for my coffee table]

[Bruce]

I-5 in Downtown Seattle slims down to 2 lanes after the first downtown exit, creating a bottleneck that has haunted the city for decades. Not to mention that there is a huge weave created by the left-side exit for SR 520 and the right-side exit for Mercer...and the express lanes being poorly designed for the northern suburbs as a whole.

[amroad17]

This is the interchange of I-695 and MD-702 in the area of Essex, Maryland, just east of Baltimore. I don't think I-695, AKA the Baltimore Beltway, was supposed to be a full loop, and Route 702 was all that was built of the cancelled Windlass Freeway, or something like that. But eventually, the Beltway became a full loop linked by the Francis Scott Key Bridge, resulting in this crazy interchange.

Does anyone know what this ramp to nowhere is all about?

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3240118,-76.4792116,3a,66.3y,182.07h,93.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sWZyBy3uZEksgQrrHKO2IBg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I believe that this was the beginning of a loop ramp to the never-built section of the Windlass from this interchange to either US 40 or I-95 north of here.

[intelati49]

This is the interchange of I-695 and MD-702 in the area of Essex, Maryland, just east of Baltimore. I don't think I-695, AKA the Baltimore Beltway, was supposed to be a full loop, and Route 702 was all that was built of the cancelled Windlass Freeway, or something like that. But eventually, the Beltway became a full loop linked by the Francis Scott Key Bridge, resulting in this crazy interchange.

Does anyone know what this ramp to nowhere is all about?

https://www.google.com/maps/@39.3240118,-76.4792116,3a,66.3y,182.07h,93.39t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sWZyBy3uZEksgQrrHKO2IBg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

I believe that this was the beginning of a loop ramp to the never-built section of the Windlass from this interchange to either US 40 or I-95 north of here.

You can see the stubs of the mainline to the Southwest there

[SteveG1988]

Trenton Freeway. Almost was I-95, is just US1 thankfully. Narrow, outdated, and a choke point for US1 traffic

[silverback1065]

California 110.  i-90/94 rapid fire exits in chicago. any exit or entrance from the left

[Max Rockatansky]

California 110.  i-90/94 rapid fire exits in chicago. any exit or entrance from the left

I think 110 kind of gets a pass considering it dates from before World War II. 

[sparker]

California 110.  i-90/94 rapid fire exits in chicago. any exit or entrance from the left

I think 110 kind of gets a pass considering it dates from before World War II. 

Yeah -- CA 110 is indeed an anomaly.  It's the ramps from NB 110 to NB 5 (and SB 5 to SB 110) that really stand out as problematic from a geometrical standpoint (sharp curves NB, sharp curves combined with a heavy gradient SB).  Those ramps were simply directional ramps from the Pasadena Freeway (US 66 at the time) to and from Riverside Drive prior to I-5 being built through that area in the early '60's and were "grandfathered" in as part of the Golden State/Pasadena Freeway interchange (old 5/66, now 5/110) because there was little space available to construct a new connection.  The hill above the interchange ramps is L.A.'s Elysian Park --2nd largest in the city after Griffith -- and tearing out the hillside was, politically and logistically, a non-starter.  It's a bad design featuring reverse curves in both directions -- but was the sole feasible way to make the connections.  While the grade (and the relatively blind merge with SB 110, mitigated by the ramp's continuation as the RH lane) SB is problematic, the LH sharp turn from NB 110 to NB 5 -- coming out of the last of the Figueroa tunnels -- is the site of backups and last-minute lane changes on 110; this situation is arguably the worst aspect of the whole interchange!

[silverback1065]

most of pennsylvania's highways

[SteveG1988]

most of pennsylvania's highways

Both I70 and I78 are examples of when not to reuse an existing freeway. Substandard interstates that just exist to save a buck.

[sparker]

most of pennsylvania's highways

Both I70 and I78 are examples of when not to reuse an existing freeway. Substandard interstates that just exist to save a buck.

Fully concur.  "Grandfathering" in existing substandard facilities merely delays the inevitable replacement process well down the line when the cost of doing so has ballooned due to inflation.  If the right-of-way is there, fine -- but do at least a basic rebuild to current standards ASAP after commissioning. 

[jakeroot]

I-5 in Downtown Seattle slims down to 2 lanes after the first downtown exit, creating a bottleneck that has haunted the city for decades. Not to mention that there is a huge weave created by the left-side exit for SR 520 and the right-side exit for Mercer...and the express lanes being poorly designed for the northern suburbs as a whole.

The Mercer Weave and the 520 Shuffle definitely rank near the top of the "worst stretches of freeway design" list.

Imagine if the Bay Freeway was built. The weaves would be catastrophic. At least the signal at Fairview prevents traffic from flooding onto the NB carriageway.

[Mr_Northside]

Both I70 and I78 are examples of when not to reuse an existing freeway. Substandard interstates that just exist to save a buck.

"A buck"???

Methinks that there is far more cost and effort (money and people displacement) involved than "a buck"....

And, yes, I know it's an expression - but the notion of, say, building a whole new alignment of I-70 from New Stanton to Washington (and I am aware there were at least some notions/planning of that possibility decades ago) would be a huge undertaking.  And for all the people who know just how substandard it is, and would like that replacement, there are also many people when it comes to public spending (especially in SW PA) that will just want them to make do with what is already there.

[silverback1065]

Both I70 and I78 are examples of when not to reuse an existing freeway. Substandard interstates that just exist to save a buck.

"A buck"???

Methinks that there is far more cost and effort (money and people displacement) involved than "a buck"....

And, yes, I know it's an expression - but the notion of, say, building a whole new alignment of I-70 from New Stanton to Washington (and I am aware there were at least some notions/planning of that possibility decades ago) would be a huge undertaking.  And for all the people who know just how substandard it is, and would like that replacement, there are also many people when it comes to public spending (especially in SW PA) that will just want them to make do with what is already there.

but wasn't this done when the feds were paying for it up to 90%?

[sparker]

Both I70 and I78 are examples of when not to reuse an existing freeway. Substandard interstates that just exist to save a buck.

"A buck"???

Methinks that there is far more cost and effort (money and people displacement) involved than "a buck"....

And, yes, I know it's an expression - but the notion of, say, building a whole new alignment of I-70 from New Stanton to Washington (and I am aware there were at least some notions/planning of that possibility decades ago) would be a huge undertaking.  And for all the people who know just how substandard it is, and would like that replacement, there are also many people when it comes to public spending (especially in SW PA) that will just want them to make do with what is already there.

but wasn't this done when the feds were paying for it up to 90%?

IIRC, New Stanton-Washington was in the process of being constructed -- to PA TPK standards, at the beginning of Interstate funding in '57 -- but the funds to construct it preceded the availability of that new federal source, so the route (again IIRC originally PA 71) was "grandfathered" into the system along with the mainline Turnpike.  So the 90% was moot at that point; current projects to widen it do source from what's left of the Interstate rehab pool, though (although no actual capacity increases for this segment are in the works).

Also do remember that the original alignment of I-70 turned north at Washington along what's now I-79 to serve Pittsburgh directly; the connector to New Stanton was originally designated as I-70S to serve as a through-traffic outer bypass of greater Pittsburgh.  It didn't change to mainline I-70 until I-79 was extended south into WVA circa 1961. 

[Sykotyk]

But wasn't the reason I-70 was realigned (and I-79) was because the North Parkway and Fort Pitt Tunnels (and the associated bridges) weren't built and weren't planned for a while?

Similar to I-76 and I-676 getting switched in Philadelphia because what is I-676 was never going to be finished any time soon and still never relaly finished if you figure the lights on it.

It makes sense I-70 would follow it's current alignment between Washington and New Stanton, but even if the funding/planning was from another source, you would think interstate funds would be put toward making it to even then interstate standards for a non-urban setting. Wider shoulders, longer ramps, possibly bigger median.

[silverback1065]

i-70 as soon as it enters ks, i don't know what the hell they were thinking with that death curve

[Tonytone]

I-295 Is a great highway opposite of the poorly maintained I-95 Thru pa and Chester.

[DeaconG]

The Schuylkill Expressway wins this hands down. Too many left lane exits and on ramps, on ramps that have little to no speed up lanes, 4 lanes for most of the route which not even close to enough to handle the volume it carries, and sharp curves that can flip over even the most slightly unbalanced truck. Need I say more?

My favorite part of the Schuylkill is the merge or die ramps at South Street.  PENNDOT just replaced the whole South Street bridge several years back, and the best they could muster for the Schuylkill connection was still the merge or die left hand ramps..  (the river, the train station, and the other nearby ramps didn't leave much of an option I guess.)  It is what it is..

You haven't lived until you've jumped on the eastbound on-ramps at Montgomery Drive and especially Girard Avenue...
My usual tactic when I'm home and using them is 1) enter ramp, 2) maximum warp and 3) HOLD ON! 
EDIT: Honorable mention to the US202/King Of Prussia Mall exit...OMG...

[CrystalWalrein]

The Atlantic City-Brigantine Connector: built to 1950s urban freeway idiosyncrasies (I won't say standards) in 2001.

I've heard griping about the M271 near Southampton, England as well. The A58 in Halifax also qualifies, but to its credit it was supposed to be so much more.

[nexus73]

I-5 in PDX from the interchange with SR 99W to SR 14 in Vancouver is the worst of the urban freeways in Oregon.  There are so many problem areas that it would be easier to drop a fusion bomb on the Rose City to remove the structures, inhabitants and all possible protesters, then wait until the radioactivity has died down so one can then spend a couple years putting in a whole new freeway as the first order of business.  Yeah, it's that bad...LOL!

Honorable mention: US 97 in Bend.  It looks like a lousy piece of work that resembles a freeway which ODOT in their infinite wisdom called a parkway.  Slow and unsure does not win the race in that city!  North and south of this poorly designed excuse of roadway one can see a sane engineer did the design of the new freeway segments while the poor one proves the adage that a camel is a horse designed by a committee...LOL!

Things Getting Better Department: Seven miles of I-5 south of the interchange with SR 38/99 there is a stretch of freeway with uphill grades getting upgraded to 3 lanes in the uphill direction.  More is needed for I-5 between Roseburg and Grants Pass but hey, it is a start, which considering ODOT and the current budget is a bloody miracle.

Rick