Worst Highway Ideas

[Voyager]

We know that all the DOT's of each state don't always make the smartest of choices. Point out some of the ones that you think weren't their smartest decisions.

[Chris]

Probably that Mid-Manhattan expressway right through midtown Manhattan. That should've been build, but as a tunnel, connecting the Long Island Expressway (I-495) with New Jersey.

[Chris]

Check it out on NYCroads.com

[Voyager]

Oh...

Cypress Structure, Embarcadero Freeway, Seattle Viaduct.

[corco]

On a small scale, the junction of Wash. SR 164 and SR 410 is awful.

If you're heading eastbound down SR 410, the DOT directs you down Cole St to get to SR 164, and then once you get to the intersection of Cole St and Griffin Ave where you have to turn left to continue this lovely sign presents itself:



I also drove the new Scottsbluff Nebraska bypass a couple weeks ago and was amazed to see where the new north-south bypass expressway hits the east west expressway traffic is controlled by a stop sign. This seems hilariously substandard.

[travelinmiles]

The reconstruction of the I-76 PA Tpk Valley Forge Interchange. They rebuilt it with the same cloverleaf.  Well the whole Schuylkill rehab, the new 202/KOP interchange is a mess with more cloverleaves.  Oh boy, Philadelphia Freeways.

[vdeane]

The decision of the town of Irondequoit to downgrade NY 590 to Sea Breeze Drive.  It's not done yet, but it's as wide as it will be when finished and already it's congested.  They wanted to made it easier for pedestrians, but the lack of space between cars and the replacement of traffic signals with roundabouts will make it harder for pedestrians, not easier.

The town has made bad decisions for 30 years now, all of it political based off of one bridge.  The couldn't get the Irondequot Bay outlet bridge 30 years ago so they denied the ramps from NY 104 to/from NY 590 north.  Now they have the bridge, but the terrain at the interchange has changed, so they can't get the ramps.  Because of this they decided to downgrade NY 590.

I can only imagine that soon they'll discover that it's congested, wait 30 years, be unable to change it back to a divided highway or an expressway, and decide to tear down something else.

[Duke87]

The reconstruction of the I-76 PA Tpk Valley Forge Interchange. They rebuilt it with the same cloverleaf. 

Classic stupidity of favoring the mainline of the toll road over the mainline of the interstate right there.

That interchange really ought to look more like this:

[Alex]

The truncation of U.S. 113 to Milford from Dover!!

[Voyager]

Duke, not sure if that is physically possible! 

[Bryant5493]

Having traffic exit onto Sidney Marcus Boulevard from Georgia 400 South, to access I-85 North. The same goes for traffic wishing to access Georgia 400 North: drivers must exit onto Cheshire Bridge Road. Turn right on Cheshire Bridge, left onto Buford Highway (SR 13), then right onto Sidney Marcus, and then right on Georgia 400. This is maze of twists and turns and confusement (if that's a word, lol). GDOT is supposed to rectify this some time in the near future.


Be well,

Bryant

[Revive 755]

* Iowa DOT's decision to use stop signs on expressway, such as US 30 at Boone, IA (http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=42.034568,-93.879955&spn=0,359.978027&z=16&layer=c&cbll=42.034573,-93.880067&panoid=0g7CCOLDeYvWRswZJF-jtw&cbp=12,97.17770806357248,,0,5.525880653220147), US 151 at IA 13, and US 151 at IA 100. 

* The western I-80/US 77 interchange at Lincoln, NE, where the ramp that seems to have the most trucks going to WB I-80 is a 25 mph loop with an inadequate acceleration lane at the bottom.  That interchange should be a semi-directional T.

* Iowa DOT not redoing the eastern I-35/I-80/I-235 interchange quite right.  First, they need to do something about the lousy, more pothole than pavement ramp from SB I-35 to EB I-80, but they decide to add new through lanes so I-235 doesn't have any left entrances.  This also disrupts the route continuity (as defined on page 808 of the AASHTO greenbook) of NB I-35.

* MoDOT doing a somewhat poor job when rebuilding the I-44/I-270/MO 366 interchange by having traffic from WB I-44 wishing to access SB I-270 merge into traffic going from WB MO 366 to SB I-270.  This causes a long back up onto I-44 in the afternoon, and probably a few accidents.  MoDOT should have made the WB to SB flyover two lanes, with WB I-44 to SB I-270 traffic sharing one of the two lanes to NB I-270.

* The I-72/I-172 interchange in Illinois.  I-72 should be the mainline route there, not I-172.

* MO 141 between Valley Park and Clayton Road/Rte HH in the St. Louis area.  It's somewhat impressive how badly MoDOT screwed up this corridor.  First they gave up on a freeway design which could have been a much needed alternative to I-270.  Then they somehow manage to have the road feel like a high speed expressway, but only be posted at 45 (now up to 50 south of Helfrich Road, somehow even on the congested, many traffic signal section through Valley Park).  Then there are the unneeded traffic lights.  Briarhurst Drive and Broomfield Terrace, both subdivsion streets, get lights onto 141, yet both have access to Hanna Road, a north-south road parallel to MO 141.  Briarhurst even has decent access to Big Bend Road, which has a SPUI with MO 141.  The light providing access to the outer roads just south of the SPUI with MO 100 could have been consolidated with the light at Carman Road.  Brittany Parkway, which has the first light north of the MO 100 interchange, has access to MO 100 and Weidman Road (another north-south road parallel to 141).  And to make that intersection more interesting, somehow a new Wal-Mart is going in that area which requires a double left turn lane on MO 141.  Next after another light for Burgandy Lane (subdivision street with access to parallel north-south collectors) there are lights for Clayworth Drive (subdivision street), a high school, and then Dutch Mill Drive (another subdivision) in quick succession.  Surely these could have been consolidate down to two or one.

[John]

4 characters: I, 1, 8, and 0. Even with the steel plant they were going to build there, why build a 15 mile freeway to a town of 900 people.

[SSOWorld]

I-794

Why build a freeway there?  Sure it no longer stubs at Carferry Rd, but still, it still doesn't garner much traffic as it is.

Madison Beltline - There are still ramps that have driveways attached to them 

[rawr apples]

In Portland, OR-217....4 lanes the entire length, apart from the 6 lane bits between certain exits. constantly backed up.  traffic lights at the junction with I-5

[Revive 755]

Having EB PA 28 narrow to one lane at the interchanges with PA 8 and the Highland Park Bridge.

The weaving required to stay on I-279 at the Fort Pit Bridge - but given the cramp quarters, I'm not sure this would be easy to fix (best I can think of is adding a second bridge for WB I-376 to WB PA 837 and vice versa, at least this would remove some of the weaving traffic).

[Duke87]

Duke, not sure if that is physically possible! 

Well, something like it would be. A couple of the curves might need to be adjusted, ramps lengthened a bit for the grade to work (maybe have the west-south ramp go over the turnpike instead of under?). But it's not a precise blueprint, just a general idea.

[njroadhorse]

Having EB PA 28 narrow to one lane at the interchanges with PA 8 and the Highland Park Bridge.

The weaving required to stay on I-279 at the Fort Pit Bridge - but given the cramp quarters, I'm not sure this would be easy to fix (best I can think of is adding a second bridge for WB I-376 to WB PA 837 and vice versa, at least this would remove some of the weaving traffic).

Yeah those suck major donkey dick, but probably the biggest monstrosity is I-280 in Newark.  4 lanes through the entire city, and a rickety drawbridge. 

[vdeane]

I-790.  It's only a couple miles long and is never an independent road.  They just put the number on a couple of existing freeways, one of which wasn't even a freeway until construction began for NY 49 in the 1980s.

[ComputerGuy]

Nalley Valley Viaduct (SR 16 in Tacoma, WA at I-5)

Finally, its getting rebuilt!

[travelinmiles]

I agree with you whole heartedly, that is exactly what I was thinking. It just amazes me that they would rebuild it so substandard.

[Fcexpress80]

The design of I-5 through Seattle, WA has to be one of the best examples of how NOT to build a freeway.  From the busy corridors at Mercer Street to WA-520, a distance of about a mile, you enter the freeway on the left and exit on the right, crossing 4 lanes of heavy traffic during rush hour.  This design looked so good, they duplicated it IN BOTH DIRECTIONS, northbound and southbound!  Granted, geography played a factor but the talk of making things right at 2009 dollars means that this freeway should have been built right in the first place at a savings to the taxpayer.  This design should have never been approved for an Interstate.

[corco]

Nalley Valley Viaduct (SR 16 in Tacoma, WA at I-5)

Finally, its getting rebuilt!

I really miss making that insanely short distance weave move you had to do to get from Northbound I-5 onto westbound SR 16 without exiting onto Sprague Street 

My ex-girlfriend who lived in Olympia refused to even make the merge and would always just get off at Sprague to get to my house by UPS even though taking Union was a ton faster

[Tarkus]

Well, the one stupid one I can think of is more of proposed stupidity . . . the planned new I-5 bridge over the Columbia River on the Oregon/Washington border.  They want to spend close to $5 billion on the sucker, and since they're not going to fix the Delta Park/North Portland bottleneck, it's going to do absolutely nothing to fix traffic.

I'd also put the whole US-26/OR-10/OR-99W/OR-43/I-5 setup on the west end of the Ross Island Bridge on the list.  Worst interchange ever.

The Delta Highway (a Lane County, OR-maintained facility) is also pathetically substandard--it's Eugene's equivalent of OR-217.  It's impressive that a county built a freeway (they built current OR-569, too, before handing it over to ODOT), but it's not nearly wide enough to account for all the traffic trying to get between Downtown and North Eugene/Santa Clara.

-Alex (Tarkus)

[Hellfighter]

In Michigan, the M-53 freeway between 34 Mile and 18 Mile Roads has at-grade intersections, but that's not the worst part. The speed limit is 70, but as you reach the intersection, MDOT forces you down to 55, but as soon as you pass the intersection, it jumps back to 70! What the hell? Lucky, there are only two of them, one at 30 Mile and the other at 32 Mile, but that still doesn't make it right. They need to make 30 mile pass over M-53 and create an interchange for 32 Mile.