"Best Looking" Freeway System

[travelinmiles]

I like Philly's, Boston's, and Jacksonville's now that the 9A is complete

Philadelphia's is missing several components, such as Interstate 695, Woodaven Road's extension, the freeway leading northwest from the Betsy Ross Bridge, etc. etc. Think of how bad the traffic problems on the Surekill Expressway, and there is no room to expand that unfortunately.

Some of the plan was over kill, but the "Surekill" is a complete and total mess.  I really wish they had continued with the plans from the 80's or even do an all HOV system during peak times...but with the truck traffic that will never happen.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Minneapolis/St. Paul has a freeway for everybody  . We have LOTS!

Yeah, but I've never really found any part of it that I've liked. All looks like a big box to me.

[FLRoads]

I like Philly's, Boston's, and Jacksonville's now that the 9A is complete

Soon to be I-295 come early 2010!! 

[deathtopumpkins]

I like Philly's, Boston's, and Jacksonville's now that the 9A is complete

Soon to be I-295 come early 2010!! 

Another I-295?

[Alex]

I like Philly's, Boston's, and Jacksonville's now that the 9A is complete

Soon to be I-295 come early 2010!! 

Another I-295?

No, Interstate 295 will grow to encompass a full beltway of Jacksonville when signs are changed in 2010.

[mrpablue]

I agree with V'Ger that Portland would be nice without the "U" shape I-205. I particularly like the 405 hexagon and the 217 triangle. I also like how straight 26 is in the NW.

[mrpablue]

I would like 3-City, Washington if 395 were a freeway between 82 and 240. I like that the triangle around the 3-City looks like a small version of the I-90 - I-82 - US 395 triangle.

[US 89]

You just revived a 9 year old thread.

That said, I like the look of the Denver and Phoenix freeway systems. I also like the look of Salt Lake City’s system, which will look even better once all the freeway projects (proposed and ongoing) are completed.

[mrcmc888]

the thing that gets me about Knoxville is why 75 was routed the way it was.  I'd have brought it down 275 and began the multiplex with 40 earlier, leaving 640 alone.

Thats how it was originally laid out, but they moved it in the 1970s IIRC. FWIW they modified most of the full-cloverleaf interchanges on Interstate 275 in recent years to reduce weaving traffic movements. If you look on aerials, every interchange was a full-cloverleaf originally.

I-75 was routed along I-640 to encourage through traffic to use it rather than to go on 275.  275 was substandard for many years when it originally carried I-75 and traffic would frequently back up at the split in the city.  When I-640 opened, the 40/275 interchange had not been improved.

[Hurricane Rex]

I agree with V'Ger that Portland would be nice without the "U" shape I-205. I particularly like the 405 hexagon and the 217 triangle. I also like how straight 26 is in the NW.

I've always been fond of Portlands

I like Portlands a lot if you're talking about downtown west but I like the Tri-Cities and Eugene's better for the PNW. The teiangle for the tri cities, and the 105/OR126 bowl in Eugene.

[OrangeLantern]

I don't live in Chicago (been there once!) but I could look at a map of its freeways for hours on end

[webny99]

You just revived a 9 year old thread.

Not to mention that there's a much more recent one that I started specifically instead of reviving this one. Thread merge?

[wxfree]

Before a bunch of additions were built, DFW's freeway system looked like this.  (Hint: picture a little larger version with the south end of the I-35 branches.)

[Henry]

I don't live in Chicago (been there once!) but I could look at a map of its freeways for hours on end

I concur! The Windy City has the best-looking freeway system in all of America.

Seattle's is also fairly appealing to the eye, especially with the way 90 and 520 cross the lake.

That would be my second-best system of all.

Rounding out the top five are Charlotte, Los Angeles and Raleigh (once 540 is completed all the way around).

[Bickendan]

I agree with V'Ger that Portland would be nice without the "U" shape I-205. I particularly like the 405 hexagon and the 217 triangle. I also like how straight 26 is in the NW.

I find Portland's to be pleasing to the eye precisely because of how the 205 curves around the foothills of the Tualatins. It helps the entire layout have a rigid and structured look.

[BigManFromAFRICA88]

I like drawing maps of freeway systems to flex on my friends, and my go-to's are my hometown of Salt Lake City, Houston, Miami, and (showing some love for Canada) Toronto! However, there are some cities I wish had some more freeways for overall evenness:

• NYC: some improved version of the West Side Highway as a freeway
• Boston: US 3, I-95, and Concord Turnpike
• Atlanta: I-420/Lakewood Freeway/Langford Pkwy, I-675 extension, Stone Mountain Freeway
• Washington, DC: I-95/I-395 extension

Of course there are many more!

[Gnutella]

My favorite is Dallas/Fort Worth, because it looks like a penis and a scrotum.

[jwolfer]

My favorite is Dallas/Fort Worth, because it looks like a penis and a scrotum.

LOL

Z981

[SectorZ]

You just revived a 9 year old thread.

That said, I like the look of the Denver and Phoenix freeway systems. I also like the look of Salt Lake City's system, which will look even better once all the freeway projects (proposed and ongoing) are completed.

And if he started a new best looking freeway system thread, there's a few here that would complain that it already existed. Guess you can't win.

[JREwing78]

I'm kinda partial to the freeway system around Lansing, MI. Not much congestion. Freeways in 6 different directions.

You can get just about anywhere in southern Michigan in 2 hours or less.

70 mph speed limits throughout (with 75 mph limits on US-127 North or I-69 East).

[Flint1979]

I'm kinda partial to the freeway system around Lansing, MI. Not much congestion. Freeways in 6 different directions.

You can get just about anywhere in southern Michigan in 2 hours or less.

70 mph speed limits throughout (with 75 mph limits on US-127 North or I-69 East).

Lansing is pretty much the crossroads of the state and I-75 doesn't even go anywhere near it go figure.

[OCGuy81]

I like Milwaukee's, and find it easy to navigate.  A small bypass on 41-43-894, 43 going north, 94-41 going south, 94 going west. 

[hotdogPi]

I like Milwaukee's, and find it easy to navigate.  A small bypass on 41-43-894, 43 going north, 94-41 going south, 94 going west.

I-894 is entirely redundant, though, and I-41 is redundant south of (and while overlapped with) I-43.

[tchafe1978]

I like Milwaukee's, and find it easy to navigate.  A small bypass on 41-43-894, 43 going north, 94-41 going south, 94 going west.

I-894 is entirely redundant, though, and I-41 is redundant south of (and while overlapped with) I-43.

Milwaukee is missing a freeway bypass across the north side of the metro. Add that and it would be perfect.

RCT6873W42M_F7

[JasonOfORoads]

I agree with V'Ger that Portland would be nice without the "U" shape I-205. I particularly like the 405 hexagon and the 217 triangle. I also like how straight 26 is in the NW.

I find Portland's to be pleasing to the eye precisely because of how the 205 curves around the foothills of the Tualatins. It helps the entire layout have a rigid and structured look.

People put down the "U" shape of I-205, but that actually makes the portion between I-5 and West Linn one of the most beautiful freeway drives in the city. (Top honors goes to US-26 descending through the canyon to the Vista Ridge Tunnel.) Also, that part of I-205 was very controversial when it was first planned. Originally it was gonna barrel through Lake Oswego, but the rich people there put their foot down, so it instead skirts the Urban Growth Boundary south of Tualatin, Lake-O and West Linn.