>Narrowest< medians you know of?

[index]

I suppose you could call the space between two double lines a median.. So let's not count that.  The narrow median could be anything.. A very narrow concrete barrier, guard rail, curb, etc, separating  a divided highway, interstate, or two lane road. Basically any road.

Thread inspired by this: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=19204.0

[paulthemapguy]

Minimal striped medians in Illinois are usually two feet wide.

[PHLBOS]

Portions of NY's Taconic State Parkway w/'weak post' box guide/guard rail

[sbeaver44]

PA 12 at PA 183 is pretty narrow. 

https://goo.gl/maps/ufixexvkjp92

Nexus 6P

[PHLBOS]

Portion of the Super 2 stretch of MA 2 (where US 202 multiplexes with it)

[jeffandnicole]

The original sections of the PA Turnpike and Northeast Extension.

[hbelkins]

The section of I-64 (concurrent with US 60 and US 220) between Covington and Clifton Forge, Va. For years there was nothing there. Virginia finally got around to installing guardrail and/or cable barrier a few years ago.

On Kentucky's parkway system, the Western Kentucky Parkway has a much narrower grass median than any other interstate, parkway or expressway in the state.

[7/8]

The QEW between Niagara Falls and Fort Erie, ON has a surprisingly narrow grass median:

GSV Link

[vdeane]

A couple other ones I can think of in NY:
-the Jackie Robinson Parkway (the sign gantry is very telling): https://goo.gl/maps/3WRNibsw5nH2
-the Thruway's Berkshire Spur over the Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge (not as narrow as others here, but notable because there's no barrier and the speed limit is 65): https://goo.gl/maps/Jt8iH9qEJdC2

[theline]

SR 931 south of South Bend has a median (space between the yellow lines) of about 2 feet. It was for many years (when the road was US 31) an actual raised asphalt median, the kind that can be driven over by motorists turning left into driveways. That was paved over during a resurfacing 20 or more years ago.

US 31 in Roseland, now SR 933, also had a similar low median during the same era. That was replaced with a center turn lane when the highway was widened and totally rebuilt many year ago.

The low, narrow drivable median used to be a common feature of multilane roads. Another alternative was what I called "pancakes", low circular or oblong concrete objects, about 18" in diameter along the medians.

[jakeroot]

There's a ton of older roads with narrow medians. Here's something a bit more interesting. A brand new freeway with a very narrow median. British Columbia's median requirements are not quite that of other agencies.

Hwy 17 @ 36 Ave, Delta, BC: https://goo.gl/34LCvU

[kkt]

Consider the Golden Gate Bridge movable median barrier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVKcRHKH4Js

It's one foot thick on the upper part, with a 2 foot thick base.

[PHLBOS]

^^ Similar situation on the Tappan Zee Bridge.

^^as well as on 3 of the on the 4 DRPA bridges (Betsy Ross, Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman & Commodore Barry).

[cpzilliacus]

Nearly all freeways in Southern California have no left-side shoulder of any sort.

[plain]

Lynchburg Expressway  (current US 29 BUS)

https://goo.gl/maps/TNt7EPyjhn22

https://goo.gl/maps/ZkUEsEsPj5w

I've always liked driving this road because it reminds me so much of older toll roads especially in the Northeast (this road has never been tolled though)

[jeffandnicole]

^^ Similar situation on the Tappan Zee Bridge.

^^as well as the on the 4 DRPA bridges (Betsy Ross, Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman & Commodore Barry).

Betsy Ross doesn't have a movable barrier, but otherwise is just the concrete barrier, which is only construction-type barrier installed permanently.

[hbelkins]

Lynchburg Expressway  (current US 29 BUS)

https://goo.gl/maps/TNt7EPyjhn22

https://goo.gl/maps/ZkUEsEsPj5w

I've always liked driving this road because it reminds me so much of older toll roads especially in the Northeast (this road has never been tolled though)

The metal barrier looks like what's on the PA Turnpike on the east side of Sideling Hill, beyond Breezewood.

And what's with the white inside stripe instead of a yellow stripe?

[hm insulators]

Consider the Golden Gate Bridge movable median barrier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVKcRHKH4Js

It's one foot thick on the upper part, with a 2 foot thick base.

How cool is that?

I remember as a kid, long before concrete medians, the opposing lanes separated by just a chain-link fence down the middle of L.A. freeways. This was in the 1960s and early '70s.

[plain]

Lynchburg Expressway  (current US 29 BUS)

https://goo.gl/maps/TNt7EPyjhn22

https://goo.gl/maps/ZkUEsEsPj5w

I've always liked driving this road because it reminds me so much of older toll roads especially in the Northeast (this road has never been tolled though)

The metal barrier looks like what's on the PA Turnpike on the east side of Sideling Hill, beyond Breezewood.

And what's with the white inside stripe instead of a yellow stripe?

It's yellow. It probably looks like that because it appears to be fading plus it must've been a really bright day

[plain]

Portions of NY's Taconic State Parkway w/'weak post' box guide/guard rail

That type of median rail used to be on the Richmond Petersburg turnpike (no longer tolled) before being replaced by the Jersey Barrier in the mid 1980s. Actually sections of the I-85 portion of the turnpike still has it

[PHLBOS]

^^ Similar situation on the Tappan Zee Bridge.

^^as well as on 3 of the on the 4 DRPA bridges (Betsy Ross, Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman & Commodore Barry).

Betsy Ross doesn't have a movable barrier, but otherwise is just the concrete barrier, which is only construction-type barrier installed permanently.

Thanks for the correction; I've since corrected my earlier post per the above.  It's been years since I've used the Betsy Ross.  I could've sworn that movable barriers were used there at one time; I guess not.

[cpzilliacus]

I-895 (Baltimore Harbor Tunnel Thruway) has almost no median (aside from the Jersey barrier) north and south of the tunnel portals as well as south of the toll plaza (which is about 7/10 miles south of the south portal to the tunnel tubes).

[roadman]

North Shore Road (MA 1A) in Revere - back to back thrie beam rail.

[jeffandnicole]

^^ Similar situation on the Tappan Zee Bridge.

^^as well as on 3 of the on the 4 DRPA bridges (Betsy Ross, Ben Franklin, Walt Whitman & Commodore Barry).

Betsy Ross doesn't have a movable barrier, but otherwise is just the concrete barrier, which is only construction-type barrier installed permanently.

Thanks for the correction; I've since corrected my earlier post per the above.  It's been years since I've used the Betsy Ross.  I could've sworn that movable barriers were used there at one time; I guess not.

It was an 8 lane bridge because of the planned highway network, of which nearly none of it got built...not to mention the cheaper Tacony-Palmyra bridge just to the north.  While the DRPA's other 3 bridges got movable barriers, they put in the permanent barrier here because there was no need to provide more than 3 lanes per direction.  That said, it qualifies under this thread though because there's no median other than a painted yellow line practically touching the barrier.

[sparker]

I-80 from Colfax, CA to Gold Run, about 9 miles up the hill (EB), features a very narrow K-rail with a double-yellow line running right next to it (no inside shoulder).  This whole section is a singular 4-lane carriageway with a median.  At Gold Hill the median widens out with dual 10' inner shoulders -- but retaining the K-rail.  Dual carriageways start at Emigrant Gap, another 15 miles east, where the eastbound grade steepens sharply.