Roadgeek "shower thoughts"

[thspfc]

A "shower thought" is a random but interesting/bizarre thing that pops into your head (often when you're in the shower, thus the term). What are some shower thoughts about roads you've had?
Yesterday, I realized that the northern terminus of I-39 at WI-29 in Marathon County WI is a rare instance in which the traffic volume significantly increases following the end of the Interstate.

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

Pennsylvanians can also call politics in Harrisburg "Inside the Beltway."

[Roadgeekteen]

Also I-39, it really is two different routes. (Normal-Rockford and Portage north)

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

Harrisburg is the smallest city in the United States with a completely-limited-access beltway.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Pennsylvanians can also call politics in Harrisburg "Inside the Beltway."

Also true of St. Paul and Indianapolis, but I've never heard that reference used for the former anyway.

Is 94/694 the only instance of a parent hitching a ride on a beltway?

[Hwy 61 Revisited]

Pennsylvanians can also call politics in Harrisburg "Inside the Beltway."

Also true of St. Paul and Indianapolis, but I've never heard that reference used for the former anyway.

Is 94/694 the only instance of a parent hitching a ride on a beltway?

No. I-85-285.

[jmacswimmer]

Pennsylvanians can also call politics in Harrisburg "Inside the Beltway."

Also true of St. Paul and Indianapolis, but I've never heard that reference used for the former anyway.

Is 94/694 the only instance of a parent hitching a ride on a beltway?

No. I-85-285.

Also I-95-495.

As for my "shower thought", mine would be that in Washington & Baltimore, I-495 & I-695 (respectively) are the only things tying the whole interstate network together (since none of the 2-digit interstates connect to each other directly, and I-270 & I-795 both come in from the northwest and end at their respective beltways).

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I probably should have remembered 95/495, but I thought 85/285 ran on separate carriageways.

[bassoon1986]

Pennsylvanians can also call politics in Harrisburg "Inside the Beltway."

Also true of St. Paul and Indianapolis, but I've never heard that reference used for the former anyway.

Is 94/694 the only instance of a parent hitching a ride on a beltway?

I think 20-820 did for a while, too. Now the southern leg only carries 20.


iPhone

[sprjus4]

Pennsylvanians can also call politics in Harrisburg "Inside the Beltway."

Also true of St. Paul and Indianapolis, but I've never heard that reference used for the former anyway.

Is 94/694 the only instance of a parent hitching a ride on a beltway?

I-440 used to be concurrent with I-40 around the southern part of Raleigh to form a full beltway. That designation was removed a couple decades ago and now it's just I-40 (and US-64).

[sprjus4]

No. I-85-285.

I-85 and I-285 share the same right of way for a small portion, but run on separate carriageways with ramps to switch between.

I believe when they were originally constructed though, they were concurrent on one carriageway.

[webny99]

I definitely have "shower thoughts" - knew exactly what you were talking about. Mine tend to be "imagine if..." improvements or changes that I would make to roads and signage, rather than actual facts.

Harrisburg is the smallest city in the United States with a completely-limited-access beltway.

I guess it is a full beltway, but the terrible I-83 section doesn't "feel" like a beltway. It's substandard, not-worthy-of-a-blue-and-red-shield, not to mention those one-lane ramps, which are almost disqualifying IMO.

Augusta, GA, and Athens, GA are both smaller metros than Harrisburg, but the cities themselves are larger.
I wonder what's the smallest city with a single-number beltway. Maybe Lubbock, TX?

[CoreySamson]

I definitely have "shower thoughts" - knew exactly what you were talking about. Mine tend to be "imagine if..." improvements or changes that I would make to roads and signage, rather than actual facts.

Harrisburg is the smallest city in the United States with a completely-limited-access beltway.

I guess it is a full beltway, but the terrible I-83 section doesn't "feel" like a beltway. It's substandard, not-worthy-of-a-blue-and-red-shield, not to mention those one-lane ramps, which are almost disqualifying IMO.

Augusta, GA, and Athens, GA are both smaller metros than Harrisburg, but the cities themselves are larger.
I wonder what's the smallest city with a single-number beltway. Maybe Lubbock, TX?

A couple smaller Texas cities have at grade beltways; not sure if they're exactly what we're talking about here.

Palestine has Loop 256
Tyler has Loop 323
Lufkin has Loop 287 (not sure if all of the loop is signed as such)
Crockett has Loop 304
Paris has Loop 286 (similar story as with Lufkin, not sure if it is signed all the way around the loop)
Amarillo has Loop 335
Conroe has Loop 336

Crockett might be the winner, at a population of 6950.

[sprjus4]

I definitely have "shower thoughts" - knew exactly what you were talking about. Mine tend to be "imagine if..." improvements or changes that I would make to roads and signage, rather than actual facts.

Harrisburg is the smallest city in the United States with a completely-limited-access beltway.

I guess it is a full beltway, but the terrible I-83 section doesn't "feel" like a beltway. It's substandard, not-worthy-of-a-blue-and-red-shield, not to mention those one-lane ramps, which are almost disqualifying IMO.

Augusta, GA, and Athens, GA are both smaller metros than Harrisburg, but the cities themselves are larger.
I wonder what's the smallest city with a single-number beltway. Maybe Lubbock, TX?

A couple smaller Texas cities have at grade beltways; not sure if they're exactly what we're talking about here.

Palestine has Loop 256
Tyler has Loop 323
Lufkin has Loop 287 (not sure if all of the loop is signed as such)
Crockett has Loop 304
Paris has Loop 286 (similar story as with Lufkin, not sure if it is signed all the way around the loop)
Amarillo has Loop 335
Conroe has Loop 336

Crockett might be the winner, at a population of 6950.

The post above was referring to limited-access beltways in the sense of being a freeway facility.

[thspfc]

I definitely have "shower thoughts" - knew exactly what you were talking about. Mine tend to be "imagine if..." improvements or changes that I would make to roads and signage, rather than actual facts.

Harrisburg is the smallest city in the United States with a completely-limited-access beltway.

I guess it is a full beltway, but the terrible I-83 section doesn't "feel" like a beltway. It's substandard, not-worthy-of-a-blue-and-red-shield, not to mention those one-lane ramps, which are almost disqualifying IMO.

Augusta, GA, and Athens, GA are both smaller metros than Harrisburg, but the cities themselves are larger.
I wonder what's the smallest city with a single-number beltway. Maybe Lubbock, TX?

A couple smaller Texas cities have at grade beltways; not sure if they're exactly what we're talking about here.

Palestine has Loop 256
Tyler has Loop 323
Lufkin has Loop 287 (not sure if all of the loop is signed as such)
Crockett has Loop 304
Paris has Loop 286 (similar story as with Lufkin, not sure if it is signed all the way around the loop)
Amarillo has Loop 335
Conroe has Loop 336

Crockett might be the winner, at a population of 6950.

Texas sure does love their loops. There are 39 of them in Houston alone. 

[lepidopteran]

Look at Lexington, KY.  Has a "wishy-washy" beltway (Rt. 4), with at-grades between some of the interchanges.   Unusual in that it has no freeway connection to either of the local 2DIs -- I-64 or I-75.

[thspfc]

Look at Lexington, KY.  Has a "wishy-washy" beltway (Rt. 4), with at-grades between some of the interchanges.   Unusual in that it has no freeway connection to either of the local 2DIs -- I-64 or I-75.

That's weird. I'm surprised they didn't route 64 and 75 closer to the city during the push to run Interstates through city centers.

[webny99]

A couple smaller Texas cities have at grade beltways; not sure if they're exactly what we're talking about here.

Palestine has Loop 256
Tyler has Loop 323
Lufkin has Loop 287 (not sure if all of the loop is signed as such)
Crockett has Loop 304
Paris has Loop 286 (similar story as with Lufkin, not sure if it is signed all the way around the loop)
Amarillo has Loop 335
Conroe has Loop 336

Crockett might be the winner, at a population of 6950.

The post above was referring to limited-access beltways in the sense of being a freeway facility.

Yep... we were talking about strictly full freeway / limited access.

[hobsini2]

Look at Lexington, KY.  Has a "wishy-washy" beltway (Rt. 4), with at-grades between some of the interchanges.   Unusual in that it has no freeway connection to either of the local 2DIs -- I-64 or I-75.

That's weird. I'm surprised they didn't route 64 and 75 closer to the city during the push to run Interstates through city centers.

While they do not have a direct freeway coonection to KY 4, 64 & 75 are signed at 2 different interchanges.
https://www.google.com/maps/@38.0744562,-84.5062285,3a,75y,78.43h,85.14t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s_ztq7uiOKr3Wu0YO-k3Q1A!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.0400983,-84.4542317,3a,75y,13.03h,88.2t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s2l0GF9YqaAZBWfkqgVpMag!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

[kphoger]

My shower thought the other day:

There is no good reason to be against the introduction of W3-5 as a MUTCD warning sign, unless you already had a problem with W3-2.

[crispy93]

My shower thought the other day:

There is no good reason to be against the introduction of W3-5 as a MUTCD warning sign, unless you already had a problem with W3-2.

I always liked the graphical W3-5. Beats NY's cryptic "speed zone ahead" and "reduced speed ahead", though I notice they're being slowly replaced over time.

My shower thoughts were about NYC parkways that continue into the suburbs with a different name (Henry Hudson continues into Westchester as the Saw Mill, the Grand Central becomes the Northern State, the Belt and Cross Island are functionally the same highway). The Sagtikos and Sunken Meadow are functionally the same highway. Should these highways have one set of mile markers and thus one set of mile-based exits? NYC and LI don't post mile markers so it wouldn't be hard to start now. The Saw Mill already has mile markers that begin at the Bronx/Westchester line so that woould be difficult. And would the HHP/SMRP miles begin at the HHP's southern terminus or use 9A's mile markers to start?

[ctkatz]

I definitely have "shower thoughts" - knew exactly what you were talking about. Mine tend to be "imagine if..." improvements or changes that I would make to roads and signage, rather than actual facts.

Harrisburg is the smallest city in the United States with a completely-limited-access beltway.

I guess it is a full beltway, but the terrible I-83 section doesn't "feel" like a beltway. It's substandard, not-worthy-of-a-blue-and-red-shield, not to mention those one-lane ramps, which are almost disqualifying IMO.

Augusta, GA, and Athens, GA are both smaller metros than Harrisburg, but the cities themselves are larger.
I wonder what's the smallest city with a single-number beltway. Maybe Lubbock, TX?

A couple smaller Texas cities have at grade beltways; not sure if they're exactly what we're talking about here.

Palestine has Loop 256
Tyler has Loop 323
Lufkin has Loop 287 (not sure if all of the loop is signed as such)
Crockett has Loop 304
Paris has Loop 286 (similar story as with Lufkin, not sure if it is signed all the way around the loop)
Amarillo has Loop 335
Conroe has Loop 336

Crockett might be the winner, at a population of 6950.

salem frikkin indiana (2010 pop 6319) has an at grade bypass.

[TheGrassGuy]

Look at Lexington, KY.  Has a "wishy-washy" beltway (Rt. 4), with at-grades between some of the interchanges.   Unusual in that it has no freeway connection to either of the local 2DIs -- I-64 or I-75.

Same with TN-155 in Nashville. Except the part that's not beltway is surface street instead of divided highway.

[jakeroot]

Shower thought I had the other day:

Canyon Road in Pierce County, WA was recently modified (along the entire stretch) to include supplemental signals due the vast number of trucks that use the corridor. But several new signals have been built and put into use since the modification that do not include supplemental signals. Why go through all the trouble of installing those supplemental signals, but then not bother to install them at new intersections (along the same corridor!) as well? Is the plan to go back and add them later as well?

[briantroutman]

Harrisburg is the smallest city in the United States with a completely-limited-access beltway.

That's not terribly meaningful because of the fractured nature of municipal structure in Pennsylvania. Population within the limits of the City of Harrisburg itself is roughly 50,000, but the number of people with Harrisburg addresses is close to 160,000. Harrisburg's metro area population is over 575,000, which is greater than such metros as Springfield (MO),  Montgomery (AL), and Topeka–all of which feature a city center bound on all sides by limited access highways that a state DOT could arbitrarily declare to be a "beltway" .